Recommendations on Welfare of Tea Plantations Labour

National Advisory Council

Background

1. The Plantations Labour Act (PLA), 1951 provides the legal definition of Plantations. The Act states that a Plantations is any land used or intended to be used for growing tea, coffee, rubber, cinchona, cocoa, oil palm and cardamom which measures 5 hectares or more and in which 15 or more persons are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding 12 months.

2. Tea is the major Plantations industry in India. It is the oldest in the organized manufacturing sector and has retained its position as the single largest employer in this sector. Tea is produced mainly in four States, namely, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The total number of permanent workers in tea estates is about 1 million and the number of temporary workers is around 6 lakhs. Ironically, even though they are a part of the organized sector, Plantations workers remain even today one of the most marginalized sections of the society.

3. Wages of tea Plantations workers are the lowest in the organized/ formal sector. The process and rationale for wage fixation does not appear to be satisfactory. The decision of the Wage Commission for Tea Plantations Industry in 1966 to take 1.5 units of consumption to determine the need based minimum wage instead of 3 units of consumption as agreed upon in the 15th Indian Labour Conference (1957) has resulted in such low wages. For example, the total daily wage of a tea Plantations worker in West Bengal is around Rs. 140 which includes the component of food grains at a subsidy. This is lower than the stipulated wage in the unorganized sector. The wages are agreed upon in different States by a Tripartite Committee set up by the State Governments comprising of the Worker Unions, representatives of the employers and the State Government. Wage negotiations are on the basis of the existing wages whereas negotiations should be after taking into account the existing need based minimum wage.

4. Low bargaining power of tea Plantations workers. The low wages of tea Plantations workers are due to a number of causes which include isolation of the tea Plantations, extreme backwardness of the areas surrounding the Plantations that do not provide any alternative

employment, lack of educational facilities among others. These factors reduce the workers’ bargaining power for better wages. When workers demand a just increase in wages, the employers retaliate by saying that they would have to cut down on temporary workers. Since the temporary workers are from the families of permanent workers, any reduction will reduce the family income. The workers are thus caught in a vicious circle of working for low wages in Plantations work.

5. Lack of quality school education and little impact of the RTE Act. Poverty and limited income restricts the workers from providing their children adequately with their basic needs and education. The teacher student ratio is very low. Medium of instruction completely differs from their mother tongue. There are no proper school buildings and other infrastructure. Despite the enactment of the Right to Education Act, the impact of this legislation is scarcely felt in most of the Plantations areas. High schools and other facilities for higher education are located at far distance from tea gardens.

6. Poor penetration of Government’s welfare programmes. Welfare facilities like housing, sanitation, health and hygiene available to the Plantations labour are also not satisfactory. Various Government of India schemes which have the potential of being dovetailed into the tea sector are also generally not extended to the Plantations labour. As a result, the Plantations labour is deprived of even those facilities which are available to an ordinary citizen of the country. Anaemia, worm infection, skin problems, TB and respiratory infections are very common health problems seen in Plantations labours.Institutions, Governance and Delivery Mechanisms Tea Board of India

7. The Tea Board of India was established under Tea Act, 1953 as a regulatory body in pursuance of the International Agreement on Tea towards cultivation and export of tea. With respect to labour welfare, the Board has a specific provision for improvement of amenities and providing incentives for workers. Under its mandate, it also has a scope for improving the working conditions of Plantations labour. With respect to infrastructural development, the board provides rooms for development and extension of hospitals, health centres, UNICEF model of toilets and supply of water filter.

Structure for Enforcement and Accountability

8. Plantations Labour Act, 1951 and the Plantations Labour Rules of respective state governments in particular are being implemented through enforcement machinery that operates from Regional Labour Officers situated in tea growing areas. Assistant Labour Commissioners are the Plantations Inspectors under the PLA. There is no separate machinery for implementation of PLA, 1951. There are serious concerns about the enforcement of the PLA, 1951 especially with respect to manpower deficiency and infrastructural hindrances in accessing the far flung tea growing areas. The Labour Welfare Boards exist in the state for the purpose of promoting welfare activities for workers in various industries and tea garden areas.

