Anda di halaman 1dari 21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

24th July 2016 Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation


Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

[https://1.bp.blogspot.com/X9tHwpaEQ6Y/V5TiPJwhoRI/AAAAAAAAAPA/I87ibtxZJ3MJKhX3pjUnscwj4rMELWHGACLcB/s1600/12184312_952907
834748708_2579464867728504561_o.jpg]

(The author is the former chairperson of the Centre for Labour Studies at Tata Institute of Social Sciences and presently
is adjunct faculty at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Contemporary Studies, University of Mumbai. This paper deals with the
conditions of tea plantation workers in the framework of ethnicity and marginalisation. It deals with the case of tribal tea
plantation workers in the state of West Bengal in India who, largely due to their ethnic status and isolation within the
plantations, have remained marginalised over the years. The paper begins with the features of the plantation system and
tries to show how the specific means of control over labour resulted in unfree relations. In most countries where
plantations exist, the labour form a part of the formal/organized work force as they have permanent and secure jobs and
there are laws regulating their employment and work. Yet, despite these comparatively recent safe guards it is found that
plantation labour in India continue to live in unfree conditions. This paper examines the reasons for this situation.)

Plantations were a major industry in the world at the time of the industrial revolution. They
were spread over large tracts of land and produced single commercial crops. They were
established largely in tropical areas. According to a definition provided by the International
Labour Organisation, the term 'plantation' at first referred to a group of settlers or a political unit
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

1/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

formed by it under British colonialism, especially in North America and the West Indies (ILO
1950: 6). With the colonisation of Africa and Asia by British and European entrepreneurs and
colonialists the term acquired a broader connotation. It came to denote large-scale enterprises in
agricultural units and the development of certain agricultural resources of tropical countries in
accordance with the methods of western industry (Ibid: 9).
The main plantation crops were cotton (in the early stages in the southern part of United States
of America), sugar cane (Caribbean Islands, northern part of Latin America, Mauritius, Fiji,
etc.), tobacco (southern part of United States, Indonesia, etc.), tea (India, China, Indonesia),
coffee (Brazil), rubber (Malaysia), cocoa (Ghana).
Historically, plantations were a product of colonialism and their produce was mainly for export.
In some cases, such as rubber, they were established to provide raw materials for western
industryespecially for the colonising country. In others such as tea, coffee and sugar, their
markets lay in the colonising countries.
Development of plantations necessitated two basic requisites. Firstly, large areas of cultivable
land and secondly, a large labour force. However, the areas most suited for plantations were
initially sparsely populated and hence local labour was not sufficient. The planters were by and
large not inclined to take local labour, even if available, because they would have better
bargaining power. Being a labour-intensive industry, reducing labour costs would considerably
increase the profits of the planters. Moreover, the planters needed to get the maximum work
from the labour force. What this actually meant was that the planters wanted cheap and
hardworking labour under conditions of labour shortage. Such a situation appeared as wishful
thinking, but the planters managed to make it a reality.
The only way the planters could manage to get cheap labour under local labour shortage was by
not allowing the labour market to develop. Normally, when the labour market is comparatively
free, the demand for and supply of labour determine wages. If there is high demand for labour
and low supply, wages would rise. Plantations faced similar conditions but the planters did not
want to increase wages to attract workers. Instead they imported labour from outside at low
costs. These immigrants were initially imported as slaves and later as indentured labour. The
cotton plantations in the southern part of USA, the sugar plantations in the Caribbean Islands
and in other places such as Guyana, Mauritius, Fiji etc. were all run on slave labour from Africa
in their early stages of growth. After slavery was abolished, indentured labour from Asia was
used. Besides getting cheap labour, these systems of recruitment ensured that the labour force
stayed on the plantation under the total control of the planters. The plantation hence came to
known not just by a resident labour force but more often than not, 'with one of alien origin'
(Greaves 1959: 115).
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

2/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

The slave trade was a very lucrative business. It involved Europeans capturing Africans and
bundling them off to plantations in different parts of the world. This trade was initiated by Spain
and later Britain took over the major part of the trade. Ron Ramdin, a Caribbean historian,
notes that 'European enterprise and slavery during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
and also the greater part of the nineteenth century, were closely connected, helping ... the
spectacular rise of British, French and Spanish ports such as Bristol, Liverpool, Nantes,
Bordeaux and Seville' (Ramdin 2000: 3). Christopher Hill notes that the slave trade financed
the industrial revolution. He writes, 'Where did capital from the Industrial Revolution come
from? Spectacularly large sums flowed into England from overseas from the slave trade,
and, especially from the seventeen-sixties, from organized looting of India.' (Hill 1983: 245).
Britain and France banned the slave trade in the mid-nineteenth century. After this the system
of indenture was adopted. Under this system the worker had to agree to serve on the plantation
for a specified period of time (usually four or five years) and would be free to return after that
period. Though this system was an improvement over slavery, which implied lifetime
commitment without any rights, the long distance from their places of origin made it difficult, if
not impossible, for workers to return home after the period of their contract ended. This was
further mitigated by the low wages paid by the planters that left hardly any savings for the
return journey. Hence in most case these people preferred to remain in the plantations even
after the period of indenture, as they had nowhere else to go.
Ethnically, the main difference between slave labour and indentured labour was that the former
was of African origin while the latter was from Asia. One does not know whether the colour of
the skin had anything to do with these two systems, but it is most likely. Under indenture most
recruits were of Indian origin, mainly poorer sections belonging to the so-called lower castes.
One can see the spread of the early Indian Diaspora in most of these plantation-based colonies
(later independent countries). There were recruits from other regions too in some of the
colonies. For example, the tobacco plantations in Indonesia were run by immigrant Chinese
labour (see Breman 1988). Hugh Tinkers major study on indenture labour (Tinker 1974) gives
detailed accounts of what he calls a new system of slavery.
In fact Tinker's views are confirmed by later historical studies on indentured labour. One finds
that whether planters used slave labour or indentured labour the effect was similar, namely,
having a captive labour force that had no other means of livelihood save working on the
plantation. Indentured labour appeared to be free when compared to slave labour but this was
not always true. Ramdin (2000: 13) mentions a case of a planter, John Gladstone, who
requested a Calcutta firm to supply labour for his plantations in British Guyana. The firm replied
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

