Tea Plantation Labour in India The trade unions have been showing concern over this aspect and have been demanding an improvement on this matter through bilateral agreements, The employment of more labour on the basis of 1and-labour or crop-labour ratio has been objected to by the employers' organisation. However, they have agreed to offer permanent employment to a certain number on an ad hoc basis. Curiously, while there has been a steady decline in the employment of permanent labour force, there has been an increase in the number of those temporarily employed in the tea gardens of Assam. This labour force is recruited from within the gardens as well as from outside. In 1984, there were in all 170,495 non-permanent workers in Assam. By’ 1986, the figuré had gone up to 189,750, By the year 1991, the figure of non-permanent workers stood at 268,450 of which 130,544 were from within the garden and 137,906 from outside. The employment of non­permanent labour foree from within the garden has always been and it has gone on increasing but the employment of such large labour forc e “from­outside the garden t h h a e s sh y o e w a n r an u 1 n 9 p 9 r 1. ecede ( n Se t e ed incr T e a a b s l e e durin 4) g TABLE 4 Inerease in Employment of Temporary Labour Force Year Nor#Permanent | Resident Non-Resident 1984 102,674 | 67,821 1985 105,816 72,818 1986 .. 111,838 78,912 1989 —_ : 81,421 1990 ­86,227 1991 e 180,544 187,906 SOURCE: Tes Baarcf,\‘f’e,_q Statistics 1980,-71981 and 1992, Total 170,495 178,644 ­­­268,450 ¥ is fairly obyious then that there does exist a vast surplus labour within the teq estates Which\dt)es not find employment all through the year. The plantation activity r;q\c tives additional Jabour force only duri_ng Living Conditions of Tea Estate Labourers in Assam the plucking season which lasts for about six to eight months. Those employed as temporary labour force thus find work only during the plucking season. Their employment is mainly seasonal. A large proportion of the temporarily employed labour force are usually women. Whereas in 1991-92, the figure of male labourers temporarily employed was 80,791, the number of women workers was 110,701. (See Table 5) TABLE 5 Gender Ratio of Employed Labour Force Permanent Temporary Male Resident Non-Resident 158,340 40,660 . 15,576 40,131 Female Resident Non-Resident 163,869 48,932 18,133 61,769 SOURCE: Government of Assam, Annual Administration Report, 1991-92, Wage Structure In comparison toothertea producing States of India, the wage structure in the tea estates of Assam remains low. The last fixation of minimum wages for tea garden workers was made in February 1990 which was to come into effect from 1 November 1989. This fixation was made after a lapse of 28 years. Prior to the fixation, the daily wage of an adult male worker was Rs, 13.10, of female worker Rs. 12.92 and of children Rs. 6.55 in Zone A. In Zone B, the corresponding figure was Rs. 15.03 for a male worker, Rs. 12.86 for a female worker and Rs. 6.51 for ¢hildren. In Zone C, the wage of an adult worker—both male and female—was Rs. 10,84 and of non-adult worker Rs. 9.48. Immediately after the wage fixation, an adult worker earned a daily wage of Rs. 15.30in Zone A, Rs. 15.28 in Zone B, and Rs, 15.20 in Zone C and so on. In Zone E, the wage rate during the period was Rs. 13.04. In Assam, variation exists in the wage rate of different tea growing zones. The variation is greater between the regions than within the region. For example, the wage rate was in the range of Rs. 15.70 to Rs, 15.20 in the upper Assam, Rs, 15.18 in lower Assam and Rs, 13.04 in the Surma Valley in the year after the wage fixation. (See Table 8) 23