Problems of Plantation Sector in India
In September and October 2015, there were agitations and strikes by the plantation workers in Kerala. In a major contrast, the agitations were initially led by women tea-leaf pickers under the collective name of ‘Pombilai Orumai’ in Munnar, Kerala. They challenged their own trade unions and simultaneously demanded a fair hike in their wages and bonus payments. After their partial success with a 20 percent package, the trade unions also started the strike demanding a hike in their basic wages from the present level Rs. 232 to Rs. 500. As the women groups rejected a joint strike, the trade unions and Woman workers continued their agitation separately. The struggle then spread to other plantation estates of cardamom and rubber. The strike finally brought a solution with an increase in the basic pay from Rs. 232 to Rs. 301 for tea and coffee plantation workers, from Rs. 267 to Rs. 330 for cardamom workers and from Rs. 317 to Rs. 381 for rubber plantation workers. Though the struggle is over, it does not signify a permanent solution to the worker’s grievances.
Issues of Plantation workers
The living and working conditions of the plantation workers especially women with low wages is very poor. Most of the workers in Munnar plantation are Tamil-speaking dalit migrants. In North East India, the workers are migrants from poor tribal families. Most of the workers are women. Many of them live in one room line houses with no sanitation and basic facilities like drinking water. Many families are left malnourished and are vulnerable to the communicable diseases. There are no medical facilities available. There are issues related to exposure to the chemicals used in plantation estates which may affect their health. There is little scope for the quality education to their children and in many cases children are employed for work. There is an absence of trade unions to represent their problems to the management. Even if there are any trade unions, they are male-dominated and ignored the issues of women workers. The absence of trade unions and the state on the one hand, and the exploitative management on the other hand resulted in miserable life for the workers. The plantation managements turned their estates into mini empires. They denied the minimum wages for the workers. In many cases, there are defaults in the worker’s payment.
The tea plantation workers in India are covered by the Plantation Labour Act (PLA), 1951, which regulates the working and living conditions of workers. It also prescribes standards for housing, healthcare and education, regulates working conditions including maximum working hours, overtime payments, child labour, paid leave, and sickness and maternity benefits. But there is an absence of state to implement the act.
Issues of Plantation sector Management
The crisis in the plantation sector is due to falling commodity prices and other allied ills. The managements are declining the wage hike because of the drastic decline in net profits. They sought to link wage increases with a corresponding increase in labour productivity. The planation industry in India is mainly suffering from the problem of rising production costs and labour costs along with low price realisation. Since trade liberalisation, Indian industry has to compete with international markets. Because of the higher production costs in India and overproduction by other countries like Kenya, the Indian industry is unable to compete. There was no reinvestment in India to improve the quality of tea. The tea price is governed by tea auction centres and they are tightly controlled by a cartel of traders. As a result auctions prices are declined.
What can be done?
The Plantation sector remains one of the largest employers of workers in India. For workers, the government should take steps to improve their living conditions with construction of houses and provision of basic amenities. Development of better health care facilities and education facilities for the children should be the priority. The Plantation Labour Act (PLA), 1951 should be implemented in principle. Efforts should be made to develop strong trade unions to bargain with the management about the workers issue. The existing gender-discrimination should be eliminated with equal representation for women in trade unions. For the pricing of tea, government should develop a transparent auction system. Focus should be on improving the competitiveness and productivity of the entire industry. Government on its part can provide concessions in the form of lower plantation tax and subsidised electric supply.