3/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

that there were no difficulties in supplying labour and added, 'the Indians would be unaware of
their destinations or the length of the voyage they were undertaking'.Such workers, who had
to travel half was across the world, would hardly be expected to return after the indenture
period was over.

Plantation Labour in India


The tea industry in India began with the founding of the Assam Company in 1839. The
potential for growing tea was discovered earlier, in 1824, by Major Robert Bruce when he came
across indigenous tea bushes in Assam (ITA 1933: v-vi). At that time the British East India
Company had a monopoly over trade with China and it was importing tea from there. It had no
interest then of opening other centres. In 1833 the British Parliament cancelled the Company's
monopoly over trade with China. Its directors then decided to explore the possibilities of
growing tea on commercial basis in Assam, which had been annexed by the Company in 1825
(Bose 1954: 1-2). The first consignment of tea was sent to London in 1838 as a trial (Tinker
1974: 29). Within a short span of time Indian tea scored over its Chinese rival because of its
thicker and stronger brew which increased its popularity among the working class. As a result,
by 1839, there was a mad rush to clear the hillsides of Assam for new gardens (Ibid: 29).
Subsequently, tea plantations were started in the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts of West
Bengal, Nilgiris and Coimbatore districts of Madras (Tamil Nadu) and Idukki and Wynad
districts of Kerala but this was over three decades later.
The areas suited for growing tea in India were covered with thick, unhealthy forests where
malaria and kalazar (black-water fever) were rife. These forests had to be cleared and the local
population were unwilling to work under these hazardous conditions and at the low wages
offered. Wages of tea plantation workers in Assam and Bengal remained static at around Rs. 3
per month during the late eighteenth century and the early twentieth century (Griffiths 1967:
309-10). Wages of agricultural labour in these areas were more than double. The Sub-Divisional
Officer of Karimgunj in Assam reported in 1883 that wages of tea plantation workers were 'less
than three rupees a month during the last season. Bengalis in the adjoining villages earned
without difficulty rupees seven a month' (cited in Bose 1954: 87). Wages of agricultural
workers in Jalpaiguri in West Bengal were between Rs. 6 and Rs. 7 per month in 1871, a year
before tea plantations were started in this district (Hunter 1872: 278) whereas wages of tea
plantation workers, in the subsequent years, were around Rs. 3 per month.

Recruitment through indenture


http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

4/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

Labour recruited to the plantations comprised migrants and the planters ensured that they
worked only on the plantation at the low wages offered. Labour in Assam and in the tea areas
of Jalpaiguri district and Terai in the foot hills of Darjeeling district were recruited from the tribal
people of Central India, namely, the Chotanagpur region of the present Jharkhand state and the
contiguous tribal belts of Orissa and the present Chattisgarh states who had been reduced to
penury due to frequent droughts, famines and ruthless land revenue policies set by the colonial
rulers (Bhowmik 1981, chapter 2).
The colonial government, eager to help the planters, enacted legislation which legalized the
system of indenture. In 1859, the Workmen's Breach of Contract Act was passed which
stipulated that a worker had to work for a minimum period of five years once recruited. The act
rendered the worker liable for prosecution for any breach of contract, but gave him no
protection against the employers and laid down no conditions with regard to the arrangements of
his transit to the tea districts. (Griffiths 1967: 269). The Inland Immigration Act of 1863
replaced the earlier act and it reduced the period of contract to four years, but it gave the
planters the right to arrest erring workers (Chandra 1964: 361-62). Workers were cruelly dealt
with if they tried to leave or if their work was not satisfactory. Griffith notes that 'The planter
was bound by his contract to clear one-eighth of his land (leased to him by the government)
within five years and he could ill-afford to lose his labourshort work was punished with
flogging and absconders, when recovered, were also flogged.' (Ibid: 270). The plight of
indentured tea labour in Assam evoked strong criticism from the rising nationalist movement
(see Bose 1954 for details).
The most popular method of recruiting labour was through labour recruiting agents who roamed
the draught stricken tribal inhabited areas of Central India. These agents were known as arkati
and plantations in Assam, relied on them for their labour supplies. These people had earned so
much notoriety that the local people regarded them as the "scum of the earth" and "heartless
scoundrels and they were feared as much as a "man-eating tiger" (Das 1928: 65). Reverend
Hoffman, a Lutheran cleric working among the tribal population in Bihar had published an
encyclopaedia on the Mundas (one of the major tribes in the region). His account of
the misdeeds of the arkatis covered ten double column pages in the volume (Hoffman 1964:
154-64). He noted that they deceived the people by saying that the tea gardens were a
government concern, and at times they also dressed like the peons, to convince them that they
represented the government. These agents would stoop to any level to lure people away from
their homes to the unhealthy tea districts. Young people and unhappy and deserted wives were
given false promises of better marriage prospects. Through lying and trickery they would get
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

5/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

some people ex-communicated from their villages, leaving them no alternative but to go to
Assam. Wives were kidnapped from their husbands, and husbands from their families, leaving
the members destitute and poverty-stricken. "Heart rending tragedies which can rack everyone
of the most sacred feelings of a human family were for long years, enacted so to say, constantly
in all villages" (Ibid: 158). These hardworking poverty-stricken tribals of Chotanagpur were
ideally suited for the tea gardens as they were also the cheapest labour available (Ibid: 163;
Dalton 1872: 262).

