Nandigram Escalates to Tea Gardens

Nandigram Escalates to Tea Gardens

Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time -Two Hundred Thirty

Palash Biswas


Please read my Bengali article, AI MRITYU UPTYAKA AAMAR DESH BHARAT VARSHA ( This Valley of Death is My Country Bharat Varsha) IN AKKHA(R) JATRA`S LATEST ISSUE. Sorry, the little mag is not available on Net. Pl contact Mr Dibakar Sarkar for your copy. phone:033-25651329,9201492333,9339276044,9231636613.

Nandigram Esclates to Tea Gardens.In West Bengal, a day after 5 policemen were injured in firing by local groups in Nandigram, the police force is in a hapless state as there is growing discontent in the police ranks about how their hands have been tied following the political insensitivity of the case. On Friday (June 15), Nandigram was rocked by fresh violence as a police party got caught in a crossfire between CPM members and Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) activists opposing acquisition of land for a proposed SEZ. The police fired in the air to disperse armed members of Trinamool Congress-backed Anti-Land Acquisition Platform and CPI(M) who clashed for the second day on Saturday at Nandigram as West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi called for immediate restoration of peace there. In Kolkata, the Governor, speaking to reporters, condemned the fresh violence and called for immediate restoration of peace at Nandigram. The governor went to the SSKM Hospital to visit Police Inspector Prabhat Kumar Sarkar who is recovering from bullet injuries he received in the head at Nandigram yesterday. Senior congress leaders of West Bengal criticised the CPI-M top-brass for their failure to find a solutuion of Nandigram problem.

On the other hand . TMC supremo firebrand Mamata Bannerjee is all set to launch a Tea War! She goes to North Bengal Tea gardens to lead an agitation there. Thus, Nandigram escalates to Tea gardens of Bengal!The West Bengal Government had said that there was no report of starvation death among the workers of the closed tea plantations in North Bengal, but admitted that they were living in abject poverty and facing a crisis situation. The Industry and Commerce Minister Nirupam Sen had earlier blamed the plantation owners for the crisis in the tea industry, saying their reluctance to maintain the tea garden and diversion of profits to other areas had compounded the problem. The state government has taken a seven-point programme to mitigate the problem of the jobless tea workers. These included providing ex-gratia to them to prevent starvation, supplying cheap foodgrains under the Antyodaya scheme.


Meanwhile,The tea gardens are plagued by multitude of problems ranging from starvation to malnutrition, illness and poverty.Concerned by reports of starvation deaths in closed tea gardens in West Bengal, a state assembly panel has convened a meeting with officials of Tea Board and various departments next week to draw up an action plan for the revival of the gardens and providing relief to workers. The meeting would hold discussions on the relief package for the tea gardens and the panel would place its report in the assembly during the extended budget session of the House which will commence on July 2, Sudip Bandopyadhyya, Chairman of Standing Committee on Commerce and Industries, said.On the other hand, India is considering plans to take over shut tea gardens and call for bids from prospective buyers to get them up and running, the junior commerce minister said on Thursday. At least 33 small gardens have been shut for the more than two years in the states of West Bengal and Assam in eastern India and in southern Kerala, after yields from their ageing tea bushes plummeted. The government has held several rounds of talks with the owners, but has failed to reopen the plantations.


Last month, a court inquiry found hundreds of tea workers had died from diseases linked with malnutrition over the past year after the closure of tea estates in West Bengal left them with no income.Investigations by the Supreme Court found poor production and low yields led to the closure of 16 tea gardens in a remote part of West Bengal state. It found many workers had lost their jobs and were left with no income to survive, while hundreds more are still starving. While plantation owners blame it on the country's strong regulations to protect workers' rights that make it impossible for companies to remove staff, trade unions say that estate owners have failed pay wages and other arrears owed to workers following the shutdown and are now fighting the employers for compensation in court. All the sick tea gardens are mired in legal wrangles. The central government will have to sort out all legal problems before inviting any bid. No entreprenuer is likely to come forward to takeover the garden unless the court cases are resolved. Sikarpur, Bandarpur and Raipur tea estates together employ 2,105 people.


''CPI-M leaders are responsible for no solution being found on the burning issue of Nandigram yet'' alleged State Congress General Secretary Manas Bhuinya and Vice-President Pradip Bhattacharya.



