Tea Plantation Labour in India What is more surprising is that neither the labour department of the government nor the trade unions have taken up these issues seriously. The normal tendency of trade unions in this area is to blame the management for its callousness towards the workers’ needs. However this is not enough. The local trade unions, and their federations could have taken up this issue at the industry level and organised some movements to focus on the problem. Instead the unions it appears are more interested in passing the buck to others—the government for its ineffectiveness or the employers for their indifference. Apax:t from housing the sanitary and drainage conditions are equally bad. It is only during the recent years that the plantations have started constructing toilets in the labour lines. Earlier these did not exist and men‘and women had to use open spaces for these purposes. This is fleSpflze the fact that the PLA and the State rules elaborated on these issues. In Darjeeling it is understandable that the water problem makes tonstruction of flush system latrines difficult to operate. However, even the modified (bore-hole) ones which are less expensive have not been provided. In G6 the workers have to fend for themselves, In G8,-the management does not repair them. Plantations in Dooars in comparison provide better living conditions. However w}.len compared with the plantations in Tamil Nadu the Dooars tt;a plal}tatlons definitely project an inferior picture. The Tamil Nadu fhantatmns not only give higher wages to their workers, they also ensure at they get a better deal in their living conditions. This is despite the fact that th? plantations there are less productive than those in Dooars. Therefore, 1.t is not the resources but the attitudes of the employers towards their workers which is crucial in labour welfare, The employers in North India seem to regard plantation worlers as liabilities rather than resources, Education ‘.I‘he educational opportunities for children of plantation workers is very 1mpqrtant for. the future of this community, The employers have to provide for primary education because Plantations are isolated and it irls1 d.ifficult for children of the workers to have access to education on their own, However, though the gardens in Dooars has schools these 68 Tea Planiation Workers in West Bengal are hardly functional. In Terai the functionality of schools is not a factor since schools do not exist at all. o In Dooars the schools provided by the plantations are not adequate. Primary education is for the first four standards, comprising four years in school. Hence one would expect schools to have atleast four classrooms, Since none of the gardens have separate classrooms it is likely that all students are taught collectively in one c¢lassroom. In all probability the children are taught the same course for four or five years. Secondly, the number of students is fairly large but the teachers are few. G3 has a better ratio of students and teachers as each teacher has 81 students. On the other hand, in Ramjhora there were two teachers for 200 students which would male it difficult for students to learn anything. We also found in Dooars that teachers did not attend to their duties regularly. The teachers were employees of the government (School Board) and there is a general laxity among government employees in their duties. At the same time the management was equally responsible for this state of affairs. The teachers were responsible to the chairman of the school committee who in most cases was the manager of the plantation. Most of them were indifferent and did not make attempts to check whether the teachers came to school regularly, The poor condition of education was due to a number of reasons; such as, large number of students, inadequate space, low number of teachers who are indifferent to their duties, lack of interest of the management, ete. The net loser is the worker as his children have to suffer due to lack of education. The situation in Darjeeling was much better. We found that the schools were better run, schools had enough rooms and the teachers attended to their duties regularly. However, Darjeeling’s weakness is that the managements do not provide any facilities for post-primary education. In Dooars transport is provided for those children who attend school putside the garden. The students in Darjeeling are put to alot of hardship as they have to travel long distances to reach their schools. Health Facilities] While examining health facilities we found thatin this sphere too Dooars 69