[https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YHXBpP0znQ/V5TkBrdMbTI/AAAAAAAAAPM/Ki9xWolKGDggZZynRBe3XTq8gNVLXrFLgCLcB/s1600/975999_545372968835532_1
425670815_o.jpg]

Recruitment in other areas


The above-mentioned acts were applicable to only those areas where the system of indenture
was prevalent and this was in what is now the state of Assam. As mentioned earlier, the tea
industry originated in this state and even now it remains the largest tea producing state in India.
The region we will be dealing with in this paper is Jalpaiguri district and the contiguous Terai
(plains) region of Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal. The tea growing area of
Jalpaiguri district is known as Dooars, meaning gateway, as this area is the gateway to Bhutan.
The tea industry here started in 1872. In southern India too, the industry started around the
same time. These areas did not use indentured labour and the acts in existence in Assam were
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

6/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

not enforced in the newer areas. However, even in these areas workers found it difficult to
leave their plantations as the planters used force to prevent them from doing so. The
government too did not provide workers any means to redress their grievances.
The planters encouraged families rather than individuals to migrate to the plantations. This
served a dual purpose. Firstly, since planters wanted cheap labour they had to have workers
who were permanently settled in the plantations and who had no opportunity for alternative
employment. Therefore by encouraging families to migrate they ensured that workers were cut
off from the places of their origin and were settled in the plantations. The entire familymale,
female and childrenworked at wages determined by the planters. Secondly, family based
migration ensured that labour could be reproduced, thus solving to some extent, the problem of
7
future recruitment2. During the present period, however, the notion of family employment has
other implications which will be discussed later.
Recruitment to Dooars and Terai was done mainly by the labour headmen from the tea gardens
and not by professional agents as the arkatis. These headmen are known as Sardars and are in
effect the leaders of a group of workers in the plantation. These people were sent to the
recruiting districts to look for anyone willing to work in Bhutan (Grunning 1911: ccxxiii). The
sardar was given a commission between Rs. 2 and Rs. 5 per worker. The worker was also given
advance of Rs. 10 as incentive and in case he failed to turn up the sardar had to return the
advance given to the manager of his plantation. The cost of travel to the plantation for the
worker was a little over Rs. 2 which was borne by the recruiter (Ibid).
D. H. E. Sunder, officer for land survey and settlement for Jalpaiguri, mentions about the
recruitment system in his report. He found the price paid to arkatis for each worker to Assam
was between Rs. 80 to Rs. 120 while the cost of transport and advance was between Rs. 20
and Rs. 30 per head. He observes that the profit obtained in this trafficking of human beings
is enormous and has unfortunately led to every form of villainy and abuse being practised that
human agency can conceive. The Dooars sardars and recruiters have to run the gauntlet of the
arkatis along the whole route, and a considerable number of coolies (recruited workers) who
were originally to leavefor the Dooars gardens are lured away by the arkatisto the Assam
districts, to change hands there at Rs. 100 per head and be placed under contracts (indenture)
(Sunder 1895: ccxx).
Till the country became independent in 1947, the planters, with the backing of the colonial
government, exercised total control over labour. The planters had their trade bodies to represent
their interests whereas the workers were prevented from unionising themselves. The report of
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

7/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

Commission of Inquiry on the Conditions of Tea Plantation Labour in India and Ceylon set up
in 1944 (also known as Rege Commission, after its chairperson) noted; 'the employers are
highly organized and powerful whereas the workers are all unorganized and helpless.' (Rege
1946: 96). The Commission recommended the necessity of trade unions but admitted that they
were unlikely to appear in the near future (Ibid: 193). The report of the study group for the tea
industry of the first National Commission on Labour noted that the main reason for the absence
of trade unions in the pre-independence period was because 'Access to the plantations was
difficult, if not impossible, and attempts to form trade unions before independence were
seldom successful.' (NCL 1969: 64). Hence the mechanism for collective bargaining did not
exist till 1947 in this industry which, at that time, employed one and a quarter million workers.

Post-Colonial Situation
Though plantations are historically linked with colonialism, they are not structurally, or
inevitably, linked with it. As colonies free themselves from colonial rule and become
independent states, a new set of production relations develop. Political pressure forces these
governments to provide protection and security of employment to plantation workers. Coercion
is relaxed and trade unions begin to function among the workers enabling them to fight for their
rights. Therefore the changes in the plantation system in all parts of the world started when
plantation labour began organising itself to fight for their rights and influence the affairs of the
state.
In some countries, such as India, plantation labour also benefited from the struggles of other
sections of the working class. In the initial post-independence stage plantation labour got
benefits of laws granting protection to workers, mainly because of the struggles of other sections
of the working class that had pressurized the government to pass these laws. Later, as a result
of this protection, plantation labour was able to organise struggles on its own.
After attaining independence in 1947, the character of the Indian state changed. The new
governments attitude towards the working class was more favourable than that of the earlier
colonial regime. It tried to impose some regulations on the class of employers while granting
some protection to the workers, hence trying to find a via media between the two.
At the Indian Labour Conference3 held at Delhi in 1951, the representatives of workers put up
a strong plea for rational fixation of wages. The Conference decided to set up committees in
various industries to formulate the statutory minimum wages in each industry, including tea. In
1952, for the first time, the statutory minimum wages were fixed for tea plantation labour
(Government of India 1966: 13-14). This guarantee of a minimum wage provided some
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

