The Platform Against Neo-Liberalism is organising a sit-in at BBD Bag, Kolkata, on December 23 from 1 p.m to 4 p.m. against the demonetisation policy of the Union Government.
22 December 2016
20 September 2016
Women Tea Workers Come Calling
Fifty women from the closed tea gardens of
Duncans recently marched into the corridors of powers in Kolkata on a two-day
trip to ask for their rights and to highlight the plight of their co-workers,
families and gardens.
As one
of the world’s leading tea producer and exporter, India’s tea industry employs
more than 1.2 million people. Two regions, Assam and Bengal, produce over 70%
of India’s tea and are also home to the worst working conditions for the tea
plantation workers in the country. In contrast to the images of tranquil, lush
green tea gardens presented to the consumers, tea plantation workers are paid
poverty wages and endure appalling working conditions. Women, who make up 70%
of the workforce, are especially affected.
In this
context, a more complex situation has arisen in North Bengal —15 tea estates
owned by one of the premier tea companies, Duncans Industries Private Limited,
are in a state of limbo. They are neither closed nor open in the usual sense of
the terms, with frightening consequences for the workers on the estates. The
Central government, with its eye on the Assembly elections, got the Tea Board
to take over 7 of these estates — all in the same Assembly constituency — just
days before the elections.
They gained from the decision as the constituency has a BJP MLA now. The losers have been the workers in these gardens, with neither Duncans nor the State government nor the Tea Board willing to take responsibility for their conditions.
The
situation has added one more chapter in the shameful history of hunger in the
tea industry. Apart from hunger, and being deprived of their livelihood, all of
a sudden for no fault of their own, these women are now battling with the lack
of basic amenities like water and electricity, lack of any primary health or
education facilities. They have been forced into harmful and insecure odd jobs
available nearby. Coupled with high rates of migration by the youth and the men
of the gardens, the women have been left alone to tackle threats from the local
mafia and goons, which is on the rise as these mischievous groups have been
encroaching on the tea garden property and resources.
While many workers have come together to form groups and start plucking by themselves, harassment from all quarters, ranging from middlemen to contractors, is rapidly destroying both the minimum chances of these women to survive and the huge areas of tea bushes, as the lush green tea gardens turn into jungles and women become invisible subjects of injustice.
While many workers have come together to form groups and start plucking by themselves, harassment from all quarters, ranging from middlemen to contractors, is rapidly destroying both the minimum chances of these women to survive and the huge areas of tea bushes, as the lush green tea gardens turn into jungles and women become invisible subjects of injustice.
With neither the government nor the management actively setting out to solve their plight, the women took the resolve of coming all the way from the north of the state to meet and request early effective intervention by the authorities.
08 September 2016
How W.Bengal Subsidises Tea Garden Owners, Deprives Workers
The Paschim
Banga Khet Majoor Samity finds newspaper reports of bonus meetings in the tea
sector being deadlocked due to the huge losses of owners absurd, as it does the
plan by the State Government to intervene in what has traditionally been a
strictly bipartite affair. This is because this year, especially, has been one
when the State Government has bent over backwards to give huge concessions to the owners, by using the National
Food Security Act (NFSA) and Central Government funds. The mechanism of doing
this is given below.
It as an accepted practice, which has been reiterated by
repeated tri-partite wage agreements, that tea garden management provides a
portion of the wages of all permanent workers in the form of subsidised
foodgrain. These foodgrain are bought by the management from the
market and then provided at 0.40 p per kg to all its permanent workers and
their dependents.
Before
the introduction of NFSA, tea garden owners were buying foodgrain at Rs 21 per
kg and providing the same to the workers at 0.40 p per kg, with a subsidy of Rs
20.60 per kg. Generally, a worker with an adult wife and 2 dependent children
would receive about 32 kgs of food grains per month, amounting to a subsidy of
about Rs 660 per month.
