Tea Plantation Labour in Indi incentive price increase in slabs (unlike in West Bengal where the price is the same irrespective of the number of excess kilogramimnes of leaves plucked). The minimum base (thika) is also lower which. enables the worker to increase his or her income through the incentive price, The minimum base varies between 12 and 16 kg. depending on the yield per ha. If the yield per hectare is low, the thika is low. A plantation producing 1601 kg. of tea per ha (which is the average yield in Dooars) has a thika of 16 kg, In Dooars the thika would be atleast 25 kg. The worker is paid an incentive price of Re 0.27 per kg. for plucking 17 to 35 kg. and Re 0.35 per kg. ahove 35 kg. The total income of a worker is thus higher. Moreover, plucking of tea leaves in Tamil Nadu js done throughout the year (as the rains come twice in a year) whereas in West Bengal it is done for only nine months in a year, The 9n1y additional benefit the workers in West Bengal get is the foodgrain subsidy. This when valued in terms of money falls to around Rs. 5 per day. Hence even after adding this amount the total daily wage will increase to Rs, 29.30. Even this is lower than the cash wages of workers in both the States. , Another significant feature is that the wages of child workers in both the States equal to two-thirds of the wages of adults and not half as in West Bengal. This, alongwith the relatively higher wages are mainly responsible for the negligible number of child worlkers in these States. Employers do not find it profitable to engage children as they have to be paid wages which are slightly less than those of adults though they work fpr only five hours a day. The relatively higher daily wage means that the total household wage is high and hence children need not be made to work. On the other hand, workers in West Bengal find it difficultto make both ends meet with their current wage levels hence children have to work in order to increase the household income. The high rate of child ]abour then must be attributed to.other‘faétors. Profile of the Plantations o ­Dooars : The three plantations studied in Dooars had thtee different types of ownership and size. Garden 1 (G1)—the largest of the three—has 529 ha under tea cultivation . There are 1241 perman n e e n n t workers and 1 1 1 1 5 0 b2 Teo Plantation Workers in West Bengal temporary workers. Thus the number of temporary workers almost equalled that of permanent workers. The total population within the plantation at the time of survey was 8126, This plantation was owned by the subsidiary of a very large industrial house which is one of the larger plantation owners in the State, It is one of the better run plantations in terms of production and profitability, The tea it produces fetches a high price, The large number of temporary workers points to the fact that the output is pushed up largely through employment of this type of workers. The second plantationis Garden 2(G2) which is owned by a Calcutta based company. This is the only tea plantation owned by the company. Its area under tea is 426 ha and there are 1083 permanent workers employed. The number of temporary workers figures around 500. The total population residing within the plantation at the time wags 4453, In terms of output and profitability, this garden is well below G1. In fact till a decade ago it was running at a loss because the tea bushes were in a shambles. However, during the past few years it has recovered considerably, mainly due to the rise in tea prices which in turn encouraged the management to invest in improving the condition of the tea bushes,‘ The third plantation is Garden 3(G3) which like G1 is owned by a small company. It is much smaller in size than the other two plantations having 188 ha under tea. Its permanent labour force numbered 625 and there were at the time only 15 temporary workers. The total population residing within the plantation was 2497. G8 has, over the last few years, improved considerably in production and profitability. The general condition of the tea bushes as well as the living conditions of the workers too has improved. Fifteen years ago, the bushes bore an unkept look and the living condition of the workers were the worst in the distriet. Most of the houses had mud walls and thatched roofs, there was no water supply in the labour lines and sanitary facilities were non-existent. This garden has changed in s,everal ways since then though the ownership is the same. Garden 2 has an average proportion of pérmanent and temporary workers, G1 has an unusually high number of temporary workers while G3 has a very low proportion. G8's low figure is because its number of