In RAIGANJ,North Bengal, Jamait Ulema-e-Hind supremo Mr Siddiqullah Choudhury today threatened to organise a movement against the state government unless it took measures for the development of the Muslims.Mr Choudhury was addressing a public meeting at Gaisal, in Islampur sub-division of North Dinajpur district. According to Mr Siddiqullah, the Sachar Committee report clearly states there has been no mentionworthy improvement in the lifestyle of the Muslim community in the past 30 years’ of Left Front rule.
“The Muslims are still neglected in government services. We have urged the state government to adopt appropriate measures for the development of minority Muslims following the Sachhar Committee report. If it fails to do so we shall launch a vigorous movement in the state,” the Jamait leader, said. Mr Siddiqullah also claimed that Muslims made up the majority population in the Islampur sub-division and their language was Urdu. “Yet the government has not done anything for the Urdu language here. We shall launch a movement soon demanding Urdu be declared as the second language as medium of education here.”


Unrest has returned to Nandigram. According to sources, the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) organised a rally on Friday to protest the alleged torture of its supporters, who returned to Khejuri on June 6-7, by CPM cadres. Around 8 am on Friday, BUPC members started marching towards Khejuri via Bhangaberia, the scene of the March 14 bloodbath. When the rally neared the bridge on Talpati canal, they came under fire from the Khejuri side. Instead of retreating, BUPC members dug in and returned fire.

A police party from the Bhangaberia camp rushed to the spot, under a hail of gunfire, to broker peace. Though the CPM cadres backed off, the BUPC members continued to shoot and march forward. Five cops were injured. The policemen finally fired in the air and the attackers dispersed, but not before ransacking a CPM relief camp. Senior police officers in Kolkata denied that the CPM cadres were involved in the attack or that a relief camp was ransacked. What has shocked the police most is that the firing this time was from regular firearms, unlike the earlier incidents when country-made weapons were used. The injured officer has been admitted to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. "Prabhat Kumar Sarkar, an inspector of the district intelligence branch, was shot in the head and had to be rushed to Kolkata. Since the firing was from the Sonachura side, we can assume that BUPC members were involved. The relief camp was the initial target and BUPC members crossed the canal and managed to reach the bridge," said IG (law and order) Raj Kanojia.

According to the sources, the policemen were quiet upset about the incident and don't want to show restraint anymore. Sources further claim that there is illegal arms and ammunition in Nandigram. The local level CPI (M) workers want the police to enter Nandigram and take their workers back to their homes. After the March 14th incident, where in 14 people were killed in police firing following the clashes in Nandigram, there were agitations at the lower ranks of the police force, following which some of the policemen were withdrawn from their duties in Nandigram.

More tea estates reopen in Kerala

Three closed-down tea gardens in Peerumedu in Kerala - Vagamon, Kotamala and Bonami estates - are back in business from this week. This is the second leg of the country-wide tea estate reopening set in motion after minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh mooted a Rs 58-crore bailout package for tea sector. “Despite Tea Board’s reopening zest, it’s going to be an uphill job to sustain the operations,”cautioned JK Thomas, president, United Planters Association of South India (Upasi).

As many as 33 tea gardens - 17 in Kerala, 14 in West Bengal and two in Assam - had been closed down. But, even when the reopening is happening relatively faster in the South, Upasi feels that the big challenge is going to be in keeping the estates from closing down again. One, the present situation of global tea shortage is changing, meaning that the margins are to get the squeeze. Two, instead of pushing the collective bargaining power, wages must be productivity-linked. The proposed restructuring package addresses only the liabilities.

Kangra tea industry faces extinction

Around 3,679 growers engaged in tea cultivation in Kangra district are left with little to relish on apart from its 55-year old glorious past due to depleting margins. Also, the Chinese bush tea that once trickled the taste buds of tea lovers as far as Afghanistan, Peshawar and other middle-east countries is losing market for lack of proper marketing by each year.



SEZ okayed at Nandagudi, opposition bulldozed

DH News Service, Bangalore:
Is the H D Kumaraswamy-led government really serious in developing the proposed townships around Bangalore? If the green signal given by the State Cabinet on Friday to a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Nandagudi in Hoskote taluk is any indication, the government is only keen on furthering the interests of private players.It is reliably learnt that while Chief Minister Kumaraswamy took special interest in promoting this project, the BJP ministers were against approving it.


