University students extend solidarity to tea garden workers

PR, KalimNews, Kalimpong, 14.12.2015: Students from India’s Top Central Universities (Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi University (DU), Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Vishva Bharati University (VBU)) express outrage over starvation deaths in tea gardens and extend solidarity with workers’ struggle for better wages.   

Students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi University (DU), Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Vishva Bharati University (VBU) have extended their solidarity with the movement of tea workers and expressed outrage over the continuous and horrendous exploitation of workers by plantation owners in North Bengal. In this regard, students also condemn the continued negligence shown by political establishments in addressing the long-standing problem of tea-garden workers. This nation-wide campaign amongst students to flag the escalating number of starvation death of tea workers and press for prompt action from the State was coordinated by Gorkha Students, JNU. “Gorkha Students, JNU” is voluntary, independent students organisation based in JNU whose objective is to work for inclusive and democratic state of ‘Gorkhaland’.

The representative of Delhi University students’ organisation Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch, Vidya has argued that – the ruling government has shown absolute indifference towards the abject conditions of the workers who are the backbone of the tea industry. She found it objectionable that this was happening inspite of the Supreme Court’s intervention and  condemned the fact that workers’ rights to minimum wage and secure employment, access to safe food and water and the right to live with dignity are being flouted in a country that claims to be a democracy. She stated that the present conditions of chronic hunger, malnutrition and starvation deaths signify that nothing has changed since the exit of our colonial masters.

Similarly a solidarity statement of students’ cultural and political organisation “PEHEL” from Hyderabad Central University was also brought out in their campus. One of their representatives Prateek, said that after the renewed demand for separate statehood of Gorkhaland in 2007, the Mamata Banerjee led TMC government agreed to pay a maximum wage of only Rs 96 per day which is even below the subsistence levels. This has been happening in a time when tea garden workers in Kerala receive up to Rs 500 per day. He cited that at the time of transfer of power, Darjeeling had around 138 tea gardens running but now only 76 factories are under operation and rest has been shut down/locked out. Tea garden owners have violated even the minimum rights prescribed by the feudal plantation labour act of 1951. Some tea gardens are operational only during the time of plucking, and after harvesting it is locked out thus denying the basic rights such as ration, medical facility, bonus etc. to workers. Helpless workers in some of the tea garden have even requested the owner and management to run the estate even if they have to bear the cost of forgoing their basic statutory right. Lock out of the tea gardens, he stated, has become a popular instrument of estate owners to exercise control and lower workers’ wages. This kind of deliberate oppression are being done to keep garden workers in servitude, destitution and penury and curb every possibility of upward economic mobility over several generations.

Solidarity message from the students of Vishva Bharati University (VBU) stated that it is the nexus of exploitative and feudalistic corporate houses who own these tea gardens, and a nonchalant State government that has continued to ignore the plight of Gorkhali, Adivasi and Rajbonshi communities. They expressed deep regret over the fact that Darjeeling tea which is revered as the “Champagne of Teas” and is the first agricultural product to earn Geographical Indication status, is produced by the most exploited group of workers. They argued that all must come forward to support the protesting workers and strengthen the movement.

The poster by Gorkha Students, JNU which was brought in JNU campus highlighted several mechanisms used by estate owners to exploit workers despite the tea industry generating massive revenue (estimated at around Rs. 450 crores per annum by the Darjeeling Chamber of Commerce). Gross disparity in payment of wages was highlighted by comparing minimum wages of tea labourers in Darjeeling and Doars with that in other states. Minimum wages paid to unskilled tea labour in Kerala is Rs.301, in Assam is Rs.158.54, and in the neighbouring Sikkim is Rs. 200 while the same in Darjeeling is only Rs.112. The wages paid to tea-garden workers in West Bengal is therefore even lower than the minimum wages paid for MGNREGA workers (which is around Rs. 130-151) and to agricultural labourers ( Rs.206). Rejecting the claims made by garden owners that wages are low because of the low prices fetched by tea leaves in the market, JNU students argued that if it was so then how was it possible for wages  in the renowned Makaibari Tea Estate to be equally low at Rs 112, even though the garden produces tea that is sold at Rs 1.1 lakh per Kg in the world tea market. The poster also cited the historic victory of tea estate workers, mostly led by women, in Munnar of Kerala that forced the management to increase their wages and bonus. As the political establishment in West Bengal has not acted beyond some symbolic gestures and tokenism, JNU students cited the need for collective struggle from all quarters. Taking inspiration from the Munnar victory, they argue that it is only through an uncompromising and collective struggle that the status quo can be broken to force the tea management/owners to bow down to the demands Our workers.

In solidarity with the tea garden workers’ struggle, the President of Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) Kanhaiya, as well as many other organisations within JNU extended support.

Courtesy: Dawa Sherpa , Member, Gorkha Students, JNU