Lok Sabha Question No. 2308 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-01
Subject: Plantation Workers
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Harish Dwivedi, Jayanta Kumar Roy, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2308 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.08.2022

## PLANTATION WORKERS

†2308. SHRI HARISH DWIVEDI:

DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:

SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO:

Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:

- (a)the  number  of  workers  engaged  in  plantion  works  in  the  country,  Statewise including Uttar Pradesh;
- (b)whether the Government  has  any  social security schemes  for plantation workers in the country and if so, the details thereof;
- tea
- (c)whether  all  the  plantation  workers  are  covered  under  the  benefit  of  ESI and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d)whether the Government has taken action on plantation owners who do not pay their share of Provident Fund and if so, the details thereof;
- (e)whether Tea Garden workers are not getting the prescribed minimum daily
- wages and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (f)whether  the  Government  has  any  scheme  to  pay  compensations  to dependents  of  labourers  of  Tea  Garden  in  case  of  death  and  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (g)whether the Government has any plan to improve the health and wellness conditions of the plantation labourers in the country and if so, the details thereof and the other steps being taken by the Government for welfare of tea plantation workers in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SHRI RAMESWAR TELI)

- (a): The  number  of  workers  engaged  in  plantation  works  in  the  country state-wise is provided in Annexure.
- (b): The Plantation Labour Act, 1951 mandates the tea estates to provide basic  welfare  services  and  amenities  viz.  housing,  medical  and  primary education, water supply, sanitation etc. to the tea workers.   Moreover, the workers of the tea industry are covered by all social security legislations like the Employees' Compensation Act, 1923, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972,

the  Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, the Maternity Benefit Act 1961, the Payment of Wages  Act,  1936,  the  Equal  Remuneration  Act,  1976,  the  Assam  Tea Plantation  Provident  Fund,  Pension  Fund  and  Deposit  Link  Insurance  Fund Scheme Act 1955 - only for Assam.

- (c): Employees  State  Insurance  (ESI)  Act, 1948  is applicable to all factories  (excluding  seasonal  factories)  employing  ten  or  more  persons, located in ESI notified areas. Employees earning wages upto Rs.21000/- per month in such ESI covered factories/establishments are coverable under the ESI  Act.  Plantation  or  any  manufacturing  process  which  is  incidental  to  or connected  with  the  manufacture  of  Plantation  is  included  as  Seasonal Factory as per the provisions under Section 2 (19A) of the ESI Act and hence is excluded from coverage under ESI Act.
- (d): The Employers of covered establishments under Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 including Plantation establishments are required to file  Electronic  Challan  cum  Return  (ECR)  in respect of all their employees and remit the dues within 15 days of close of wage month.

In  the  event  of  non-filing  of  ECR,  the  employers  are  alerted  through SMS/e-mail to remit the dues and if compliance is not made, action is taken to  inspect  the  records  of  establishments,  assess  the  amount  in  default  by quasi-judicial  process  u/s  7A  of  EPF  &  MP  Act,  1952  and  recover  the assessed  dues.  Penalty  is  imposed  u/s  14B  of  the  Act  for  wilful  default  in payment of dues.

The aforesaid action against defaulter is a continuous process as per the various provisions of the Act till compliance is secured.

- (e): The fixation of minimum wages for tea garden workers falls under the purview  of  State  Governments  which  are  the  appropriate  Government  to fix/revise the minimum wages as per the provision under the Minimum Wages Act,  1948.  Moreover,  the  wages  of  tea  garden  workers  are  fixed  as  per agreement reached between producer associations and workers unions.
- (f): No,  Sir.  However,  the  Plantation  Labour  Act,  1951  mandates  the  tea estates to provide basic welfare services and amenities viz. housing, medical and primary education, water supply, sanitation etc. to the tea workers.   Moreover, the workers of the tea industry are covered by all social security  legislations  like  the  Employees'  Compensation  Act,  1923,  the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous  Provisions  Act,  1952,  the  Payment  of  Bonus  Act,  1965,  the Maternity  Benefit  Act  1961,  the  Payment  of  Wages  Act,  1936,  the  Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, the Assam Tea Plantation Provident Fund, Pension Fund and Deposit Link Insurance Fund Scheme Act 1955 - only for Assam.