9. The following legislations are applicable to the tea Plantations workers:

i. Plantations Labour Act, 1951

ii. Workers Compensation Act, 1923

iii. The Payment of Wages Act, 1936

iv. The Industrial Dispute Act, 1947

v. The Factories Act, 1948

vi. The Minimum Wages Act, 1948

vii. Provident Fund Act

viii. Maternity Benefit Act

ix. Other Social Welfare Legislations

10. Shortly after the NAC took up the subject on its agenda and initiated its consultative process, an Inter-Ministerial Group has been constituted in December, 2013 by the Ministry of Labour & Employment with Labour Secretary as the Chair to look into the issues concerning Plantations labour. It is suggested that the following recommendations of the NAC be considered by the Inter- Ministerial Committee with regard to welfare of the tea Plantations labour.

Recommendations

11. In the light of the discussion in the foregoing sections there is a need to revisit the Plantations Labour Act 1951 and various welfare provisions of Plantations workers in India. The issues that need to be addressed are low wages, ensuring decent working condition, provisioning basic amenities and better enforcement of the legislation through involvement of local administration, local self governments and NGOs. To address these concerns, the following recommendations are made.

Recommendation 1 – Plantations Labour Act, 1951

Review existing provisions under the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 to make it relevant to present context. The review exercise should take into account, developments in the tea sector, social legislations enacted for labor welfare as well as new welfare programs and outreach.

12. The Plantations Labour Act, 1951 provides for the welfare of Plantations labour and regulates the conditions of work in Plantations. It has been enacted by the Central Government but administered by the State Governments through rules framed by them based on a model provided by the Union government. It is unique in the fact that while the Indian labour legislation in general restricts itself to wages and working conditions at the place of work, the PLA is the only Act that seeks to raise the living standards of Plantations workers. The small tea growers sector being an unorganized sector is not governed by it. There is a need to see that social security benefits are extended to labour working on small Plantations.

13. The implementation of the provisions of the Act has not lead either to the empowerment of the workers or to the structural transformation of the colonial Plantations. The PLA has its constraints in the articulation of the rights, definition of Plantations, definition of worker and its failure to break the isolation of labour within Plantations, the highly restrictive logic of determination of wages and in the limited valuation of women's labour. This points to the fact that the PLA in its present form contributes to institutional exclusion.

14. The most vociferous argument on the part of the management has been that the observance of the provisions of the PLA increases the cost of production of tea; making the industry inefficient. The industry has repeatedly pointed out that these provisions were initiated in early years when employment in remote areas was difficult because of inadequate facilities. 1951 PLA, which was enacted to make it incumbent on tea estate managements to provide a wide range of welfare facilities still exist, directly impacting the cost of tea production. Although the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 requires the management of a tea garden to provide basic services for its workers and their families, its provisions apply only to permanent workers. Approximately half of the tea garden labour force is made up of ‘temporary’ or ‘seasonal’ or ‘casual’ workers, Thus they do not benefit from these services, which include health and hospital services, crèches, primary education, water and sanitation, housing and rations for workers and

their dependents. This makes their condition even more vulnerable.4

15. The review of the PLA 1951 needs to look afresh at the definitions of Plantations, workers, in the light of changing nature of tea production systems, .i.e. the emergence of the small tea grower sector which currently is outside the purview of the Law and whose numbers are increasing. Simultaneously, the nature of Plantations workers is also undergoing a transition. More and more casual and seasonal workers are being employed by tea Plantations, who are excluded from the welfare benefits provided in the PLA, 1951. There is need to see how rights and benefits could be extended to this class of workers. Moreover, there are today several Rights-based legislations enacted over the past decade as well as flagship programmes implemented by the Central Government which entitles all citizens of the country to food security, basic education, health services and insurance , housing, sanitation, social security and pension, etc. A situation cannot be allowed to prevail where workers in isolated enclaves such as tea Plantations, remain bereft of the universal entitlements conferred by the Rights-based legislations and welfare policies as well as flagship programmes. The PLA, 1951 needs to be consistent with other legislations for welfare and social security.

Recommendation 2 – Wage Structure

Rationalize the wage structure of Plantations workers. The cash component of negotiated wages for tea Plantations labour should not in any case be less than the minimum wages notified by respective state.

16. If wage structure of tea estate workers is matched with an international benchmark for defining extreme poverty, probably, workers in the tea gardens would fall in the bracket of extreme poverty. There are complaints that in practice the wage component in cash in some States is fairly low.