8/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

protection for plantation workers. The planters could no longer fix wages according to whims or
merely on weak bargaining power of the workers. They had to now accept the concept of a
living wage and any violation would result in prosecution under the Minimum Wages Act of
1948.
Subsequently, other acts were passed granting some facilities to the workers. Some of these
acts, such as, Payment of Bonus Act, legislations providing for Provident Fund and Gratuity
affected the working class in general. There were other acts too which were passed after
independence such as the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 and the Factories Act of 1948 which
granted security of employment and conditions for safety at the workplace. The planters initially
ignored these acts as there was no check on them and the state apparatus to enforce them did
not exist. In the early 1950s the state governments set up labour bureaus headed by a labour
commissioner and labour officers were appointed in different regions to ensure implementation
of the provisions and deal with conciliation between labour and management. Labour Tribunals
were also set up to decide on disputes.
All these changes resulted in formalisation of relationships between the planters and the
workers. The planters started losing the tight grip they once had over their workers and their
relationship changed from the existing master-servant relationship to that of employer and
employee. The latter was now not wholly dependent on the mercies of the employer as s/he had
some legal protection.
Amongst the legislations affecting plantation workers, the most important is the Plantation
Labour Act of 1951. This is the only act that seeks to raise the living standards of plantation
workers. It contains several provisions related to housing conditions, health and hygiene,
education and social welfare. This act, along with the Factories Act, regulates employment,
working conditions and working hours. The act provides for compulsory housing and lays down
that every year eight per cent of the houses have to be converted into permanent structures (viz.
walls of brick and mortar and tiled roofs). There are provisions for sanitary facilities and water
supply in the labour residences (known as labour lines), crches for infants and primary schools
for children. The act therefore has a great deal of potential for improving the working and living
conditions of plantation labour. However, despite the several decades since the act was passed,
there is possibly no tea plantation in Assam or West Bengal that has implemented all provisions.
The above changes helped to provide greater freedom to the workers to some extent. They also
provide the basis for forming trade unions among the workers. In fact it we can point out that
the level of unionisation is fairly high among plantation workers. The Indian National Trade
Union Congress (INTUC) that has close links with the Indian National Congress has a wide
membership in Assam, though some other unions such as Centre of Indian Trade
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

9/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

Unions (CITU) that has links with Communist Party of India (Marxist), All India Trade Union
Congress (AITUC) which is linked with Communist Party of India and United Trade Union
Congress linked with the Revolutionary Socialist Party have made inroads in some areas. In
West Bengal the tea growing districts of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling have large numbers of trade
unions operating. In Darjeeling the majority union is Himalayan Plantation Workers Union of
the Gorkha National Liberation Front. In Jalpaiguri (Dooars), which is the larger of the two tea
growing districts in the state, half the workers are members of CITU affiliated unions followed
by INTUC and UTUC affiliated unions respectively (Bhowmik 1993: 56). In this paper we will
be focussing on tea plantation labour in Dooars in order to get an understanding of the process
of marginalisation.

[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/zH6yR8voyBI/V5TkfTFM6SI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/Ve61ebX2d7EMMZu9oB0XEtotBnUa1_f2QCLcB/s1600/1010281_5608191
23957583_1193426892_n.jpg]

Tea Plantation Labour in West Bengal


West Bengal is the second largest tea producing state in the country. The state has two districts
in which the bulk of the tea plantations lie. These are Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts, both
situated next to each other in the northern part of the state. The two districts collectively
contribute to 20 per cent of the tea produced in the country (Tea Board 2002: 11-12) and have
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

10/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

around 240,000 permanent workers, a little more than half of whom are women (Ibid: 145-6).
The total number of plantation workers and their families would number five times the number
of permanent workers. These workers are largely descendents of immigrants who were brought
to these areas to work as plantation labour a few generations ago and they are now permanently
settled in these areas with little or no contacts with their places of origin.
Jalpaiguri is the larger of the two districts and it has 165,000 workers. The tea growing area in
this district is known as Dooars. Darjeeling district has two tea growing areas, namely,
Darjeeling hills (where the famous Darjeeling tea is grown) and Terai which is in its foothills.
Darjeeling hills has around 50,000 workers while Terai has 25,000 workers. We shall refer to
the three tea growing areas in the two districts as Dooars, Darjeeling hills and Terai.
The topography and the tea grown in Dooars and Terai are similar and both regions have the
Assam tea bush (Darjeeling Hills has China tea bush) that produces strong tea for mass
consumption. The work force too is similar. Most of the workers in these are tribals from the
contiguous areas of Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Orissa that have tribal population. These include
Oraons (who form around half the tribal population), Mundas, Kharias, and Santhals among
others. There are also other, non-tribal artisan communities from the same area of origin, such
as Mahali. Chik Baraik, Ghasi, Turi etc. These groups collectively form a common identity
which could be distinguished from the other people in the region (eg. Bengalis, Nepalis etc.) on
ethnic basis. They are called Adivasi (original inhabitants) by other groups.