Besides, the government implements various welfare activities for tea plantation  workers  and  their  dependants  in  tea  estates  through  the  Tea Board. The welfare activities undertaken by the Tea Board under the Human Resource  Development  (HRD)  Scheme  aim  at  improving  the  health  and hygiene of workers, education of wards of workers and imparting training to improve skills of workers.

(g): The Plantation Labour Act has been subsumed in the Labour Code on Occupational,  Safety,  Health  and  Working  Conditions,  2020  and  Social Security  Code,  2020.    The  Code  on  Social  Security  2020  envisages  giving option  to  plantation  owners  to  enroll  its  workers  as  member  of  ESIC (Employees  State  Insurance  Corporation).    The  ESIC  provides  multiple benefits  like  sickness  benefits,  maternity  benefit  etc.  besides  medical benefits to its members.

*                                                         ******

Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha USQ No. 2308 for 01.08.2022.

The Sector-wise and State-wise details of workers engaged in plantation including Uttar Pradesh state is given in the table below:

## Tea Sector:

| Sl. No.   | State                                                    | Number of Workers                                        |
|-----------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|
| 1         | Assam                                                    | 733647                                                   |
| 2         | West Bengal                                              | 340635                                                   |
| 3         | Tripura                                                  | 11250                                                    |
| 4.        | Arunachal Pradesh                                        | 3687                                                     |
| 5.        | Sikkim                                                   | 566                                                      |
| 6         | Meghalaya                                                | 104                                                      |
| 7         | Bihar                                                    | 179                                                      |
| 8         | Himachal Pradesh                                         | 327                                                      |
| 9         | Mizoram                                                  | 40                                                       |
| 10        | Uttarakhand                                              | 101                                                      |
| 11        | Manipur                                                  | 0                                                        |
| 12        | Nagaland                                                 | 100                                                      |
| 13        | Tamil Nadu                                               | 37394                                                    |
| 14        | Kerala                                                   | 35135                                                    |
| 15        | Karnataka                                                | 2650                                                     |
| 16        | Uttar Pradesh There is no tea gardens in the state of UP | Uttar Pradesh There is no tea gardens in the state of UP |
|           | Total                                                    | 1165815                                                  |

Coffee Sector: Coffee Board is not maintaining any data base on number of workers engaged in coffee planting work in the country. Uttar Pradesh is not a coffee growing area.

## Natural Rubber Sector:

| Sl. No.   | State        |   Average daily employment in rubber plantations (Estimated) |
|-----------|--------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1         | Kerala       |                                                       304000 |
| 2         | Tamil Nadu   |                                                        13300 |
| 3         | Tripura      |                                                        45600 |
| 4         | Assam        |                                                        29800 |
| 5         | Karnataka    |                                                        29500 |
| 6         | Other States |                                                        28800 |
|           | Total        |                                                       451000 |

Uttar Pradesh is not agro-climatically suitable for natural rubber cultivation.

Spices Sector:    Out  of  the  52  spices,  only  small  cardamom  is  considered  as  plantation  crop.  Small  cardamom  is grown mostly in the Western Ghat Region primarily in Kerala as well as in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, mainly by small and marginal farmers.  The estimated state-wise break up of labourers in small cardamom plantations is given in the table below.

| Sl. No.   | State      | Number of workers   |        |
|-----------|------------|---------------------|--------|
| 1         | Kerala     |                     |  73500 |
| 2         | Tamil Nadu |                     |  10500 |
| 3         | Karnataka  |                     |  21000 |
|           | Total      |                     | 105000 |

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