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• WELFARE
OFFICERS
Every tea estate in North India
is statutorily required to employ welfare officers as per
the provisions of the Plantations (Welfare Officers) Rules.
• PRIMARY
EDUCATION
The PL Act requires every estate
to provide free education to the workers' children. School
buildings and education infrastructure have to be maintained
by every estate. The teachers are appointed in the ratio
of one for every 40 students as per the Assam Plantation
Labour Rules. In West Bengal, the teachers are appointed
by the State Government.
In addition, school buses are provided by every tea estate
for workers' children studying in high schools outside the
estate. In West Bengal, the industry pays a primary education
cess of four paise per kg, which works out to 18 paise per
kg of made tea.
• HOUSING
According to the PL Act, every
plantation has to provide a labour quarter, as specified
by the State Labour Housing Board, to every worker/employee/staff
resident within the estate premises. The employer, at his
own expense, is required to maintain all houses in fit and
safe condition and execute annual repairs as required from
time to time.
• FUEL
The tea industry in North India
is required to provide free fuel to all employees resident
on the estate. Fuel is issued in the form of firewood/coal
briquettes for workers and gas cylinders for staff employees.
Since its inception, the tea industry had to shoulder the
responsibility of workers' welfare on behalf of the state
as infrastructure in tea growing regions, mostly remote
areas, was underdeveloped or non- existent. The industry
not only had to cater to the welfare needs of the workers
residing on the tea estates but also provide medical help
to the rural population living outside the estates during
emergencies as part of its commitment to the society at
large.
Most
importantly, the tea industry has institutionalised several
social welfare projects for the benefit of the population
living around tea-growing areas. Development work, including
agro-based and rural education infrastructure projects,
has been undertaken on a large scale.
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These
voluntary welfare initiatives are required to be continued
to maintain social harmony, particularly in the insurgency-prone
tea growing regions on North-East India, which have a direct
bearing on costs.
The above analysis provides a clear picture of the huge
allocation the tea industry, unlike its other counterparts
across sectors, has to make in providing several facilities
to workers. The question that remains unanswered is: Is
it at all sustainable?
The ITA has approached the Government of India through the
Ministry of Commerce for mobilisation of funds/benefits
under the prevalent schemes offered by the ministries of
finance, health, rural development, education and human
resources to help the industry sustain its commitment to
labour welfare.
COMMERCE MINISTRY ASSURES
AID TO TURN AROUND
A
meeting, chaired by Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Mr.
Deepak Chatterjee, was held in New Delhi on May 28, 2002
to review the current tea scenario, corrective initiatives
taken by the industry to move out of the prevailing slump
and also the areas in need of active and urgent support
of the ministry. While the Government was also represented
by Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Mr. L. V.
Saptarishi and Tea Board Chairman Mr. N. K. Das amongst
others, the industry delegation was led by ITA Chairman
Mr. Bharat Bajoria. The meeting was also attended by representatives
from all sections of the tea trade.
Mr. Chatterjee, expressing his concern over the decline
in tea prices and its effect on the overall health of the
domestic industry, stressed that the Government of India's
stated policy of progressive decontrol would be necessary
for the Centre to meaningfully intervene and assist the
sector achieve a turnaround.
Mr. Chatterjee made particular mention of the government's
role in commissioning an in-depth study on primary marketing
of tea that sought to identify constraints and ways to improve
the process of price discovery through the system, adding
that the Centre had followed up the study with a report
on the post-auction supply chain tracing the movement of
teas from the auction to the retail end.
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