Copyright © Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 1996 No part of this book may be reproduced without by the publisher, proper authorization ISBN 84-7440-035-4 Foreword ' India, producing about 750 million kilogrammes of tea, ranks first amongst the tea producing nations of the world. It is the largest - consumer and exporter of tea. Geographically the Indian te:a producing - industry is confined to four States—Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and - West Bengal. ' Tea plantations employ about 1.5 million workers. The tea industr:y is ~ the largest employer of workers in the organised sector. Plan.tatlons - practice the family system of employment. Plantation workers include adult male, adult female, adolescents and children. They are Paid wages on scales different from the one prescribed under the Plantation Labour * Act. The ‘workforce consists of migrants who are largely ignorant and _illiterate. In addition, the level of unionisation, particularly amongst ' the workers, is extremely low. These conditions, in turn, have resulted “in a high degree of exploitation through low wages, longer hours of ­work, strenuous working environment, prevalence of child labour, poor - or almost non-existent medical facilities, etc. Published by : Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (India office) D-9, South Extension, Part-II, New Delhi ­110 048, Designed, Typeset and Printed by New Concept Information Systems. Pvt, Ltd., . E ­214, Ground Floor, Greater Kailash ­11, New Delhi ­110 048, ' To focus on the ground realities in the tea plantations located in v.arious _States, a research study was assigned by the Friedrich Ebert Stfi"tl:mg. ''The objective was to unveil, with first land knowledge, th@_ con(.htlons ‘existing in plantations, make possible comparisons of the situations of plantations in different States, and to identify thereasons for variations, lif any. The level of unionization among the workers and the ?xm}t of the implementation of the provisions of various labour legislations 'including the Plantation Labour Act, Industrial Disputes Act, etc. are ialso covered in the study. !This publication is an outcome of the research undertalc.en b3f Dr. 51})13111'1;? 1K, Bhowmik in agsociation with Dr. V. Xaxa of the University of Delhi " sand Dr, M.A. Kalam of Madras University. With the objective to cover 'the major tea producing states, Dr. Bhowmik un.dertook the study of itea plantation in West Bengal while plantations in As'sam and T;m; Nadu were covered by Dr. Xaxa and Dr. Kalam respectively. The three