Report from West Bengal:
For the last few years tea
gardens in West Bengal had
been talked about for several
reasons. Every year a number of
tea garden workers or members
of their families die of hunger.
Squalor, hunger and death have
become order of the day. Every
month there are reports large
scale women trafficking from the
tea gardens. The present
dispensation at the helm of power
in west Bengal have continuously
been denying the facts though
the surveys conducted by
UNICEF and other independent
organizations have reported
about women trafficking and
death due to hunger. On the
other hand, the Mamata led
government is bragging that they
have developed tea-tourism,
eco-tourism in the terai region,
Doars and Darjeeling hills. The
people in general have learnt to
take such deaths and trafficking
stoically. Some protests in
Kolkata and some murmurs
elsewhere just after the reports
are published and then back to
the daily problems faced by them
– price rise, unemployment,
corruption and above all trampling
democracy by the state and the
government.
Under these circumstances
tea garden workers have been
protesting and trying to organize
themselves as much as they can.
To understand the situation,
let us try to base ourselves on a
survey carried out by the Regional
Labour Commissioner of Terai-
Doars-Darjeeling Hills nearly five
years ago. The survey was
conducted in 273 of the total 276
gardens in the region.
Before going into the details
one important thing must be
noted. In the tea gardens the
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Woes of Tea Garden workers
minimum wages are kept low. While
the real reason is that almost all tea
garden workers were brought from
Jharkand region and they are
mostly tribals. From the beginning
they are being super-exploited for
the super profit of garden owners.
At that time labour laws were non-
existent. Even after labour laws
have come into existence, minimum
wages acts are being applied at
different states. Tea garden
workers, especially in West Bengal
have been treated as exceptions.
At first, minimum wages were
calculated as half of the other
industries. In other industries
minimum wages of a worker is fixed
by taking the worker as one unit,
spouse as 0.8 unit and two children
each as 0.6, making the total as 3
units. The calculations are made
for their food, cloths, schooling,
living place and so on to be
provided to 3 units. In the tea
gardens, it was calculated as 1.5
units. Why? The reason shown was
very sinister. It was argued that in
tea gardens both male and female
members are working so the wages
should be halved. When this was
challenged, both the state and
garden owners started arguing that
unlike other industries tea garden
workers are given living quarters,
drinking water, electricity free of
cost; primary education for their
children is also freely arranged by
the owners. For primary health a
doctor is employed in the garden
and moreover rations and fuel are
supplied by the owners. So
minimum wages should be lower.
Given the bargaining power of the
poorest of the poor workers is very
low the trade unions had to
succumb after prolonged strike.
However, with all the arguments
and after many struggles wages
were fixed as Rs.159 per day. But
all those facilities including the
provision of 75 yards of clothing
per year have in reality not
provided of underprovided. The
situation can be understood by
the survey mentioned above. In
that survey in 2013, two years
after Mamata led TMC had come
to power in the state as that they
cannot pass the bean to 34 year
left front rule alone.. True, during
the left front rule the situation
started to continually worsening
and TMC government allowed to
the continuation of deterioration.
The survey showed that:
1. Of the more than
2,50,000 workers in those 273
gardens (the number was
consciously shown low), nearly
96,000 have not been provided
with any sheltered housing;
2. 20 per cent of the living
quarters provided do not have
electricity connection;
3. Less than 20 per cent of
gardens have drinking water
provision;
4. Ration was not provided
regularly causing death due to
hunger; and now after the
government started food security
programme, the gardens
stopped whatever meager ration
they used to provide;
5. Less than 40 per cent 0f
gardens have some arrange-
ment for health care;
6. Many gardens do not
have any school;
7. Large
number
of
gardens do not subscribe to
provident fund.
The Survey was conducted
five years ago. Till now the state
government has not taken any
step to force the managements
of gardens to provide the
statutory amenities to the
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Class Struggle