20 Jun 2007
The plantations had just about recovered when in 2001 another big-demand country
Money for years made tea gardens a favoured target of militants. Since the late 1970s when the insurgency began till even now managers are abducted and killed over extortion demands.
Militancy over the years had almost been absorbed as an unwritten account by the tea estates. However, what it has not been able to absorb is the rising losses.
And since 2001 the plantations have has seen more downs than ups. Last week, one of Assam's best quality teas was priced 10 per cent lower than what was five years ago. About 40 big tea plantations have shut down leaving thousands jobless.
Loss of profits
In existing plantations, loss of profits has meant cutting labour benefits like ration and bonus and labour rage and attacks on managements have become quite common.
''The way I look at it is that when an industry passes through a prolonged recession and in absence of any imaginative solution, there will be stage like this that will crop up,'' said Manoj Jalan, Deputy Chairman, Bharatiya Cha Parishad.
Brewing more trouble for the plantations are industry majors HLL and Tata who are exiting the estates.
The 24 estates owned by the Tatas in
But thousands of men and women like Anjali Karmakar who have been plucking leaves for decades don't see how any other crop can succeed in this land.
''We will suffer. We are used to all the facilities, and now all that is over. Bad times are ahead of us,'' said Anjali, Tea estate labourer.
Small business
''If you look at the profile of Tata and HLL, in their business portfolio tea is a very small business that employs a large number of workers in comparison. So perhaps they got out because it was not worth the time,'' said Jalan.
''In a crisis we have to understand what it is and come up with a creative solution. Exiting is only one of the options. And it is not feasible for everyone to exit and I do not think there's no solution either,'' he added.
The irony is that the price of the leaf maybe sliding down. But because the process is labour-intensive the social cost of making tea in India still remains one of the highest in the world.
So superfine brews at over Rs 2,000 a kg and even average leaf at about Rs 120 a kg is costlier than anywhere else.
Naturally blenders have started buying tea from cheaper countries like
Tea plantations are one of the last legacies of colonial grandeur and culture. But as market leaders exit the estates and plantations sink under losses, this could well be the beginning of the end of the Planter's Raj.
Source: www.ndtv.com
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