Delhi pep pill for ‘ageing’ estates
A STAFF REPORTER
Guwahati, June 15: As many as 65 estates of Assam will be among the first to reap the benefits of Delhi’s Special Purpose Tea Fund. The fund is meant for gardens that require extensive replanting and rejuvenation of ageing tea bushes, the root cause of declining productivity. Tea Board sources said contracts valued between Rs 5 crore and Rs 10 crore would be signed at a meeting slated for June 24 in Guwahati. The process of disbursal is expected to start next month.


Meanwhile,Reliance Retail seems to be planning a big-time entry into the packet tea market.The buzz suggests that if the retail major is able to establish its tea brand in the market, the company might look at the option to acquire tea gardens. This will help the company to lower its procurement cost, increase its product portfolio and offer customised blends.
The retail major has firmed up plans to roll out packet tea under its own private label, Reliance Select. It has just initiated talks with Goodricke Group for entering into an exclusive deal to procure some of the exquisite blends for its brand. Confirming this development, K S David, MD, diversification, GGL told ET, “Reliance Retail has been talking to us for procuring bulk tea. The deal is yet to be clinched.” Industry buzz is that Reliance will procure CTC tea from GGL which are produced at its 12 gardens in Dooars. The retail major has already initiated test marketing of packet teas in select stores. For this it has procured some tea from the B K Birla group company, Jay Shree Tea & Industries. A senior Reliance Retail official said the company now plans to expand its own label of packaged tea to more than 150 Reliance Fresh chain of stores. Its decision to enter packaged tea segment comes at a time when domestic consumption is growing at about 3.3% annually. According to industry estimates, the packet tea market is nearly 360 million kg. Hindustan Unilever Ltd is the market leader with a 24% market share.


Situation in closed tea gardens not good, says WBHRC chairman
Cooch Behar: The situation in the closed tea gardens of north Bengal was not good, West Bengal Human Rights Commission chairman Shyamal Kumar Sen said on 21 May.
Talking to newsmen after visiting several tea gardens, Sen said the condition of Ramjhora tea estate which he visited today was not good.
After having successfully established their strongholds in West Midnapore, Bankura and Puruliya districts of West Bengal, the Maoist forces for the past one year have concentrated on establishing their network in the closed tea gardens in north Bengal. The rebel group is utilising the poverty of the people to shore up their base in the area. The Intelligence Branch (IB) of the West Bengal police has recently submitted a report to the state home department stating that the Maoist forces are gathering strength by roping in workers of the closed tea gardens under the banner of "Majdoor Kishan Sangharsh Samity" (Worker-Farmer Conflict Committee). According to the report, the group is inducting locals for advanced guerrilla ambush training. Confirming the receipt of the report, state home secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said the state government will take all possible steps to tackle the problem.


Tea has emerged as the most popular beverage in the country.The country has over 13,000 tea gardens.Thousands of people gather in various tea estates or tea gardens for plucking leaves. The work starts by seven in the morning and continues till it's four in the evening. Most of these workers are daily wagers and have been doing the same work for generations. These tea workers either stay at the tea estate or come from the nearby villages.Majority of these labourers are not educated. They are paid about 45 rupees a day for plucking about 21 kilograms of tea leaves. The daily wage is paid fortnightly. On an average, every tea estate worker assigned to pluck the leaves earns around Rs.300 per week.

In all aspects of tea production, consumption and export, India is the world leader, mainly because it accounts for 31 per cent of global production. India has retained its leadership over the last 150 years.

Indian tea industry has a total turnover of around Rs. 10,000 crores.Since independence the Indian tea production has grown over 250 per cent, while land area has grown just by 40 per cent. There has been a considerable increase in export too in the past few years.

Meanwhile, United Bank of India has decided to restructure its dues to Sikarpur and Bandarpur tea estates. Incidentally, 14 tea estates in the state, which employ 17,000 workers, are lying closed.
Interestingly, 1,047 workers of Chamruchi tea estate, another closed garden, have decided to run the garden on a cooperative model. A lady, who owns this garden, has expressed her inability to run the garden.


West Bengal, the second largest tea growing state in the country contributes about 24 per cent of the total production accounts for "numerous deaths of workers and their familiy members due to malnutrition in closed tea gardens in North Bengal", Sudeep said.

Of the 277 registered tea plantations in the state, 14 were closed, rendering nearly 10,000 workers jobless.



