Tea-garden community

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The Tea-garden community is a term for a multiethnic, multicultural group of tea garden workers and their descendants in

History

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Immigration into Assam

Newly immigrated tea garden workers at work in colonial Assam (c. 1907–1913)

In the 19th century, the British found Assam suitable for tea cultivation and wanted to increase their revenue by planting tea plantations, so they brought labourers from different parts of the country to clear large tracts of forest and make tea gardens. Tea garden workers were brought to the tea plantations of Assam in several phases from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century from the tribal heartland of central-eastern India as indentured labourers. During the 1840s, tribal people throughout the Chota Nagpur Division were revolting against expanding British control, and the scarcity of cheap labour to work in the expanding tea industry of Assam led the British authorities to recruit primarily Tribals and some backward-class Hindus as indentured labourers to work in Assam's tea gardens. Thousands of people recruited as labourers died of diseases during the journey to Assam, and hundreds who tried to flee were killed by the British authorities as punishment for breaching their contracts.

In 1841 the first attempt was made by the Assam Company to recruit labourers. In this attempt, 652 people were forcibly recruited, but due to an outbreak of cholera, most of them died. Those who survived fled. In 1859 the Workmen's Breach of Contract Act was passed, which instituted harsh penalties for indentured labourers who broke their contracts, including flogging. It alleviated the scarcity of labourers on the plantation by recruiting from outside Assam through contracts. "Arakattis," or brokers, were appointed to recruit labour from outside the area. In 1870, the "Sardari System" was introduced to recruit labourers.

Conditions of recruitment of labour from

Debarken Depots were used to carry the bonded labours. Some of the Debarken Depots in the Brahmaputra were Tezpur, Silghat, Kokilamukh, Dibrugarh, etc. Debarken Depots in Surma (Barak) were Silchar, Katigorah, Karimganj etc. Labourers were brought in ships, in conditions that were far lower than required for the transport of animals. Steamers were overcrowded with recruits and it was highly unhygienic. These conditions led to the spread of cholera among the labourers which led to the death of many among them in the journey.

Under British colonial rule

After the journey, their life in the tea gardens was also difficult. Planters made barracks known as the Coolie line for the labourers and these were overcrowded. "Coolie" was a term used by tea garden authorities to denote labourers, and is now considered to be a derogatory term by the community.

In these barracks, each tea garden labourer had barely twenty-five square feet of area for their personal use. Many of the tea gardens insisted on a morning muster of the labours. They were not allowed to remain absent in their duty for a single day even when they were unwell. The labourers did not enjoy any personal freedom at all, and were even forbidden to meet labourers working at other tea gardens. Prior permission from the manager of the tea gardens was necessary for the marriage of the labourers.

In addition to emigrant labourers, tea planters also forced labourers to increase the birth rate, so that each garden could garner enough labour force. Abortion was strictly prohibited.

The wages paid to labourers were very low. This forced the whole of family members to work in the tea garden. From 1865–1881 men labourers were paid only ₹5 per month and women ₹4 per month. The situation remained the same up to 1900. It was only by an Act of 1901 that wages increased to ₹5.5 for men and ₹4.5 for women. Children's wages remained the same. These rates of pay compared extremely unfavourably with other manual work available: in the early 1880s an unskilled railway construction labourer earned ₹12 to 16 per month (3 times more than tea garden labour).

The tea garden labourers suffered under legal bondage. Their lives were governed by the Workmen's Breach of Contract Act (Act 3 of 1859). Under this act employees were liable to prosecution, and even imprisonment, for breach of contract. Inertia, refusal to work and desertion were likewise punishable offenses for which the workers could be flogged, subjected to physical torture and imprisoned under the provisions of this act. Flogging was common practice in the tea gardens. The then Chief Commissioner Assam Fuller commented on the condition of labourers, "...They were deprived of all their freedom and their derogatory conditions and atrocities remind one of the slaves running in Africa and the global slave trade."