Persisting Marginalisation
Though conditions of plantation workers have improved since independence, as compared to
the colonial period, they continue to form the less developed section of the population in the
state. The tribal tea plantation labour population in Dooars form a minority in the population of
the district. Before we come to the implications of the situation we will examine the conditions
of tea workers. The data is taken from a survey conducted by the author in 1995 (Bhowmik
1996). A sample of 182 households in the region was covered. Though this data is twelve years
old, at the time of writing this paper, the situation is similar at present, if not worse. I have made
periodic visits to the tea growing areas of West Bengal since 1998 and my observations also
show that not much has changed. In fact the turn for the worse could be observed after 2001
because a large number of plantations in Dooars had shut operations leaving their workers
destitute.
The survey examined whether provisions of the Plantation Labour Act (PLA) had been
implemented. The PLA was passed by parliament in 1951 but it came into effect in 1955. This
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

11/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

act stipulates a number of guidelines relating to living and working conditions of plantation
workers. It lays down that the employers must provide workers with permanent structures as
houses, there should be sanitary facilities and supply of drinking water in the labour lines
(quarters). The plantation must provide free primary education to children of plantation workers
through primary schools within the plantations. There are also provisions for recreation and
cheap canteens for the workers. The lives of plantation workers would improve substantially if
these provisions were implemented. In reality, there is not a single tea plantation in the state that
has fulfilled all provisions of the act.
According to reports of the state government (GoWB: 2005) around 74 per cent of the workers'
houses are permanent structures (viz. walls of brick and mortar with tiled roofs or of corrugated
iron). The others live in mud house with thatched roofs. Had the PLA been implemented all
houses should have become permanent structures in 1969. According to the report house repairs
are not carried out by the employers and in most cases workers have to bear these costs. Toilets
too do not exist. The survey carried out by the author shows that none of the plantations
covered had regular toilets. The workers and their families used the open fields for this. Doctors
in the plantations informed that infection from hook worms is quite high among the labour
force. These worms breed in open defecation. Provision of housing and repairing of houses are
mandatory for the management and these form a part of the workers' wages.
The most depressing data is on education. The data on 182 heads of households showed that
nearly half (49 per cent) were illiterate, 12 per cent were functionally literate, 22 per cent had
primary education while 14 per cent had reached middle school. The PLA states that every
plantation having twenty-five or more children have to provide for primary schooling for them.
These heads of households were in their forties and hence were born after the PLA came into
force. Their educational levels indicate that they did not get of the benefit of primary education.
The government with the cooperation of the employers runs schools in the plantations. The
plantation provides for the schoolhouse while the teachers are employees of the states
education department. My visits to the plantations show that most schools have not more than
two classrooms and two teachers. The smaller planters have one teacher. These people are
expected to teach children for the first four years. There are supposed to be at least four
classrooms, one for each class. In many cases plantations have large numbers of children in the
primary school going age but even in these cases there are only two classrooms and two
teachers. One wonders how knowledge could be imparted or the children could imbibe it. In all
probability the same course is taught every year for all students irrespective of which year they
are in.
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

12/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

The plantations in Dooars are in isolated areas and the workers and their children have little
access to employment other than the plantation or in low productive agriculture in the
neighbourhood. Tribals can rarely find employment in the towns because most jobs, even the
manual ones, are held by Bengalis or immigrants from Bihar, Rajasthan or some other Hindi
speaking state. Lack of education restricts their choices of alternative occupations but this is not
all. They are also marginalized in the area which tend to make them group together in their own
communities in the plantations. Hence they look towards the plantation for employment in the
present and the future.
The vulnerable plight of tea workers could be seen when a crisis arose in the industry from
2000 onwards. At that time the planters claimed that tea prices started to fall and by 2001 they
fell below the costs of production. Around 55 tea plantations in West Bengal closed and their
workers were left with no wages or sources of income. This heavy dependence on the
plantation had taken a heavy toll on plantation workers, especially those in Dooars. They had no
alternative forms of employment. It was estimated that between 2001 and 2006 nearly 1,500
people had died of malnutrition in tea plantations, most of them being in Dooars.

http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

13/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

[https://3.bp.blogspot.com/aOC3XoYEwLQ/V5TlZtipu1I/AAAAAAAAAPY/6OOnLaw_ZHs5yzvxeqgiziTKCplkc_xAQCLcB/s1600/11402369_8828554
28420616_3030482765780403474_o.jpg]

Why plantation workers are unfree


The present problems of plantation labourers and their families have roots in the historic process
of the plantation system. In the earlier years there was acute labour shortage. The planters could
attempt to overcome this by offering higher wages and better living conditions. This would
mean that they had to spend more on labour costs. The planters knew that this would in effect
reduce the huge profits the plantation industry was amassing. Given the fact that plantations the
world over began by employing slave labour the planters tried to find similar type of labour even
after slavery was abolished. They then developed a new category of bonded labour known as
indentured labour. The early plantations in Assam engaged indentured labour from the tribal
areas of Central India. We mentioned in the first section that the system of indenture was not
used in Dooars. This is mainly because the planters had earned a bad reputation in the national
press because of their exploitation of labour through indenture. The tea companies that operated
in Dooars were the same as in Assam and hence they avoided the use of indentured labour.
However control over labour in Dooars was the same despite of the lack of legal binding that
was prevalent in the system of indenture. Once in the plantation areas workers could not leave
or return to their places of origin.
There were two ways how this was done. Firstly they prevented workers and their families
from moving out of the plantation by keeping workers captive in the plantations. The watchmen
(guards) kept a strict vigil in the labour lines and kept a watch on any outsider entering. The
planters had the constant fear that others would lure their labour away (see Bhowmik 1981:
chapter 2 for details). The other way was of not allowing any form of alternative employment in
the tea-growing region. This would ensure that once in the plantation, the worker would be
totally dependent on work in the plantation for their sustenance. In the initial years of the
plantations in Jalpaiguri the Forest Department tried to lure workers by offering them cultivable
land in exchange of work in the forest plantations. The planters association protested strongly
to this form of enticement as they had brought their labour from considerable distance and had
paid for the recruitment costs. They used their influence on the colonial government to prevent
the Forest Department from hiring plantation labour (details in Ibid).
The above methods served the objectives of the planters of having a captive labour force but
when this system continued even in the post-colonial period when there was no shortage of
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