'With Singur in the backdrop, West Bengal's political environment though similar to Kerala, the culture of violence was detering the process of reopening the closed teagardens, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jairam Ramesh said here today.Speaking to mediapersonsin Kolkata, Mr Ramesh said though Kerala is ruled by the same party and CITU dominated trade union culture prevails in that state, he has received unhindered support from the Labour Minister and the trade unions in terms of reopening the closed tea gardens. Drawing the reference of Singur, where Tata Motors' much hyped small car project is coming up, violence has been a part of Bengal's politics, he said.

''Various trade unions in the tea gardens have been playing spoilsport to the negotiation process of reopening the tea gardens as they have vested interest. So are the garden owners who fail to come on the negotiation table,'' Mr Ramesh said out of the 33 closed tea gardens, 17 were in Kerala, 14 in West Bengal and two in Asom. ''In Kerala, out of the 17 gardens, five have already reopened. Another eight will be opened on July 15,'' he said.

''In Bengal, compared to Kerala, we could open only one garden-- Surendranagar. When both the states have same political climate, same trade union culture, the quality of owners are different in the two states. In Kerala, the owners are more serious,'' Mr Ramesh said.

‘Nandigram carnage illegal’

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=159684
KOLKATA, June 15: Appearing as a petitioner in the Nandigram carnage case today Mr Kalyan Bandopadhyaya told Calcutta HC that the police firing of 14 March in which 14 persons were killed and the firing by CPI-M cadres on and before that date had violated Article 21 of the Constitution and were illegal. His comment on the status report on Nandigram submitted to the court yesterday by the state government was partly correct, partly wrong.
Arguing before the Division Bench of the Chief Justice Mr SS Nijjar and Mr Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose Mr Bandopadhyaya gave a long list of incidents that had happened in Nandigram from 3 January to 14 March this year. After the Haldia Development Authority had issued a notification for acquisition of land for a chemical hub people had started agitating against such land acquisition. On 3 January they demonstrated in front of the panchayat office. The police fired and four persons were injured. On 7 January CPI-M cadres fired and three persons were killed. Complaints were lodged with the police but the police took no action. On 15 January those cadres opened their camps in differrent areas of Nandigram. On 12 February the chief minister announced at a meeting that no land would be taken from any person who was unwilling to sell his land. But next day Mr Lakshman Seth, chairman, HDA told a Press conference that land would be taken at any cost. People again began to agitate against it. Between 19 February and 7 March no untoward incident took place. On 8 March CPI-M cadres again started firing. Complaints were lodged with the police but the police took no step. On 10 March the DM said the administration would take steps for repairing the roads at any cost. It was a provocation. On 12 March about 3,000 policemen had been brought from outside. Next day a Trinamul Congress MLA sent a fax message to the CM requesting him to stop the police operation. On 14 March the police fired and as a result 14 persons were killed, 164 injured and 27 persons were missing. The same evening three women were raped. On 15 March at 11-15 a.m. the HC passed an order directing the CBI to inquire into the police firing. An hour later, at 12-15 the CM accepted the court’s order. After some days the CBI submitted its inquiry report. So now the Advocate-General cannot raise any objection to a CBI investigation. Hearing continues.


Land officers spar over tea gardens
A storm is brewing in a tea cup in the land and land reforms department. There is contention over who will look after tea gardens in the department. Land reforms commissioner (LRC) P K Agarwal, who used to handle the gardens, has been told to hand over the files to AK Patnaik, commissioner general of land revenue. The order has come directly from land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah.


Nalsa with tea status report at PM door
AVIJIT SINHA
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070611/asp/siliguri/story_7906862.asp
Siliguri, June 10: A report submitted to the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India recently says that “state-based infrastructure has failed to support the income-less (garden) workers” of the Dooars. The study by the National Legal Services Authority was referring to the “mismanagement in distribution of job cards and old age pensions and implementation of the 100-days-work scheme” in the closed tea estates, where 571 workers have died in the past 15 months.The report also states that the starvation in the gardens was mainly due to “unemployment, absence of alternative income opportunities and limited access to social justice measures (see graphic)”. The survey comes at a time when the Bengal government has been claiming that the deaths in closed tea gardens is at par with the state average and had nothing to do with starvation.

State lends a helping hand to tea garden workers
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=240038
Aveek Datta

Kolkata, June 7: In a bid to share the problems of workers at sick and closed tea gardens, the state government has decided to bring them under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Earlier, this Act was not applicable to a tea garden since it did not come under panchayats. Ailing tea gardens have created a large and unemployed workforce. The government, however, denied on Thursday that workers are dying of hunger in these gardens.