In addition to this, the tea garden manager might abuse the workers physically. A tea garden manager in Darrang district caught a boy in an attempt at burglary, and he was beaten to death. His dead body was subsequently found with marks that showed that he had been cruelly beaten. In Cachar district, a boy was flogged to death because he did not salute the European manager. The most notorious incident was a shooting in which a tea garden labourer was killed by the European planter of the Kharial Tea Estate of Cachar in 1921 after refusing to provide his daughter as a concubine to the planter for a night. Facing such atrocities, many tea garden labourers often become insane. Many such sufferers were confined in the jail set up at Tezpur in 1876 for insane people.

Health conditions during colonial times

Thousands of labourers died annually due to the lack of availability of health care. The gardens did not appoint any doctors. Though the colonial government tried to make tea gardens appoint European medical officers and send health reports to the government regularly, tea gardens failed to comply. Most of the gardens didn't have hospitals to treat labourers in ill health. Most of the gardens appointed some trained physicians, called LMP (Learned Medical Practitioners), only after 1889, when Berry White Medical School was set up at Barbari, Dibrugarh.

State of education during colonial rule

A report published by a European DPI in 1917–18 stated that as many as 2 lakh children of school-going age were in the tea gardens of Assam, but not even 2% turned up for primary education. The numbers of the schools and students' enrolment were in papers and files only. In 1950 there were 5,00,416 of children who could attend the lower primary schools, but only 29,361 children attended. It was just meagre 6%. From 1946–50, there were only four college students from tea gardens. The number of students who attended high schools, including M. E. schools, during this period was Jorhat – 29, Dibrugarh – 15, Golaghat – 22, Titabor – 04, Nagaon – 10, Lakhimpur – 12, Tezpur – 41 and Mangaldai – 05.

The tea planters never encouraged education to garden labourers as it would prevent them from physical labor or encourage protest against exploitation. Even after Indian independence, the amount spent on tea garden education in the first five-year plan was just 0.26 million (2.6 lakhs), i.e., not even ten paise per tea garden labourer.

The medium of instruction had also created problems in the tea gardens. Different tribes and castes had their own language and literature in the school owing largely to their original places. In tea gardens, three languages were primarily spoken by the labours:

Noted historian Amalendu Guha remarks, "Illiterate, ignorant, unorganised and isolated from their homes as they were, the plantation workers were weak and powerless against the planters." Still, several times they tried to protest against the atrocities of the planters and estate managers: for example, protest of 1884 in Bowalia T.E., Strike of Helem T.E. in 1921, etc.

Numbers of people from the community actively participated in the

Demographics

An ethno-linguistic minority, the population of the community is primarily rural in nature and estimated to be around 7 million (70 lakhs), or nearly 20% of Assam's total population.^[4][13][14] Different political parties appeal to them during election seasons in Assam as their demographic numbers always influence politics in Assam.

They live in almost every district of Assam, but their density varies according to the number of tea plantations in different regions of Assam. They are more numerous in Upper Assam and Central Assam than Lower Assam. Some were not brought for tea garden labour. Many tribes (most notably Santhal, Kurukh, Bhumij and Munda people) were forcibly displaced by the British from the Chotanagpur region due to their rebellion against the British regime. They were dumped into Lower Assam regions of then-undivided Goalpara and undivided Darrang districts as a punishment for their uprising against the regime (Santhal rebellion of the 1850s and Birsa Munda Rebellion of 1899–1900).