14/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

labour, it created new problems for plantation workers and their families. Since there are hardly
any employment opportunities outside the plantation system the unemployed within the families
of the workers look towards the plantation for gainful employment. In fact one of the significant
features of tea plantations in West Bengal is the high incidence of casual labour. The author had
conducted a study in 1992 to examine the extent of casual/non-permanent labour in the work
force (Bhowmik 1993). The survey had collected data from 149 out of the 330 tea plantations
in the state. The total number of workers covered in these plantations accounted for around 60
per cent of all permanent tea plantation workers in the state. The findings showed that there
were 50.5 casual workers for every hundred permanent workers. In other words, one-third of
the total labour force comprised casual labour.
Another significant finding was that an overwhelming majority of this labour was drawn from
the households of permanent workers. They were their children, spouse or kinsfolk and they
resided in the households of the permanent workers. This is quite different from casual labour in
other major industries where casual or temporary labour is not necessarily related to the
permanent labour force (see Davala 1993).
The availability of a large pool of unemployed within the plantation has placed the employers in
an advantageous position. The employers now use the existence of casual labour to depress the
general wage levels. When trade unions press for higher wages at negotiations for wage revision,
the employers invariably tell them that a high wage is possible but the number of casual labour
would have to be reduced. This puts the workers in a fix because higher wages will increase the
individual income but a reduction in casual labour will decrease the household income. As a
result, the amount of wage increase is inevitably scaled down.

Low wages as a form of bondage


Let us briefly look at how wages are fixed and the effects of low wages. Remuneration of a
plantation worker in Dooars is a combination of wages in cash and kind. Apart from the wages
in cash, workers also are provided food grains at subsidised rates. Each worker is provided one
kilogram of rice and two and a quarter kilograms of wheat every week. The same is provided
for dependent children, between ages 15 and 18 years. Those below 15 years get half the
amount. These rations are linked with attendance of the worker. If he is absent from work,
rations and wages are deducted proportionately. The other non-cash remuneration include
housing, as mentioned earlier, a certain amount of wood for fuel, medical facilities, sanitation
and drinking water. If any of these are violated it would amount to reduction in wages. The
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

15/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

discussion in the previous section on living conditions shows that there are wage reductions all
the time.
Wages for tea plantation labour is expected to be fixed on the basis of a standard formula for
minimum wages that was accepted by all in the Fifteenth Indian Labour Conference (ILC) held
in 1957. The Conference decided that a need-based minimum wage (a wage based on the
minimum needs of the person in terms of food, clothing and shelter) should be based on the
minimum needs of three units of consumption (two adults and two children). The Conference
advised the union government to appoint tripartite wage committee in each industry. The
government appointed central wage boards in 22 industries (Tulpule 1968: M55). The wage
board for the tea plantation industry was appointed in 1960, three and a half years after the
ILC's decision. The average time taken by a wage board, for completing its work was three
years, eight months and nine days (Loomba 1973: 1). The Central Wage Board for Tea
Plantation Industry took the longest time to come to its decisions, namely, five years and six
months. Its recommendations were submitted on 1 April 1966 (ibid).
The employers strongly opposed the basis for wage fixing as three units of consumption. They
argued that since employment in plantations was family based (i.e. men, women and children of
the same family were engaged as workers) three units would mean a much higher wage
compared to the minimum needs. They suggested that 1.5 units should be the basis. This was
opposed by both labour representatives and government and the report even noted that "the
family system of employment cannot be considered as unique in the tea plantation industry
and even if it had been so it is a matter of consideration whether it was justified for
employers to claim benefit of it by way of low wages for male wage earners" (Government of
India 1966: 68).
The employers obstinately stuck to their stand and the Board agreed to their demand. On the
same page of the above quote, the report noted that it "was not in a position to recommend
wages in keeping with the present cost of living and in terms of the need-based wage formula
of the 15th Indian Labour Conference. That the board has taken an extremely practical view
and did not ignore the family system of employment in tea plantations is also apparent from'
the board's recommendations" (Ibid). At the time the report was submitted cash wages of the
tea plantation workers in the Dooars stood at Rs 1.98 for men, Rs 1.84 for; women and Rs 1.07
for children. The Board recommended wages for men, women, and children be increased by 13
paise, 10 paise and 7 paise respectively from 1 January 1966, and a further increase of 2 paise
for men and women and 1 paise for children from 1 April 1966. The difference between the
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

