Tea Workers from North-East India!
The best resource in the world is people. Almost every industry and sector makes the maximum use of its human resources, just like it does with all other resources. These include those who labor in tea gardens and exploit them in various ways. Due to their lack of education or low level of education, the majority of tea garden workers are uninformed of their own rights. When I was pursuing my Master’s degree back then, we were given the task of creating a documentary about the “Bagania” people, who work in tea gardens.
When we first made plans to visit a tea garden in the North East, the management flat-out refused to let us inside the garden. As a result, we had to travel to a separate place to gather data on the tea garden workers. We had a great deal of data about them, and that was very cruel.
This means that, in addition to receiving daily pay that is insufficient, they occasionally have to sit idle. And since they have no work, they also have no money, which results in death. Sad, huh? There is, however, more to it. The Bagania family essentially engages in child labor when they sell their kids and then send them out to various enterprises to work hard labor. Children who remain with their parents are required to work in the tea garden and receive meager compensation. (The little children enthusiastically participate in picking up the leaves since they view it as a game.)
The majority of Bagania women are discovered to have anemia, and regrettably, the pregnant women pass away during delivery, according to Asha workers. Even though they were given numerous rights, they are unaware of them because they live in a distant part of the hamlet and lack education. Even in the eighth month of their pregnancies, the women work in the gardens. They have been taken advantage of in every way imaginable.
Then, we moved to a separate tea garden with slightly better surroundings, where they received “sochalai” (toilets). The employees, however, were unwilling to use it. They were unaware of the significance of maintaining personal cleanliness. They should receive a good education and teachings on the value of rights, health, and other vital parts of life, in my opinion.
The former tea garden workers’ financial situation is equally terrible. Several of them used to work in the nearby gardens during picking season in order to supplement their meager food supplies. Few people could rely on their farming. Several of them start earning money outside the garden in other businesses or industries due to the lack of land. They include a modest number of drivers, handymen, artisans, carpenters, masons, ironworkers, road laborers, mechanics, electricians, and other tradespeople. All of them are freshly developed skilled workers, but because they were not taught in ITIs or other similar institutions, they cannot make a claim for proper placement in the workforce without a certificate. They create low-cost craftsmen for various businesses, including plantations.