17. The wages are decided through a tripartite agreement which is approved by the Government. Settling for cash wages below the statutory minimum wage is on account of deductions made for facilities such as education, health and housing etc. provided by the employer. There is seasonality to produce and therefore to wages. Sometimes wages vary from garden to garden. There is a need to reassess the wage structure so that no deduction are made from the cash wages in respect of items which are otherwise provided by the state to its citizens as entitlement. Also the valuation of wages in kind should be done by the State.

18. The minimum wages paid to the Plantations labour should not be less than the minimum wages declared by the respective State Governments. The tripartite agreement process between workers, management and government should ensure this. Wage payments need to be in monetary terms as the minimum wages cannot be provided in kind. The State must play an effective role in ensuring that the minimum wage is guaranteed. Wages may be fixed based on three consumption units per workers.

Recommendation 3 – Governance issues

Strengthen administrative and management capacities of Government Agencies entrustedwith implementation and oversight of welfare of Plantations workers

19. Given the varied responsibilities at the Department of Labour, there is an urgent need to upgrade the resources in terms of infrastructure and manpower. The labour welfare activities of Tea Board need to be synchronized with the activities of the Labour Department as there is a clear need for better coordination between Labour Welfare Boards and the different agencies involved in the welfare of Plantations labour in general. It is important that the role of Tea Board is further strengthened with a rights based framework for tea workers. There is need to review the role of Tea Board in encouraging compliance of existing provisions under the PlantationsLabour Act.

20. There is need to create mechanisms for coordination for implementing and monitoring of various welfare schemes for tea garden labour at various levels including inter- state coordination/state/district level coordination. The role of the, district level coordination Committee will be pivotal to ensure convergence of welfare programs and services and effective compliance of welfare legislations. Each district having tea Plantations should have a Coordination Committee to effectively address all issues concerning Plantations labour and ensure convergence of government welfare programmes. The Committee may comprise of labour union representatives, tea Plantations management, heads of development agencies under the District Collector.

21. The specific issues related to demarcation of responsibilities and activities across various agencies (Panchayati Raj Institutions, line departments of district administration particularly education, health, labour welfare, Plantations management, trade unions and NGO representatives) could be reviewed and clarified by the district level coordination Committee.

Recommendation 4

Recognize and preserve the culture and identity of Plantations labour

22. Culture and history gives a group identity and solidarity. Pride in ones identity and culture gives one confidence and a confident worker is always more productive.

23. The following measures may be adopted to preserve the culture and sense of identity and dignity amongst Plantations labor:

1. To formulate a policy for cultural and linguistic development. It is

necessary to adapt school curriculum to include in school text

books suitable references on culture, festival, language, traditions

and value system of people in the tea garden in these areas.

2. To promote important culture related activities and sports.

3. To provide paid holidays for major festivals6

4. To give suitable training for employment opportunities for youth of

the Plantations labor households including preference in

appointment as teachers in these schools

5. To promote Mother Tongue Based Multi-Lingual Education

System for promoting language and culture and for

strengthening primary education.

Recommendation 5

Extend all welfare schemes and other flagship programmes of the Government to include Plantations workers. Guidelines of various welfare schemes may be reviewed by Central and State Governments to extend the benefits to the tea Plantations labour.

24. Schemes of the Central Government like (i) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for primary education (ii) Indira Awaas Yojana for housing (iii) Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan for sanitation (iv) National Rural Health Mission for health services (v) Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana for electrification (vi) MGNREGA for safety net employment (vii) Mid Day Meal Schemes (for basic nutrition for children) (vii) ESIC (viii) Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana etc. should be extended to the Plantations workers. To facilitate this, the relevant provisions of Plantations Labour Act, 1951 may be reviewed. Tea estate owners must also ensure that the benefits of entitlements under Government schemes are made available to the Plantations labour. Further, as the welfare of Plantations labour is paramount, onus will lie on owners of the tea estate to ensure that the welfare measures under the provisions of Plantations Labour Act, 1951 are duly extended to the Plantations labour. Also, Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) in the Ministry of Labour & Employment should work out a modus operandi so that the government programmes can optimally benefit the Plantations labour. Clear instructions may be issued in this regard.

