The Price of Tea: Women workers' Predicament in North Bengal Tea Plantations

The paper notes that the tea industry has historically been categorised as ‘enclave economies’ where the productive labour got organised around hierarchies of caste, race, ethnicity and gender. Further, women were considered pivotal in this work for the dexterity demanded in plucking the ‘two leaves and a bud’ from the tea plant.

In West Bengal, tea plantations were concentrated in the two districts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri. In the 19th century, the workforce comprised of indentured workers belonging to Scheduled Tribes from Chotanagpur plateau, and Nepali communities belonging to Scheduled Castes. The workers migrated to escape discrimination in service recruitments by the British army, caste oppressions and debt. Families were hired as a unit where women and children were also employed. 

The paper adds that with the move towards casualisation and contractualisation of work, women – especially those who are sole earners in the family – kept away from labour unionising due to fear of retrenchment. This would deprive the whole family of earnings as well as access to housing provided by employers. 

The Plantation Labour Act, 1951, made provisions for housing, medical amenities, education, food, electricity, fuel and other benefits to permanent workers on plantations and their families. However, a 2009 study of plantations across India found that 54.5 per cent of women workers were illiterate. While 97.9 per cent of the respondents were provided housing inside the plantations, essential facilities were limited. Of the units surveyed, maternity benefits were provided by only 73.5 per cent and crèche facilities by 37.1 per cent, separate urinals by a mere 7.6 per cent and rest shelters by 6.8 per cent of the units. 

The incentive wage system of ‘bakshish’ (paying more if she plucked more than the assigned amount) or extra leaf price (e.l.p) is determined by quality of tea bush and benevolence of the sahib (manager or owner). The paper notes that this forced workers to work for abysmally low pay and in adverse weather conditions. 

Despite Equal Remuneration Act of 1976, women lack control over their earnings both at home and at the workplace. There is also discrimination in non-cash components of remuneration where women are given lesser quantity of food grains. Political activism is also limited since women are at the bottom of the hierarchy in unions. 

As per testimonials of workers, there is at least one family member from every household who has migrated for work. There is also significant out-migration overseas for contractual employment. A worker quoted in the paper said, “But people cannot just leave the tea garden. We have our homes here, a bit of land. One worker has to continue work in the tea garden or else we lose every little thing that we have.”

Workers are provided paltry security for old age through provident fund and there is often delay in the payment of gratuity amounts. 

In recent years, the Indian tea industry has gone through changes in operational patterns – ownership has shifted from large tea estates to smaller holders, shift from collective bargaining led by the working class to identity-based politics. Yet, the destiny of plantation workers has not changed resulting in continual migration.

Focus and Factoids by Jerry Jose.