The department of commerce, GOI have shared the rise in India’s tea export stories through their official twitter handle and the Tea board have shared north India’s rise in tea production. (North India produces more than 70% of India’s tea.)
However, amidst these cheers, the rise in death of tea garden workers and the story of their low wages, which none of the government agencies shares, deserves serious attention. The concept of a welfare state has been obliterated by the Govt-corporate nexus in the tribal-dominated tea belt region of North Bengal and Assam. Therefore highlighting the apathy of the Govt and the tea garden owners, scholars from different institutions have conducted an opinion poll between 22-26th Aug 2018, in several universities and academic institutions on minimum wage and tea labour rights. A forum based in North Bengal conceived the idea of such poll called Chai Bagan Sangram Samity, (CBSS) which was formed to create a platform for all the people who are directly not affiliated to any trade unions. The opinion poll was first conducted in Kurseong, Darjeeling by CBSS and the idea of such survey spread among the labour rights activists. Students from Hyderabad University, JNU, North Bengal University, Indian Statistical Institute (Kolkata), Jadavpur University, Sikkim University, Presidency University and other institutions have voiced their opinion on Minimum wage. The views were expressed in Hindi, Malayalam, Nepali, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Odiya, Assamese, Telugu, Tamil, Dogri, English and many other languages.
You can check the opinion poll video here.