25. A large number of Plantations labour force comprises women workers. Therefore, in all institutional and decision making bodies, women should be adequately represented and must have a say in the decision making so that the issues concerning their working conditions including health are duly addressed.

26. The Parliamentary Standing Committee of Department of Commerce in its 102 Report1 has referred to an Inter-Ministerial Committee constituted to find solution to the problem of sharing the social cost due to higher cost of production and thinning of profit margins on account of higher labour wages and rise in input cost. The Inter-Ministerial Committee recommended for sharing the social cost in the ratio of 10:40:50 (10% by the concerned state government, 40% by the central government and 50% by the Plantations owners). The issue was re-examined by subsequent Committees and then by the Indian Institute of Plantations Management as a part of a study on the structural infirmities of the Plantations sector. All these Committees/Study emphasized the need for sharing the social cost. The Standing Committee desired that the Department make all efforts to adopt the formula recommended by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on sharing of social cost since productivity of a worker is interlinked with his working conditions and his welfare including sanitation, hygiene, education and sports facilities for their wards etc. It also recommended that the Department of Commerce impress upon the concerned State Governments to participate in the sharing of social cost and also urge them to effectively implement the provisions relating to labour welfare activities under Plantations Labour Act.

27. It is clear that welfare measures and provision of basic facilities and infrastructure for the Plantations workers has to come within the framework of and through the Plantations Labour Act. Alongside, they have to be supplemented by extending coverage of Central Government’s welfare schemes to Plantations. The recent trend of Rights based approach to development and universalization of welfare programs and services as provided under Right to Education. MGNREGA, Right to Food, requires that these rights are enforced in all areas including Plantations with coverage of entire population. Plantations cannot be allowed to exist as independent enclaves and it needs to be ensured that workers in Plantations get both their dues under the Plantations Labour Act and their rightful share of Government’s welfare schemes.

28. The extension of schemes has already started in a piecemeal way as in the case of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in West Bengal and Assam. However a concerted effort at planned extension is required by the concerned Ministries of Government of India and State Governments.

29. Government should undertake the Tea garden school. There should be Middle and High schools in between some tea Gardens with proper infrastructure and teachers. The company should provide land to open government school. Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education System should be implemented which has been already functioning in some parts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and in three localities in Assam in the district of Lakhimpur and Sonitpur²Residential schooling facilities such as Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kasturba Vidyalaya may be provided in necessary cases.

30. To address the health issues such as anaemia, worm infection, skin problems, TB and respiratory infections which are widely prevalent in Plantations labour. There is an urgent need for convergence of various on-going schemes in health sector. The resources in this regard need to be augmented through national programmes like NRHM etc. The Plantations estate should provide the facility of Garden Hospital and the facility at referral level should be provided by State Governments./ ESIC.

31. Due to constraints like schemes being restricted to BPL workers, absence of housing and land rights, conflict with administrative jurisdiction etc. the schemes are not admissible for the Plantations labour. To address these constraints, steps needs to be taken like a fresh survey of land in Plantations areas. The land had been leased out to Plantations companies on nominal rates. After obtaining requisite NOC from local panchayats/authorities to construct housing facilities , workers can avail the benefits under various programs such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) and Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). Ministry of Rural Development may also be requested to make exception both for BPL eligibility and land ownership to include tea garden workers in IAY. Possibilities may also be explored to convert existing houses in the labour line into multi storied houses.

Recommendation 6

Rehabilitate workers who have been victims of sudden abandonment of the Plantations by the owners.

32. There should be clear policy guidelines to provide for rehabilitation plan for the labour on closing down of a tea garden. As soon as any tea garden is in crisis, the rehabilitation process should be triggered. There have been instances where tea garden owners have suddenly abandoned the garden leaving behind workers without any social security or safeguards .

Conclusion

33. It appears that the status of Plantations workers in the southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka is significantly better from that prevailing in West Bengal and Assam in terms of wages, welfare facilities and in general in the implementation of the Plantations Labour Act, 1951. These recommendations when being considered by the Government need to take account of the differences existing between the two regions.

¹Report on performance of Plantations sector - Tea and Coffee Board (9th August, 2012)

² In this school children get education through their mother tongue at early stage and after third or fourth year there is a system of transition to the other language.