16/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

wages of male and female workers increased from 14 paise to 17 paise. Hence despite the
recommendations the tea plantation industry was the one to violate all guidelines of the ILC and
had recommended the lowest increase in wages.
In the subsequent years cash wages increased in driblets. The employers also deprived workers
of their wages in kind as they were not provided their rations on time, wood for fuel is no longer
distributed and no substitute is provided. The other inputs such as housing, sanitation and
drinking water are also not provided. Workers are thus in a very weak position while bargaining
with the employers even though they are unionized.
We could observe a similar situation in 2005 when negotiations for wage revisions were initiated
by the state government and the trade unions. Such negotiations are expected to take place
every three years as wage agreements are valid for three years. The wage revision is decided
through a tripartite meeting of the state government's Labour Department, the coordination
committee of the trade unions and the committee of the employers' associations. The daily
wages of adult workers before the negotiations began was Rs. 45.90 paise5. The trade unions
had initially demanded a minimum daily wage of Rs. 88. This was based on calculations for the
need-based minimum wage as laid down by the 15th Indian Labour Conference for 1.5 units of
consumption.
Negotiations failed and the workers went on strike on 5 July 2005. This strike covered all
300,000 workers of this industry in the state. The strike lasted till 25 July and was the longest
industry wide strike in the tea industry. However, despite all pressures the employers agreed to
increase the daily wages by Rs. 2.50 during the first two years and Rs. 3 in the third
year. During the negotiations, while workers asked for a hike of Rs. 42.10, the employers'
associations (the main ones are Indian Tea Association and Tea Planters' Association of India)
generously offered Rs. 1 as they claimed that the industry was in a shambles and there was no
question of a wage increase. In fact they maintained that the present labour costs were already
too high and any increase in wages without increase in productivity would cause further losses.
The final wage agreement also brought in a clause relating to productivity. Tea workers engaged
in plucking of tea leaves are given an incentive wage (traditionally called 'extra leaf pice') for
plucking more than the quota fixed by the plantation (this is known as thika). Hence if the quota
is 25 kg., the worker is paid extra for every kg. plucked above the thika. This increases the daily
wages as some times during the peak season (July-August) workers pluck nearly double the
thika. Women workers are largely engaged in plucking and this extra earning goes to them. The
extra income is mainly during the two months when the monsoon is at its height. The season
can be stretched at the most to three months. At other times (February to April-May and
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

17/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

October till December) the plucking rate falls as there are less leaves. Usually plantations lower
the thika during these months. In fact in the months of October and November the quota can be
reduced to 15 kg.
The new wage agreement has a productivity clause relating to thika. Under this agreement thika
will be 24 kg. for all plantations. Extra leaf pice will be paid at the rate of Rs. 1.50 only after a
worker plucks 30 kg. of leaves. In other words the worker will not get any extra payment for
plucking up to 6 kg. above the thika.
The increase in wages is just a pittance as compared to the earlier wage agreement. In the last
wage agreement workers were given wage increase of Rs. 3.50 per year for three years. Hence
at the end of three years (2003) the total increment was Rs. 10.50. Under the present wage
agreement workers got an increase of Rs. 8 at the end of three years. Besides, though the earlier
agreement ended in 2003 the workers got back wages for only three months (instead of 24
months).
The employers could get away with such a meagre wage increase and on the above mentioned
terms only because of the pressure they applied on workers of reducing casual labour in the
future. Hence we still find that despite the situation having changed considerably in the postindependence period plantation labour remain vulnerable because of the backwardness of the
region and lack of any other employment opportunities.
The above factors have collectively led to the marginalisation of tribal workers in the region.
Besides these, the ethnic factor has also played a role. The main problem of these people is
rooted in the fact that they were migrants to the area and were accorded low social status.
Hence though they have been responsible for building up the wealth of the state through their
labour in the tea industry the have been kept out of the mainstream. This can be seen from the
fact that though these communities are numerically large in the region they have never been
politically effective. This large section of the population has been kept in isolation and they can
hardly articulate their interests on their own. Non-worker, non-tribal trade union leaders (mainly
belonging to the dominant Bengali community) continue to lead the trade unions and take
decisions on behalf of the tribal workers. Isolation and lack of employment opportunities in the
area has made these people dependent on the plantation system or on subsistence agriculture in
the vicinity for their subsistence.

Conclusion
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

18/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

We have tried to explain in this paper how despite being a part of the formal sector and having a
high degree of unionisation tea plantation workers in the Dooars-Terai region of West Bengal
are not totally free as in other industries. The result of this situation is that plantations remain as
enclaves. The workers are vulnerable and can be exploited by the plantation companies. They
can be made to work for low wages and under exploitative conditions.
The early conditions in the plantations were in fact created so that labour remained captive. The
later developments too did not help the workers to be emancipated from the shackles of low
paid work. This situation can be improved to some extent if some measures are taken. Firstly,
there is a need to create new avenues of employment for the family members/ dependants of
plantation workers. Education is an important means of achieving this and there is an urgent
need for ensuring that educational facilities are available to them. The lack of proper education
of the children of plantation workers has affected their occupational mobility. These children,
like their parents, are doomed to work as low paid plantation workers, more often as casual
labour, with little or no possibilities of their moving to better, or skilled, occupations.
It is also necessary to establish centres for technical training for the new generation so that they
can take up other activities. It is significant that there are no technical institutes like the
Industrial Training Institutes in the plantation regions, though the younger generation need these
the most. Therefore development of educational facilities, right from the primary level onwards,
is an important issue which has not been taken up seriously either by the
workers' representatives, namely, the trade union leaders, nor the state government. This needs
to be addressed if the future generations are to improve their lot.
Secondly, greater stress has to be laid on the development of areas outside the plantations. This
could be by creating facilities for small and medium industries where these workers can be
employed. Have alternative sources of employment will increase the bargaining power of the
workers. It will also reduce the isolation of the plantations. Here too trade unions and other
development agencies, including the state governments, can play important roles in pushing this
idea through.
Thirdly, the cultural development of plantation workers needs to be attended to. The living
conditions of the worker need to be improved. Most of these problems can be tackled if the
Plantation Labour Act is implemented earnestly. The Act provides for all inputs needed for
uplift of the workers. These include improvement of living conditions by standard housing,
provision for drinking water, sanitation, recreational facilities and education of the children. Had
this Act been implemented, plantation labour would not be in the present pathetic conditions.
Finally, the tribal workers, their dependents and those descendents who work in low paid
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

19/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

agricultural work constitute a population of at least 600,000 in the district. This is not a small
number that can be neglected by the authorities. The state government has to initiate steps for
their economic and social uplift, if at all it considers itself as a government of the people.

