Tea Plantation Labour in India places outside the garden, such as the military, police, etc. TABLE 8 Frequency Distribution of Households (HH) Household Size (including Head of HH) Dooars Terai Darjeeling Total 1 2-3- 4.5 6-7 8-9 10+ 2 5 a5 22 i '3 0 8 23 12 3 0 2 9 28 17 5 1 4 29 86 51 15 4 The household sizes in general are quite large. This was mainly because the workers live in joint families comprising atleast three generations. The job of the parent is normally given to the sibling after the parent retires. This also enables parents to live with their grown up or married children in the same house since they have provided jobs to their children. The availability of employment outside the plantations for children of plantation workers is very limited, especially in Dooars and Terai. The children of plantation workers therefore tended to stay within the plantation and hope for work there. | TABLE 9 -Age Distribution of Household Heads (in years) Below 30 3140 41-50 50+ Dooars Terai 97 26 13 8 12 16 8 10 Dar_;eeling 9 23 ) 19 18 TPotal 48 85 33 36 That the households of the plantation workers are primarily joint families is further borne out by the age distribution of the heads of ho.useholds. These heads were those on whose name the house had been provided by the management of the'plantatibn. This is normally the male permanent worker or the female permanent worker (in case 72 Tea Plantation Workers in West Bengal there is no male permanent worker in the household). Table 9 gives the age distribution of the heads of households. Around 62 per cent of the household heads (113 out of 182) were 40 years old or less while a little less than 20 per cent (36 out of 182) were over 50 years old. There are differences in the proportions of heads in different age-groups in the three tea distriets. In Dooars around 72 per cent of the household heads were found to be of 40 years.or less whereas in Darjeeling the number of such household heads comprised only 52 per cent and in Terai they constituted around 60 per cent. Nearly 30 per cent of the heads in Darjeeling were above 50 years of age whereas in Dooars the proportion was a mere 11 per cent and in Terai the percentage was 21. Literacy and Educational Levels. The data on education is given in Table 10. Those who could not read or write are categorised as illiterate. There were others who had one or two years of schooling and they could read with difficulty and could sign their names. These people are categorised as functionally literate. The other three categories are those who had completed four years of primary education, those who had completed middle school (eighth standard) and those who had passed secondary scheol. What is striking is the high rate of illiteracy among the household heads. Nearly half the heads of households (49 per cent) are illiterate, 12 per cent functionally literate, 22.5 per cent had received primary education, 14 per cent had reached middle school and only one head in the 182 households had passed secondary school. This low level of literacy shows another failure of the PLA. One of the provisions of the PL.A is that the employers must provide primary schools for the children of plantation workers. Yetit is evident that most of these people did not get the benefit of free education. ‘ _ TABLE 10_ Educational Levels of Household Heads I FL Pr. Mid, Sec. Dooars 28 12 16 C18 0 Terai 34 5 5' 2 0 Darjeeling. o 5 20 9 1 I- iI.lit‘emte; FlL- functidna]ly liternte;'Pr- Primary education; Mid- Middle school; Sec- Secondary school.' 73