Abstract:
Land has been a deeply contested issue in all tea growing states
in India, especially in the context of the leasing processes, conflicts
over revenue lands, land rights of the landless people, expansion of the
small grower sectors and the recent permission granted by various state
governments for converting parts of plantation land into non-plantation
purposes. The present study, based on secondary data from official
sources, systematic review of literature, and qualitative insights gathered
through personal interviews points out that the change in land utilisation
within the tea plantation sector has been made possible with state
facilitation and legislative amendment. This also has its roots in the
history of evolution and development of plantation sector in the pre
and post-colonial India. An astounding shift in the area under tea
cultivation from 2004 to 2008 was noted with an annual average growth
of 7.76 per cent in the small holder sector and a decline by – 2.01
percent in the traditional estate sector. However, questions around land
remain central to both the estate and small holder sector, whereby the
absence of title deeds of land for instance among the small growers,
affected accessibility to various governmental subsidies and the issues
of entitlements and right to shelter for the tea estate workers. The paper
also notes a decline in the land-man ratio that could be linked to the
shrinkage in cultivable area and therefore a reduction in days of
employment available for the workforce along with an increase in
casualisation and family labour. It is suggested that legislative
amendments such as those permitting other economic activity or through
aspects such as tea tourism, and eco-tourism must ensure securing
employment and residence rights to the tea workers community.
Stakeholders must initiate discussions towards evolving pragmatic
policy formulations for addressing issues of such conversions, its socioeconomic
viabilities, impact on employment and livelihood to avert
disengagement of labour.