Tea industry sources said the efforts might not bear much fruit as tea gardens need to increase production and cut down on cost of employment, which is not possible. How long can the NREGA sustain such a big workforce, they wonder. “We need to look at the scope of diversification in tea gardens, and try to introduce new crops, keeping 51 per cent of the land under tea cultivation. However, that is not possible as land ceiling laws in the state will not permit more than 5 per cent of land to be used for such purposes,” said an industry expert.


Students take over school from police

The simmering tension in Nandigram reached a flashpoint on Friday when schoolchildren threw out the belongings of policemen camping in their school for the past five months. The agitated students claimed that the police camp was hampering classes and their studies. The students of Gokulnagar Gobindajiu Sikshaniketan, a secondary school in Nandigram, have been bearing with the ominous police presence on campus since February. The school authorities have appealed to the district administration, senior police officers and the state home department on a number of occasions since then, asking them to shift the camp out of the school grounds. But the police have stayed put in their camp.

The space crunch and the commotion forced the teachers to conduct classes in two shifts. Students watched silently for months, but on Friday, the dam burst. Around 10.45 am, a large group of assembled students barged into the camp and started throwing out the belongings of the policemen. They tossed out the cooking utensils and threw away the food prepared for the policemen. They also started shouting at them, asking them to leave at once. Teachers present tried to pacify the defiant students, but in vain.

Some of them - Dipak Bari, Khokon Das Adhikari, Mitali Bera and Mukesh Pramanik - were fuming. "We don't care about their duty or the tension in the area. Our studies were being hampered because of the police camp. They can go and stay anywhere else they want to," one of them said.

Headmaster Himangshu Sekhar Munian did not support the students' behaviour, but added in the same breath that repeated pleas to shift the camp out had fallen on deaf ears. Champak Choudhury, officer-in-charge, Nandigram police station, rushed to the spot and assured school authorities that the camp would soon be removed. A policeman, who bore the brunt of the students' ire, admitted that it was difficult for students to concentrate on their studies in such a situation.

Senior officers in Kolkata are yet to decide where they will put up the policemen now.

"We know we have to shift the camp, but we have to find an alternate location. We can pitch tents out in the open, but when it rains, the condition in the tents becomes really bad. There is no other place nearby to set up a camp," said Raj Kanojia, IG, law and order.

"This is not the first time that we have used school buildings. And sometimes, policemen there help school authorities. There was a camp at Rasiknagar, Purulia, where our head constables even held classes for students when there was a shortage of teachers," Kanojia said.

'Govt should pull down the boundary wall at Singur'
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday night said the land of unwilling farmers in Singur, acquired for Tata Motors small car project, should be returned even before the West Bengal government came out with an alternative compensation package. Banerjee's remarks came in the wake of CPI(M) veteran Jyoti Basu's statement during the day that the alternative package prepared by state Industries Minister Nirupam Sen was the "best".

"The land of unwilling farmers at Singur should be returned. This is our stand. The state government has to pull down the boundary wall of the project site," Banerjee told reporters before leaving for North Bengal to attend a party meeting.

Basu told reporters during the day that the package would be disclosed by Sen after hearing of a land acquisition case in the Calcutta High Court on June 18.

Presenter/Interviewer: Rob Sharp
Speakers: Deputy Secretary K Mukherjee from the Tea Association of India
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asiapac/programs/s1946633.htm

MUKHERJEE: That market is very bad. The labour productivity, land productivity, there are a number of factors. Nobody wishes to close down their gardens on their own. They are forced rather, they're compelled rather, the land productivity has gone bad. There's no easy answer, there cannot be a straight-cut answer to that. A number of factors have contributed to the closure of these gardens. It is not only the workers, we sympathise for them, for the workers of the closed gardens, but at the same time the owners they have also become sick. That is also a fact.

SHARP: Is it because of malnutrition, or is it something else?

MUKHERJEE: That is for the doctors to, the competent authorities who are… health services, the government health services they're the competent authorities to comment on this.

SHARP: What sort of competition is there for tea gardens and tea estates in India at the moment?

MUKHERJEE: The competition is plenty, from other competitors in Kenya, in Sri Lanka, in China, in Vietnam, they're all competitors. Our market has fallen, our prices, that has come down very drastically over the years. Our costs have gone up as compared to the world level, our cost of production of Indian tea that has gone up. And at the same time we are subject to Indian tea, the industry is subject to a very high amount of the total costs and that's why we can't compete with the world market.