The community dominates the districts of a significant portion of

Notified tea garden communities[20]^[21]

Other tea garden communities^{[22][23][24][25][19]}

Languages

The people of the tea garden community speak various languages inherited from immigrant descent, forming a multilingual ethnic groups in Assam that are distinct from prevalent native languages like

In July 2021, Kudmali Sahitya Sabha of Assam opposed the imposition of Sadri language in primary school for tea-tribes and demand inclusion of the Kurmali language in the school curriculum.[29] In July 2021, Adivasi Sahitya Sabha of Assam urged the education minister of Assam, Ronuj Pegu, to promote Adivasi/tribal languages such as Santali, Mundari, Kurukh, Kharia and Gondi. The president of Adivasi Sahitya Sabha of Assam opposed the use of Sadri or Bagania language in schools by claiming it as an artificial language and opposed the term Tea-tribe by claiming it as self-created nomenclature.^[30]

Religion

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The majority of the population of the community follows Folk Hinduism and Sarnaism, while Christians account for about 15% of the population.

Hindus worship different deities during different seasons of a year. Most (if not all) of the Hindus are animistic in nature and worship tribal and tantra-related gods. The influence of mainstream Vedic Hinduism is minimal and animistic Shaktism dominates in religious practices.

The ancient tribal religion Sarnaism is also deeply rooted among a sizeable section of tea garden workers. They believe in a universal supreme God and worship him/her in different names like Marangburu, Mahadeo, and Singboga.

Vaishnavism is also steadily gaining footholds among a section of the Hindu population of the community.

They are very religious-minded people and love to worship nature. Many trees are considered sacred and are worshipped. Nearly every village has religious temples and sacred ground (jaher than) for community worship.

However, increasing conversions into Christianity have led many of them into adopting Christianity and many churches have been built as a result. Nearly one million are now Christians in the state.

Festivals are an important part of their lives and are generally deeply connected to their religion and their culture. They celebrate many festivals during different seasons. Almost every major Hindu festival is celebrated by the community, with Christians celebrating Christian festivals.

Major festivals celebrated by the community are

Dhols, Manjiras, Madars, Kartals, Tamaks, Nagaras, Nishans, and Bansuris are some of the musical instruments used by them.

'Jhumair' is a famous folk dance form among the community. This dance is a folk dance prevalent in Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.

It has become famous among the community although traditionally different ethnic groups and tribes have different folk dances.

Dhols, Mandars, and Kartals are the traditional musical instruments used during the dance for music. Usually, the traditional dress of red-bordered white saris is adorned by female dancers along with jewellery and ornaments before performing the dance. Male dancers wear dhotis and kurtas with white turbans on their heads.

Socio-economic conditions

They are one of the most backward and exploited communities in Assam due to decades of continuous exploitation by tea estate management and neglect on the part of the government. Though the younger generations are better-educated and are becoming professionals in various fields, there are not many of those in the community.^[14][31]

The literacy rate of the community is one of the lowest in Assam, particularly among girls and women. Due to this, girls are extremely vulnerable to sexual exploitation and early marriages are prevalent among them.

Since the majority of the community are still labourers, they live in labour lines built inside tea-estates and established by tea planters. These estates are located in remote areas and this contributes to the backwardness and exploitation of them by the tea planters. The labourers in a way have to live with the basic facilities provided by the tea planters. The tea planters usually exploit the workers every possible way.^[32] Violence and agitation of labourers against the management is common, where the state machinery normally protects the tea-planters. Non-education, poverty, addiction of males to country-beer, poor standard of living, rising population and inadequate health facilities provided to them are the problems in their lives. There are instances when tea-planters do not even supply the life-saving drugs when workers are dying out of epidemics.^[33][34][35]

The

The tea industry is a crucial part of the

About one million labourers are dependent on Assam's tea industry and almost all of them are the descendants of those who were brought to Assam as labourers by East India Company, mostly from Jharkhand and Orissa.[37] The sacrifice, toil and hard work of these labourers gave shape to the tea industry of Assam. However, the story behind the tea cultivation, plucking and processing of tea leaves in the plantations is one of exploitation and untold hardships for the tea labourers.^[38] These labourers are still living with the basic facilities provided by the tea planters or companies. Poor standard of living and lack of education and health facilities are the main problems of tea labourers.

