Dooars (Bengal): In the tea belt of the Dooars, where the livelihoods of many hinges on the thriving tea industry, top leadership from the Bharatiya Janata Party and Trinamool have engaged in intensive campaigning for the three pivotal seats up for grabs. Over the past few days, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar have seen a flurry of rallies addressed by the Prime Minister, Union home minister, and other top BJP leaders. Senior Trinamool figures including the chief minister and the party national general secretary have been camping there, intensifying the stakes for the electoral showdown set for today, April 19.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Amidst the political spectacle, concerns loom over the fate of the region’s tea gardens.
While the Labour Department of the West Bengal government paints a relatively optimistic picture, citing only 20 closed gardens in North Bengal, the tea workers on the ground offer a bleaker assessment, with nearly 15% of the state’s 300 tea gardens remaining inactive or in a state of disrepair. The blame game ensues, with fingers pointed at the policies of both state and Union governments for the industry’s woes.
The Raipur Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri district has remained shut for over two decades, but for a few months in 2018. The once-lush tea leaves now darken with neglect, as locals say that the absentee owner, residing in London, has lost interest in its upkeep. Upon venturing inside, one would observe eight rows of workers’ quarters within the garden premises, all in dismal condition. Many of its 550 workers are now forced to live off of government aid.
Photo: Joydeep Sarkar
“We receive government allowances for the closure of tea plantations, along with free rations. Many of us work as daily wage labourers in neighbouring tea estates or elsewhere. No one seems to have any interest in reviving the garden. Instead, we attend grassroots-level meetings where each family member receives financial aid, starting with the Lakshmi Bhandar scheme. All things considered, we manage to make ends meet,” said Baraku Munda, who still lives in the workers’ quarter despite its dilapidated condition.
A bleak picture
The tea plantations in the area cover approximately 97,280 hectares and contribute significantly to India’s total tea production, producing around 226 million kg of tea annually. The Dooars region alone accommodates 154 out of the 283 tea gardens in North Bengal, employing approximately 3.5 lakh workers. In the Darjeeling district, known for its high-quality tea, the potential production capacity stands at 11 million kg, but the current production is only 6.5 million kg due to the migration of male workers to other states for employment opportunities. Consequently, women now constitute over 80% of the tea workforce in the region who receive Rs 250 per day, and are given an incentive if they pluck more than 24 kg of leaves.
Photo: Joydeep Sarkar
Many are migrating to other states in search of work. Sajni Toppo, a worker at Panighata Tea estate in the Mirik area of the Darjeeling district, has decided to boycott the poll this year. She laments, “The plantation is closed for seven years now. The nearby estates offer a meagre Rs 250 as a daily wage. There’s hardly any support for us. People are leaving the area to find livelihoods elsewhere, and many of us have decided not to vote!”
On the day of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public rally last month, around 6,000 workers from four tea estates under Andrew Yule, a central government-owned PSU, located in the Banerhat area, staged a protest by blocking the national highway. Their demands were straightforward: they demanded fair wages and insisted on obtaining full legal rights to the land they had worked on for generations. They alleged that despite months of labour, they have not received government benefits, including wage arrears. The blockade disrupted the Prime Minister’s rally until the administration intervened, hastily negotiating and partially settling some of the wage arrears. However, many workers still await their overdue payments.
Photo: Joydeep Sarkar
“The central government is overseeing comprehensive development initiatives for the tea industry. However, the legal management of labor falls under the jurisdiction of the states. Had the state government taken appropriate measures, the issue wouldn’t have escalated to such proportions,” said BJP candidate from Alipurduar Manoj Tigga. Both BJP and TMC candidates are known faces from the tea gardens.
In 2016, during campaigning for the assembly election, Prime Minister Modi pledged to revive closed tea gardens and promised Rs 1,000 crore for the welfare of women and children in the tea-producing areas. BJP has made significant inroads in the North Bengal region in recent year and won all four seats in the tea belt area in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. To counter this, the state government has launched several initiatives, such as providing financial aid, and housing along with acquiring struggling tea estates in the region which gave TMC dividends in the 2023 panchayat polls.
“The state government is aware of the challenges faced by tea workers. They receive rations and have been allocated 5 decimal places, along with housing under the Cha Sundari Housing scheme. A standard operating procedure has been established, and it will be implemented post-elections,” said Prakash Chikbaraik, a leader of the ruling party affiliated Trinamool Cha Bagan Shramik Union (TCBSU).
Photo: Joydeep Sarkar
“We oppose handing over tea plantations to inexperienced businessmen. The issue is increasing the wages of workers in all plantations along with the payment of arrears of wages and provident fund gratuity, not just 5 decimals of land. Those living in the area should be given their legal rights. Government gives 5 decimal of land for refugee resettlement but tea workers are not refugees. Tea workers were here in 1828 or 1898 and paid rent to British tea company, said Ziaul Alam of Chia Kaman Mazdoor Union, affiliated with CITU.
While the state government has been promoting tea tourism, many plantation workers raise concerns about the recent growth of real estate development across tea gardens in Dooars. Additionally, land promoters are excavating soil from slum areas, exacerbating housing issues. Despite legal bans on tribal land transfer, soil is being extracted from many tea estates by soil mafia close to the ruling party resulting in the collapse of workers’ quarters.
Tea gardens like Red Bank, Kumlai, Ramjhora, Dimdima, Bagrakot, and Bandhapani, which have shut down, are now being converted into housing projects instead of being used for growing tea leaves. There is widespread opposition against these transformations.
“Why should we surrender our 250-year-old land for just five decimal and Rs 1,20,000?” asked Bula Toppo of Karala Valley Tea Garden in Jalpaiguri. A resident of Munda Basti at the garden, Toppo’s family has been working in the garden for many generations now.
As the tea gardens go to votes, the pressing issues facing tea remain relegated to the sidelines.
Translated from the Bengali original by Aparna Bhattacharya.