SHARP: So it's the increased competition that is forcing some tea estates to close down?

MUKHERJEE: That is partially true of course, that is not the sole reason but partially true.

SHARP: What are the other reasons?

MUKHERJEE: There's the high cost of production, lower land productivity, lower labour productivity, change in tastes, tastes from city-city orthodox. There's a number of factors.

SHARP: Sure.

MUKHERJEE: But particularly it is the unprecedented crisis that started in 1999, the price … that has gone down by more than 12 rupees, the average of some price … over these years that has gone down by more than 12 rupees. Whereas the costs have gone up, all the in-costs of the … from it, everything has gone up, whereas the prices are going down.

SHARP: Most tea estates in India would be struggling then?

MUKHERJEE: Even those, it is unfortunate that some of the gardens have closed, but at the same time there are a number of gardens which are sick, not yet closed but sick. There are a number of gardens.

SHARP: When you say they're sick, they're struggling are they?

MUKHERJEE: Yeah they're struggling, you are right.

SHARP: How many workers does the tea industry employ throughout India?

MUKHERJEE: Six … workers they're directly employed, and there are many dependents in directly employed, it will come to a million. We are very much concerned about the plight of the workers of the closed gardens, but at the same time the state government, West Bengal government it has also come forward to provide some aid in the form of food, food rationing, medical aid to these hapless workers.

SHARP: So the government of West Bengal has provided some aid?

MUKHERJEE: It's trying, the West Bengal and central government, and the government of India as well as the government of West Bengal they are trying to help these poor workers.


Tea plantation flourishes in Tripura



With its favourable agro-climatic conditions, many tea planters are being attracted to Tripura.

Durgabari tea estate in Bamutia, west of Tripura, is an example of this trend. Durgabari is a workers' co-operative. Unlike other tea estates the workers here are the owners.

In 1978, Durgabari was spread over 30 acres of land and had only 19,000 plants. But today, it produces 3000 kg of tea per hectare with an annual production of two lakh kilograms of final made tea.

Impressed by the performance of Durgabari, the tea board of India along with the North Eastern council has commissioned a modern factory in the estate. The tea board is also implementing the latest techniques to improve production in other parts of the country.

Tea gardens were first established in Tripura in 1916. Today, there are over 60 tea estates and 4,000 small tea growers. Tripura ranks fifth among the fourteen tea producing states in the country. And with the tea board showing an active interest, the State can look forward to a bright future for the plantation workers.

Tea is an important agro-industry of Assam

Tea is an important agro-industry of Assam, which contributes immensely to the state's economy. Tea garden population constitutes approximately 1/5th of state's population. Poor socio-economic conditions, ignorance due to illiteracy, over-crowded and unhygienic living conditions in the residential colonies make tea garden population vulnerable to various communicable diseases and malnutrition. Scattered reports indicate higher prevalence of undernutrition and infectious conditions like filariasis in this population.[4],[5],[6],[7],[8] A recent study showed that NCDs like hypertension is emerging as important public health problem among them, which may be partly due to the excessive use of alcohol and tobacco.[9] There may be some also specific health problems, which may be related to their occupation. The information, available on health problems and nutritional status among them, is not adequate for public health planning. Hence, we conducted a survey to with an objective to identify the health problems and nutritional status of tea garden population of Assam. The findings allow us to discuss their health scenario against the backdrop of their socio-economic condition and lifestyles, which will have important public health implication.


¤ Materials and Methods


The study was conducted among tea garden population of Dibrugarh district of Assam during the period 2002-2003. Approval of the Institutional Ethical Committee of Regional Medical Research Centre for Northeast India, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was taken initially to carry out the study.

Dibrugarh is the hub of tea industry and situated in the eastern corner of the state comprising a total land area of 3381 km 2. The workers of tea plantation industry migrated to Assam from states like Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh in the latter part of nineteenth to early twentieth century.[9] These workers are solely dependent on this industry for their livelihood and generally at least one member of every family is engaged in tea industry mainly as daily waged manual workers. Both adult male and female are equally employed. They work mainly as tea-pluckers, but small proportion of them are also engaged in factory, office etc. Fixed daily wage is paid to them for the working days. However, they are also paid extra amount for generating more than stipulated work-output.