Tea Plantation Labour in India separate districts. There are today 133 tea gardens in Dibrugarh with a total working force of 115,638 persons including, of course, the clerical staff and artisans. Of these, 111,846 are labourers—62,698 permanent and 49,148 temporary. In Jorhat there are 167 gardens (as per 1991 figures) where the PLA is applicable. It has a total of 122,075 workers of which 117,707 are labourers..Of the latter, 81,511 are permanent and 36,196 temporary labourers. If one looks into the resident and non­resident character of the labour force, one finds that Dibrugarh has 79,105 resident labourers as against 41,454 non-resident. In contrast, Jo::hat has a resident labour force as large as 94,350 whereas non­resident labour force was just 24,065. Of the total labotrers employed in Dibrugarh, 102,069 were adults, 763 adolescents and 17,707 children 12,449 labourers respectively. in 1991. In Jorhat, the corresponding figure was 100,890, 4013, and | Both Dibrugarh and Jorhat fal] inthe same tea growing zone. Hence, tea gardens in both the districts have the same wage structure. The fmmjber of houses required to be constructed under the PLA was 34,277 in Dibrugarh and 52,915 in Jorhat at the beginning of 1991, During the year 1991, 13,702 and 14,836 houses of latest specifications were constructed shortfall of 20in,5D70ibrsupgecairfhied anhdouseJsorhaint Driebspectively, There wasi thusota by the end of 1991, § n Dibrugarh and 38,079 in Jorha The two districtg provide a striking contrast with regard to the | flum})er of hospitals, medical doctors, schools, creches, ete TFor in Dibrugarh, which hag 128 gardens :m:h 22,163 beds 104 dispensariweisth 197 ; detention of he example, to mP:d.lcal p s r ta % f c f t , ft t m h n e ers D , ibrugar 1 h 15 district bed h s a . s W 8 i 0 th qu r a e l s i p f e i c e t d medical pharmacist midwives, 85 health s, 62 assistants and qualified nurses, 91 qualified 142 nursing attendants. (At the r of oq t u h i ese a S sp rI e : c ts t . s, » th Lhe two qualified medical practitioners, 138 o5, 124 qualified midwives, 95 health endants, Needless to say that on many di i s s t t r i icts have fai ; led to approximate the PLA 30 Living Conditions of Tea Estate Labourers in Assam In all, there are 550 creches in Dibrugarh of which 366 are meant for children below two years and 184 for children above two years. A total of 122 ayaiis were employed tolook after the children. The number of hammocks, cots made available on each day are 130 and 215 respectively. In Jorhat, the total number of creches are 401 of which 164 are for children below two years and 237 for those above two years. The number of ayahs employed were 107 and the number of hammocks and cots available on each day are 137 and 85 respectively. Tea Gardens: A Profile The survey was conducted among the labourers of two gardens each selected from two districts. A small sample of 200 households—50 from each of the gardens in Jorhat and Dibrugarh—was studied. The four gardens are company owned. In both the districts, the two gardens selected are adjacent to each other. In Jorhat, the gardens are situated at a distance ranging from 26-27 kms. from the nearest town of Jorhat. In Dibrugarh, the distance of the two gardens from Dibrugarh town is in the range of 14-16 kms. Of the two gardensin the Dibrugarh district, one is at a distance of one kilometre from the main road and the other two kilometres. In Jorhat, the distance of the two gardens from the main road is 2.5 and 7.3 kms respectively. Population and Labour The total population in the four gardens is 14,838. The distribution of the population is however not even. The two estates in Jorhat, have a population of 5306 (356.75 per cent) of the total population, while the gardensin Dibrugarhhavea population of 9532 which constitutes 64.25 per cent of the total population. Of the total population of 14,838, 56.26 per cent are males and 43.73 per cent females. (See Table 9) The pattern of gender distribution of three out of four gardens is similar, In the two gardens of Jorhat males comprise over 52 per cent of the total population and females over 47 per cent. In Dibrugarh, the Sex ratio distribution is, however, not similar. Whereas in one garden the proportion of males and females is almost similar to those inJ orhat, in another, males account for 61 per cent of the total population. 31