Literacy level among the community is only 46%, one of the lowest against Assam's 72% overall literacy rate as tea garden management and other vested interests hinder in their educational development.^[39]

The government of Assam has a full fledged "Tea-tribes welfare department" for looking after the socio-economic welfare of the community.^[40] There also exist an Adivasi Development Council and Tea & Ex-Tea Garden Tribes Development Council to look after specific development needs of the community.^[41] But Adivasi students' organisation AASAA has demanded an extension of the area of the Adivasi Development Council to all parts of Assam, as it is currently operational in only sixth scheduled areas of the state.^[42]

There have also been demands for the formation of an autonomous satellite council for Adivasis in Assam.^{[43] [44]}

Demand for Scheduled Tribe status

Tribals among the community have been fighting for decades to receive

Numerous agitations and movements have been organised and are ongoing demanding ST status,[49] and the most infamous of them was the Beltola incident of Guwahati on 24 November 2007, where public rape and killings occurred in the daylight.

On 8 January 2019, the central government led by Bharatiya Janata Party approved The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill 2019 in Cabinet to accord "Scheduled Tribe" status to at least 36 tribes of this community and tabled it in Parliament. The bill passed in the Lok Sabha but failed to make it through Rajya Sabha on the last day of the budget session due to lack of time.^[50]

Increase in wage issue

The issue of wage is another issue gripping the majority members of this community. They are demanding an increase in daily wages of tea garden workers of the state from the existing daily wage of ₹167 ($2.1) to ₹350 ($5).

As cited, ₹167 as a daily wage for tea garden workers did not fulfill the provisions of the Minimum Wage Act, 1948, as it is below the Assam government's prescribed minimum wage for organized workers (₹290). Wages in the tea gardens of Barak Valley are even more meagre (₹115 per day). Also, according to the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, and the Minimum Wage Act, 1948, costs associated with housing, medical and electricity could not be included as part of minimum wages.

Southern states of India have been successful in increasing the daily wages of tea garden workers while maintaining the industry profitable. The daily wage is ₹310 ($5) in Kerala.

It is estimated that 10 lakhs (1 million) labourers, including casual workers working in over 850 tea gardens, are deprived of their right of minimum wages in Assam.^{[citation needed]}

Though in 2018 the wages of tea garden workers improved considerably to ₹167 by the government of Assam, it is still well below the ₹350 demanded by the workers. The wages of tea garden labourers are revised every few years through agreements between the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA) and the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS). Tea garden labourers of the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam get ₹167 as a daily wage, but including statutory and non-statutory benefits and other benefits, their daily wage is around ₹214 per day. They also get housing facilities from the tea garden management and avail free medical benefits.

Human rights issues

The persecution of the community is mainly political and ethnic in nature. They are increasingly becoming the victims of a volatile social and political situation in Assam. The violence upon the community has risen following the rise of ethnic nationalism and related militancy across the state and violent arising out of border disputes of Assam with other states. There were two ethnic clashes between Bodo and Adivasi during the 1990s at the height of the

A tripartite Adivasi Peace Accord signed between the Central Ministry of Home Affairs, the government of Assam and 8 armed cease fire Adivasi rebel groups on 15 September 2022 guaranteed the formation of a Adivasi Welfare and Development Council with headquarters at Guwahati along with a special development package of Rs.1000 crores for socio-economic and educational upliftment of Adivasi communities with focused infrastructure development in Adivasi inhabiting villages/tea gardens of Assam.[52]^[53]

