Lok Sabha Question No. 2871 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-03
Subject: Welfare of Tea Garden Workers
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Jayanta Kumar Roy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2871 TO BE ANSWERED ON 3 rd  AUGUST, 2022

## WELFARE OF TEA GARDEN WORKERS

## 2871.   DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्री ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  allocated  1000  crore  rupees  in  the  Union  Budget 2021-22 for the welfare of tea garden workers of West Bengal and Assam;
- (b) if so, the details funds spent, works done and beneficiaries so far, State-wise;
- (c) the details of implementing agencies for the above funds in both the States;
- (d) the  details  of  wages  of  tea  garden  labour  as  in  different  States  including  West Bengal; and
- (e) the  other  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  for  the  welfare  of  tea  garden workers?

## ANSWER

okf.kT; ,oa m|ksx ea=ky; esa jkT; ea=h ¼Jherh vuqfiz;k iVsy½

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL)

(a) to (c): A provision of Rs. 200.00 crore was made available in Budget of Tea Board during the year 2021-22 for a scheme to be formulated for the welfare of tea workers in the States of Assam and West Bengal. The Government is in process of finalizing the details of various works to be taken up under this scheme. These works will relate to sectors such as health, education, skill development, infrastructure for provisioning of welfare services to tea workers especially women and their children. The scheme guidelines are likely to be finalized soon.

(d): The details of wages of tea garden workers in different States including West Bengal is given in Annexure.

(e):  The working conditions and the welfare measures for workers working in the tea gardens in the  country  are  governed  by  the  Plantation  Labour  Act,  1951  (PLA).    The  Act  requires  the employers to provide the workers, including women, with housing, medical facilities, sickness &

maternity  benefits  and  other  forms  of  social  security  measures.    There  are  provisions  for educational  facility for  the  children,  drinking  water,  conservancy,  canteens,  crèches  and recreational facilities for the benefit of the plantation workers including tea and coffee workers and their families in and around the work places in the tea and coffee plantations.

Besides  PLA,  number  of  other  industrial  and  social  security  legislations  such  as  Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923, Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, The Employee's Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (Assam Tea Plantation Provident Fund, Pension Fund and Deposit Linked Insurance Fund Scheme Act 1955 - only for Assam), Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, Maternity  Benefit  Act  1961,  Payment  of  Wages  Act  1936  etc.    provide  various  benefits  like gratuity, bonus, provident fund, equal remuneration etc. to tea and coffee plantation workers. The provisions of these Acts have now been subsumed in four labour codes-the Occupational Safety, Health  and  Working  Conditions  Code,  2020,  Social  Security  Code,  2020,  Code  on  Industrial Relations, 2020 and Code on Wages 2020.

Tea Board has also implemented certain welfare activities under Human Resource Development (HRD) component of the 'Tea Development and Promotion Scheme' during the Medium Term Framework(MTF) period from 2017-18 to 2019-20 and extended till 2020-21, aimed at improving the health and hygiene of workers, education of wards of workers and imparting training to improve skills  for  growers/workers.    Financial  assistance  of  Rs.  18.11  Cr.  was  extended  under  HRD component during MTF period.

The 'Tea Development & Promotion Scheme' approved for implementation by Tea Board during the 15 th Finance Commission period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 also has a component for the welfare of small Tea growers and their workers.

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## Details of wages of tea garden workers

|   Sl. No. | Name of the State                                      | Plantation District   | Effective Date/Period   |   Daily wages (in Rs.) |
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|------------------------|
|         1 | Assam                                                  | a) Brahmaputra valley | 22.02.2021              |                 205    |
|         1 | Assam                                                  | b) Barak valley       | 22.02.2021              |                 183    |
|         2 | West Bengal                                            | A) Dooars             | 01.01.2022              |                 232    |
|         2 | West Bengal                                            | b) Terai              | 01.01.2022              |                 232    |
|         3 | Tripura                                                |                       | 01.04.2018              |                 176    |
|         4 | Tamilnadu (Nilgiris and Nilgiris- Wayanad, Anamallais) |                       | July 2022 to Sept 2022  |                 406.8  |
|         5 | Kerala                                                 |                       | July 2022 to Sept 2022  |                 421.26 |
|         6 | Karnataka                                              |                       | July 2022 to Sept 2022  |                 376.78 |
|         7 | Himachal Pradesh                                       |                       | 25.05.2022              |                 350    |
|         8 | Uttarakhand                                            |                       | July, 2020              |                 330    |
|         9 | Sikkim                                                 |                       | 15.09.2017              |                 300    |
|        10 | Bihar                                                  |                       | Jan, 2020               |                 175    |

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## ANNEXURE