Tea Plantation Labour in India Industrial Training Institutes in the plantation regions though the younger generation need these the most. Therefore development of educational facilities, right from the primary levelis an important issue which the trade unions could take up alongwith their other demands. Secondly, a greater stress has to be laid on the development of the areas outside the plantations so that more employment opportunities are created near plantation sites. Here, too, trade unions and other development agencies could play an important role. Finally, the cultural development of plantation workers is at a low ebb. The living conditions of the workers need to be improved. The government needs to show greater involvement in this process. Most of the plantation labour belong to the Scheduled Tribes or Scheduled Castes. In Assam they are denied this status though the workers belong to these communities in their places of origin (namely, Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh) and even in other States where they migrated, such as West Bengal and Tripura. However, in Assam these people are denied the status of tribals and only around fifteen years ago they were placed as More Other Backward Classes. Hence there were no special programmes for their development by the State. In Tamil Nadu a majority of the tea workers belong to communities which are Scheduled Castes or Backward Classes. The respective State Governments have failed to initiate special programmes for these people for reasons not known. Perhaps the main problems of plantation labour, especially those in West Bengal and Assam, arerooted in the fact that they were originally migrants to the area.and were ascribeda low status, Hence, though they have contributed to the State revenues through their labour they have heenregarded ag a marginalised group., This can be seen from the fact that though these communities are demographically large in their respective regions they have never bheen politically effective. For example, in Assam there was a strong regional movement in the 1980s but the plantation labour were never a part of this movement. The leaders did not consider them as local population even though these geople may have contributed the most towards the development of the tate. : : 116 Coneclusion In West Bengal, the situation is no different in Dooars and Terai. The large population of tea workers are kept in isolation and can hardly articulate their interests on their own. This is despite the fact that there are five reserved(tribal) constituencies for the Legislative Assembly and one for Parliament. These constituencies were formed because of the concentration of tribal population in and around 1-:he plantations. It is only in Darjeeling that the plantation and ex-p!antatlon workers have been politically effective. They were the driving force behind the Gorkhaland movement in Daxjeeling and they were successful to some extent in their demands. However, on l‘ooking. at 1.:he picture of plantation labour in the country, the siltuation in Darjeeling is an exception because in most of the other places the tea wor.kers and their communities have been made to remain outside the pt.an.pher;sf o.f politics in their regions. This has largely contributed to their isolation and their sorry state of development. They have thus not be.efl able to assert their demands for improvement of their living confhtn.ms. and for development of the areas which they inhabit. The situation is }Ik.ely to become worse if no immediate steps are taken to change the existing situation.: 117