References
Bose, Sanat 1954, Capital and Labour in the Indian Tea Industry, Bombay: All India Trade Union Congress.
Bhowmik, Sharit 1981, Class Formation in the Plantation System, Delhi: Peoples Publishing House.
Bhowmik, Sharit 1993, Tea Industry in West Bengal, in Sarath Davala (ed.).
Bhowmik, Sharit 1996, Tea Plantation Workers in West Bengal, in Sharit Bhowmik, V. Xaxa, and M. A. Kalam 1996.
Bhowmik, Sharit, V. Xaxa and A. Kalam 1996, Tea Plantation Labour in India, New Delhi: Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
Breman, Jan 1988, Taming the Coolie Beast, Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Chandra, Bipan 1964, Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism in India, Delhi: Peoples Publishing House.
Dalton, E.T.1882, Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, Calcutta: Government Printing Press.
Davala, Sarath (ed.), Employment and Unionisation in Indian Industry, New Delhi: Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 1993.
Government of India 1966, Report of the Central Wage Board for Tea Plantation Industry, Delhi: Government Press.
GoWB (Government of West Bengal) 2005, Labour in West Bengal (section on Plantation Labour Act), Kolkata:
Government of West Bengal.
Graves, I. 1959, Plantaions in the World Economy, in S.W.Mintz, I. Graves et.al.1959.
Mintz, S.W., I. Graves et. al. 1959, Plantation Systems in the New World, Washington: World Bank
National Commission on Labour 1969, Report of the Study Group for Plantations (Tea), New Delhi: Government Press.
Griffiths, Percivial 1967, History of the Indian Tea Industry, London: Widenfeld and Nicolson.
Grunning, J. F. 1911, East Bengal and Assam District Gazeteers, Allhabad: Pioneer Press.
Hill, Christopher 1983, Reformation to Industrial Revolution, Harmondsworth: Penguin. Hoffman, Rev. 1964,
Encyclopedia Mundarica (Reprint), Patna: Bihar Government Printing Press. ILO (International Labour Organisation)
1950, Basic Problems of Plantation Labour, Geneva: ILO. Tea Board 2002, Tea Statistics 2001-2002, Kolkata: Tea Board
of India. ITA (Indian Tea Association), Detailed Report of the General Committee for the year 1933, Calcutta: ITA, 1933.
Loomba, Satish: 1973, Wages, Strikes and Trade Union Unity, Delhi: All India Trade Union Congress. Sunder, D. H. E.
1895, Survey and Settlement of Western Dooars in the District of Jalpaiguri 1889-1895, Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press
Tinker, Hugh, A New System of Slavery: Indian Indentured Labour Abroad, London: Widenfeld and Nicolson, 1974.
Tulpule, Bagaram 1968, Wage Fixation by Wage Boards, Economic and Political Weekly, , Review of Management,
Vol. 3

End notes:
1 The term tribal may sound offensive in countries like USA and Canada where terms such as indigenous people,
first nation etc. are used. The ILO too has recommended the term indigenous people. However in India tribal is not an
offensive term as it has the backing of the Constitution of India. Moreover in many places (such as tea plantations) tribes
may not be indigenous people as the have migrated to these areas a few generations ago. There are autochthonous tribes
in these areas that could be regarded as indigenous. According to the Constitution of India the term tribe refers to groups
of people having specific characteristics. These are recorded in the schedule of the Constitution and are referred as
Scheduled Tribes. The people are accorded special status and the government has to take positive steps for their social,
economic and educational development. They also get other forms of protection such as prevention of land alienation. The
bulk of the tribal population is in the states of Central or Eastern India. These include, Bihar. Madhya Pradesh, Chatisgarh,
http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

20/21

1/29/2017

Ethnicity and Isolation: Marginalisation of Tea Plantation Workers by Prof. Sharit K.Bhowmik

Jharkhand, Orissa etc.


2 In fact this is the only industry in the country which officially allows employment of child labour because the family
was taken as the unit of employment during colonial times. Hence, the whole family, men, women and children, worked
on wages determined by the planters. Even after the country was independent (1947) this was accepted. The Plantation
Labour Act, passed in 1951, recognises four categories of workers namely males and females (those above 18 years),
adolescence (those between 15 and 18 years) and children (those below 15 years). The act is still in effect and the Tea
Board of India (a body set up by the government) mentions these four categories of labour in its annual report called Tea
Statistics. After 1991 however, when international tea buyers questioned the use of child labour the Board, due to pressure
from the employers, changed the categories of children and adolescent to non-adult.
3 The ILC is a tripartite body comprising representatives of labour management and government. Its unanimous decisions
are binding for all. It is held every year.
4 The Supreme Court of India appointed a commission in 2001 to look into the conditions of tea plantation workers in the
country. This commission was formed because of a writ petition filed by some human rights organizations. It submitted
periodic reports till 2008, when it was wound up. The deaths occurred in all tea growing regions but the larger proportion
was in Dooars.
5 In May 2010, Indian Rupees 43 equalled one US Dollar. In 2005 the conversion rate was Rs. 47 to $ 1. The plantation
workers get approximately $ 1.5 a day in cash at present (2010) under the 2005 wage agreement.
(The article has been reproduced from Race/Ethnicity, 4(2), Indiana, 2011

Posted 24th July 2016 by Ananyo Mukherjee


Labels: Dooars, Sharit Bhowmik, Tea plantation, tea worker
0

Add a comment

Enter your comment...

Comment as:

Publish

Google Account

Preview

http://toanewdawn.blogspot.in/2016/07/ethnicity-and-isolation-marginalisation.html

21/21

Anda mungkin juga menyukai