Fearing rerun of the jute incident where farmers resented the falling price recently, the Assam State Government intervened and fixed the green leaf price at Rs 15 per kg.  Four peasants were killed and another 20 including 10 policemen were injured in police firing at Darrang district’s Besimari area following a clash between policemen and farmers.

Over 10 lakh kilograms (kgs) of green leaf were destroyed by tea growers across Assam as a mark of protest. Tea leaves worth Rs 60 lakh were dumped along different highways as a mark of protest by small tea growers.

General Secretary of All Assam Small Tea Growers’ Association (AASTGA), Karuna Mahanta said, “We will intensify our agitation if prices do not pick up. Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi has assured that per kg price will be Rs 15. We want this to be implemented without any delay.”

In July the prices were Rs 22 to Rs 24 per kg. In August this came down to Rs 8 however in September the prices recovered and reached Rs 14 per kg.

The Chief Minister after meeting Tea Board officials recently has asked the Department of Industries and Tea Board to coordinate with each other for effective implementation of the order. The Chief Minister also directed the Department of Industries to help and assist the Deputy Commissioners in this regard.

There are around 70,000 small tea growers (STGS). These small growers produce around 29 per cent of the total tea production in the state.

Mahanta added, “We want the State Government to remove the ban it has clamped on setting up of bought leaf factories (BLFs). The government has put on hold issue of fresh registration of BLFs since the last three years.”

Rakesh Saini, Executive Director of Tea Board said, “With the situation taking a serious turn now, we are going to strictly implement the price sharing formula.”

 

Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi has assured that per kg price will be Rs 15 per kg. In July the prices were Rs 22 to Rs 24 per kg. In August this came down to Rs 8 however in September the prices recovered and reached Rs 14 per kg.

According to the price sharing formula, every Registered Tea Manufacturer (RTM) engaged in purchasing tea leaves from tea growers shall share the total gross proceeds from the sale of such manufactured tea with the tea growers supplying green tea leaf at a rate not less than 65%.” However attempt to enforce TMCO rules is frustrated by the big estates as several of them have refused to reveal the details to the visiting team board officials. A team comprising Tea board officials, district administration and small tea growers are visiting different tea gardens. This move was initiated to check the falling prices of the green leaf. 

Sources in the Tea Board said, “Some tea companies refused to provide any details on TMCO when the team visited their offices in the state. These companies stated that they were not authorized to provide these details as the headquarters are outside the state.”

The Tea Board had called a meeting on November 15th. This exercise is expected to encompass 600 tea gardens.

However after several decades of good performance, the Assam Government has now realized the importance of small tea growers. The government has decided to use the green leaf cess in assisting the Self Help Groups (SHGs) and co-operatives engaged in the cultivation of tea.

Since 2009, 25 paisa cess against per kilogram of tea leaves produced by the bought-leaf factories in the state are collected. Around Rs 28 crore has been collected and a corpus fund has been created.

The State Government has decided to give leaf carrying vehicles and financial support to SHGs and co-operative societies engaged in the cultivation of tea.  There will be state level and district level committees to monitor the utilization of the fund. According to the State Government, the cess collected will be utilized for development of small tea growers and labourers engaged in small gardens. In the first phase the policy will be utilized in 14 tea producing districts of the Brahmapura Valley.

Mahanta added, “Annually around Rs 14 crore has been collected. However we still feel that there are some lacunae in the collection. We have demanded that the government must also contribute to this corpus fund.”

The Cess Utilisation Policy approved by the State Cabinet would ensure proper health and social security to the labourers engaged under small tea growers. Sources in the government said, “While labourers engaged in the organised sector are covered under Plantation Labour Act, there are no social security and health care facilities for the labourers engaged in the tea estates of the small tea growers.”

Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi has sought special incentive package for the small tea growers. The Chief Minister has asked for special agricultural policy for North East India during the 12th Five Year Plan.

Mr. Gogoi, while speaking during the National Development Council (NDC) meeting in New Delhi said that the tea industry in Assam is in need of support. For the small tea growers of the state, a special financial incentive package has to be provisioned for and support for processing of tea leaf in a common facility centre on a cluster based approach needs to be adopted separately. He argued that designing a tailor made incentive based package for the small growers support from the Government of India in terms of financial resources is necessitated. Certain anomalies like the location of the tea board office at Kolkata also needs to be remedied and a similar establishment needs to effectively provided at Guwahati.