On October
30, 2016, the State Government amended the Public Distribution Supply Control Order
2013 to allow ration shops in tea gardens to be given to self help groups or
the tea garden management. In at least 200 tea gardens, the management has been
designated the ration shop owner making it easy for the management to replace
their own foodgrain with Government-provided foodgrain after the introduction
of NFSA.
The
management now purchases foodgrain from the Food Department at Rs 2 per kg and
is providing these to its permanent workers at 0.40 p per kg. While each worker
is losing Rs 660 per month, taking an average of 1,000 workers per tea estate,
each garden owner is adding Rs 6.6 lakhs per month.
This
practice started in February 2016, seven months ago. Therefore, so far, each
garden has saved an average of Rs4,620 per worker or Rs 46.20 lakhs per garden.
This amount covers a substantial amount of the bonus demand of the workers.
The
State Government is in full support of these practises. Effectively,the NFSA is
now being used to provide a subsidy to the management with no benefits accruing
to permanent workers and their dependents.
This action by the State Government has been taken unilaterally in consultation with the associations of employers, the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations and its member associations. Workers or their representative unions did not at any point agree to this arrangement. Yet now, after having taken an action that supported the owners unilaterally at the expense of the workers, the State Government wants to intervene in bonus negotiations . Whether this is to increase its sphere of influence or to benefit the workers is debateable. We hope however, that good sense will prevail and the State Government will intervene on behalf of the workers.
02 August 2016
Court Acts On Tea Workers' Plight
After a wait of six months, the Kolkata High Court
finally decided to take action on a petition filed by Paschim Banga Khet Majoor
Samity on the plight of tea workers. A division bench of the Kolkata High Court
headed by the Chief Justice on 29th July 2016 ordered the State
Government, the Tea Board and the Central Government to submit action taken
reports by August 12, 2016, clearly stating what they had done to
relieve the misery of tea workers.
The Chief Justice expressed extreme displeasure on
hunger deaths and the continuing distress of tea plantation workers, especially
the plight of workers in the Duncans gardens. Incidentally, Duncans Industries
Limited, one of the largest and seemingly most prosperous plantation owners in
West Bengal, had abandoned 16 gardens in the Doars and Darjeeling areas in early
2015. The Central Government took over 7 of these gardens through a special
notification on January 29, 2016. The Tea Board was subsequently to run these
gardens, but it has taken practically no steps to re-open the gardens or to
relieve the distress of the workers. The Chief Justice questioned the Tea
Board, the Duncans management and the State and Central Government about the
predicament of the workers, only to be informed that none of these authorities
were willing to say that they were responsible for the workers.
PBKMS had filed a writ petition (WP-4225W/2016) in
February 2016 before the High Court highlighting the problems of tea garden workers,
arising from the present crisis in the industry as well as long term issues. Mr Bikash Bhattacharya, senior advocate, intervened on behalf of PBKMS.
The petition focused on the non-compliance by
employers, State and Central Governments of the provisions of the Tea Act,
Plantation Labour Act, Employees Provident Fund Act and Minimum Wages Act. It
asked the court to ensure that conditions are created to ensure each tea worker
gets a food intake of at least 2400 calories per day. It also asked for immediate
relief for tea garden population in the form of Antodaya Anna Yojana, MGNREGA
work and wages, health facilities, drinking water and electricity. Respondents
were State and Central Governments, the Tea Board and employers such as Duncans
India Limited.
In her first verbal order on March 12,
2016 , the Chief Justice had asked PBKMS to
seek the intervention of the State Legal Services Authority through Lok Adalats
to mitigate the problems of tea workers. The Chief Justice had given a time of
two weeks for the petitioner to seek and receive help from the Lok Adalat
process. If such relief is not received, the case was to be heard once again by
the division bench at the end of the month.
PBKMS had immediately tried to get the Lok Adalat
process functioning, submitting 53 complaints from over 500 complainants from 7
gardens in April 2016. However, the District Legal Services Authority is still
to respond.
PBKMS’s petition is being heard together with another
petition filed by the Darjeeling District Legal Aid Forum.
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