• 8 Adivasi students lost their lives in police firing at Paneri in Udalguri district on 25 July 2003 when they were blocking the national highway during the 12 hour Assam Bandh by All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) demanding Scheduled Tribes status.^[54][55]
• In November 2007, five individuals lost their lives and at least 250 were injured when a rally demanding Scheduled Tribe status by All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) turned violent between the participants and locals in Guwahati, the state capital of Assam. A teenage tribal girl and a woman were molested in the daylight during the violence.^[56]
• Many living in the border areas of
  Sonitpur, and Lakhimpur districts have lost their lives during violence arising out of the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border dispute from 1992 to 2014 due to attacks by armed miscreants from the Arunachal Pradesh side.^[57]
• In October–November 2010, thousands of Tribals, including women and children, were forcefully evicted by the Forest Department of Assam without prior notice from the Lungsung forest area under Haltugaon Forest division in Kokrajhar district of Assam due to illegal encroachment of forest lands. The Forest department burnt down hundreds of houses in 59 villages in the Lungsung forest area during the eviction drive and perpetrated various atrocities on the Adivasi villagers, mostly Santhals and Oraons. About 1200 to 1400 families, comprising over 7000 persons, were rendered homeless.[58]
• In August 2014, at least 10 Tribal villagers lost their lives and several were injured near Uriamghat and Morangi in the district of Golaghat due to alleged attacks by armed Naga miscreants supported by NSCN militants. At least 10,000 people were displaced, mostly Adivasis, following the attacks in Morangi, Golaghat district. A border dispute between Assam and Nagaland is cited as one of the reasons for the attack.^[59]
• During the
  Bodos in Phuloguri village. Further, during the clash, another 14 were killed. The total death toll reached 85. Both communities burned houses and damaged properties at different parts of the state. The violence also spread to Udalguri district. Nearly 0.3 million people from both Adivasi and Bodo community got internally displaced due to retaliatory violence after the attacks. It led to widespread public protests across different parts of Assam in which again three tribal Adivasi protesters lost their lives in police firing in Dhekiajuli. Widespread condemnation happened across the nation against the massacre. As a result, the Indian Army launched "Operation All Out" to hunt down the NDFB(S) militants.^[60]
• At least 168 people, mostly tea workers, including women, died in the 2019 Assam alcohol poisonings, one of the worst hooch tragedies of India in the districts of Jorhat and Golaghat on 21–25 February 2019.

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Nath, Bikash (2016). Tea Plantation Workers of Assam and the Indian National Movement, 1921-1947. Ratna Sagar.
  ISBN 978-93-84092-17-7
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• Behal, Rana Partap (2014). One Hundred Years of Servitude: Political Economy of Tea Plantations in Colonial Assam. Tulika Books.
  ISBN 978-93-82381-43-3
  .
• Dey, Lucky (2011). Argument selection in Sadani/Sadri as spoken in Assam (PhD thesis). Tezpur University.
  S2CID 130189780
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• Sharma, Jayeeta (2011). Empire's Garden: Assam and the Making of India (PDF). Duke University Press.
  ISBN 9780822350491. Alt URL
• Sengupta, Sarthak (2009). The Tea Labourers of North East India: An Anthropo-historical Perspective. Mittal Publications.
  ISBN 978-81-8324-306-3
  .
• Pulloppillil, Thomas (1999). Identity of Adivasis in Assam. Indian Publishers Distributors.
  ISBN 978-81-7341-080-2
  .
• Roy, Dutta; Karotemprel, Sebastian; Datta-Ray, B. (1990). Tea Garden Labourers of North East India: A Multidimensional Study on the Adivasis of the Tea Gardens of North East India. Vendrame Institute.
  ISBN 978-81-85408-00-2
  .
• Phukan, Umananda (1984). The Ex-tea Garden Labour Population in Assam: A Socio-economic Study. B.R. Publishing Corporation.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tea-garden community.

• List of tea garden at Assam Archived 26 March 2024 at the Wayback Machine
• Village Planning has lifesaving impact for the Tea Tribes in Assam
• Tribal Turmoil (Including a history of exploitation)
• Tea Tribes are lagging behind in the Process of Urbanization : A Study on Selected Tea Gardens of Jorhat District, Assam
• PATHETIC PLIGHT OF THE TEA TRIBES IN COLONIAL ASSAM (1826-1947A.D): A BRIEF STUDY