Decent Work for Tea Plantation Workers in Assam Constraints
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PROJECT REPORT Decent Work for Tea Plantation Workers in Assam Constraints, Challenges and Prospects Conducted by Debdulal Saha Chitrasen Bhue Rajdeep Singha Tata Institute of Social Sciences Guwahati Campus October 2019 Research Team Principal Investigator Dr Debdulal Saha Core Team Dr Debdulal Saha Dr Chitrasen Bhue Dr Rajdeep Singha Research Assistants Mr Debajit Rajbangshi Mr Syed Parvez Ahmed Ms Juri Baruah Enumerators Ms Majani Das Ms Puspanjali Kalindi Mr Sourin Deb Mr Partha Paul Ms Ananya Saikia Ms Shatabdi Borpatra Gohain Mr Prabhat Konwar Mr Oskar Hazarika Photography Mr Debajit Rajbangshi Ms. Ananya Saikia Dr. Debdulal Saha Contents List of Abbreviations ii List of Figures iv List of Tables vi List of Map, Boxes and Pictures vii Acknowledgements viii Executive Summary ix 1. Tea Industry in India: Overview and Context 1 2. Infrastructure in Tea Estates: Health Centre, Childcare, Schools and Connectivity 16 3. State of Labour: Wage and Workplace 34 4. Consumption Expenditure and Income: Inequality and Deficits 55 5. Living against Odds 70 6. Socio-Economic Insecurity and Vulnerability 88 7. Bridging the Gaps: Conclusion and Recommendations 97 Glossary 102 References 103 i Abbreviations AAY Antyodaya Anna Yojna ABCMS Akhil Bhartiya Cha Mazdoor Sangha ACKS Assam Chah Karmachari Sangha ACMS Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha APL Above Poverty Line APLR Assam Plantation Labour Rules ATPA Assam Tea Planters’ Association BCP Bharatiya Cha Parishad BLF Bought Leaf Factories BMS Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangha BPL Below Poverty Line CAGR Compound Annual Growth Rates CITU Centre of Indian Trade Unions CSR Corporate Social Responsibility CTC Crush, Tear and Curl (the leaves) DW Decent Work ECI Election Commission of India FEMA Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 INTUC Indian National Trade Union Congress ITA Indian Tea Association LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas LT Labour Tea MCC Model Code of Conduct MI Monthly Household Income MMR Mixed Methods Research MPCE Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure MPI Monthly Per capita Income NETA North Eastern Tea Association NFSA National Food Security Act, 2013 NREGA National Rural Employment Guarantee Act NRHM National Rural Health Mission NSSO National Sample Survey Office OLS Ordinary Lease Square ONGC Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited PCA Principal Component Analysis ii PDS Public Distribution System PF Provident Fund PLA The Plantation Labour Act (1951) RSBY Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna SD Standard Deviation SDGs Sustainable Development Goals SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SSA Sarba Shikshya Abhijyan STATA Statistics and Data STG Small Tea Growers TAI Tea Association of India TBI Tea Board Of India TRA Tea Research Association iii List of Figures Figure 1.1. Share of Assam Tea of Total Production of Indian Tea 1 Figure 1.2. Growth Rate (percent) of Assam and Indian Tea during 2007–19 2 Figure 1.3. Growth Rate of Export of Indian Tea 3 Figure 1.4. Rate of Change in Auction Price in India during 2007–18 4 Figure 1.5. Share of Tea Sold through Auction and Outside 4 Figure 1.6. Employment Structure in Tea Industry 6 Figure 2.1. Types of Ownership of the Estates 17 Figure 2.2. Types of Planters’ Associations 17 Figure 2.3. Number of Primary Schools in Estate 20 Figure 2.4. Mid-day Meal Facility at the Primary Schools 20 Figure 2.5. School Bus Facility Provided by the Estate 21 Figure 2.6. Crèche Facility in the Estate 22 Figure 2.7. Availability of Food in Crèche 22 Figure 2.8. Health Centre Provided by Estate 24 Figure 2.9. Approach Road between Labour Colony and Health Centres 26 Figure 2.10. Availability of Medicine in the Health Centre 26 Figure 2.11. Free Medicine available in the Estate 26 Figure 2.12. Ambulance Facility and its Availability 27 Figure 2.13. Estates with Factory 28 Figure 2.14. Presence of Trade Union 30 Figure 2.15. Estates Having at Least One Certification across Status of Company 31 Figure 2.16. Estates Having at Least One Certification across Planters’ Associations 32 Figure 3.1. Share of Permanent and Temporary Workers across Districts 34 Figure 3.2. Gender Distribution across Districts 35 Figure 3.3. Types of Workers across Gender 35 Figure 3.4. Educational Qualification across Share of Gender Composition 36 Figure 3.5. Types of Workers and their Qualifications 36 Figure 3.6. Gender Distribution across Work Sites 37 Figure 3.7. Age Distribution 37 Figure 3.8. Age Distribution across Gender 38 Figure 3.9. Age Distribution across Permanent and Temporary Workers 38 Figure 3.10. Pay Slip 42 Figure 3.11. Different Levels of Daily Wage Rate across Workers 43 Figure 3.12. Different Levels of Daily Wage Rate across Gender 43 Figure 3.13. Ration Provided by the Estate 44 Figure 3.14. Electricity Bill deducted by the Estate from Wage Payment 45 iv Figure 3.15. Cost of Water Deducted by the Estate from Wage Payment 45 Figure 3.16. Deduction of Provident Fund from the Wage/Salary 46 Figure 3.17. Firewood Provided by Estate across Districts 47 Figure 3.18. Firewood Provided by Estates across Different Types of Company 48 Figure 3.19. Bonus 49 Figure 3.20. Items Purchased from Bonus Amount 49 Figure 3.21. Distribution of Cash-in-Hand (Income) 50 Figure 3.22. Distribution of Cash-in-Hand (Income) across Gender 50 Figure 3.23. Distribution of Cash-in-Hand (Income) across type of workers 51 Figure 3.24. Distribution of Cash-in-Hand (Income) across Types of Workers at Work 51 Figure 3.25. Monthly Wage Gap 52 Figure 3.26. Wage Gap Distribution across Gender 53 Figure 3.27. Distribution of Wage Gap across Type of Workers 54 Figure 4.1. Household Size 55 Figure 4.2. Distribution of Ration Card 56 Figure 4.3. Household Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure 57 Figure 4.4. MPCE across Gender 57 Figure 4.5. MPCE across Type of Workers 57 Figure 4.6. Share of Different Items in Total MCE 59 Figure 4.7. Food Item Consumption across Gender 59 Figure 4.8. Monthly per Capital Income Distribution 60 Figure 4.9. Monthly per Capital Income across Gender 61 Figure 4.10. Monthly per Capital Income across Types of Worker 61 Figure 4.11. Monthly per Capital Income across Types of Ownership 61 Figure 4.12. Household Income–Expenditure Gap 62 Figure 4.13. Income Inequality at the Household Level 64 Figure 4.14. Inequality Decomposition of Household Income across Status of Company 65 Figure 4.15. Distribution of Calories Intake 67 Figure 4.16. Share of Different Items in per Capita Kcal 68 Figure 4.17. Distribution of per capita per day kcal Gap 68 Figure 5.1. Punishment If Late at the Workplace 71 Figure 6.1. Socio-Economic Intensity Score 93 Figure 6.2. Composite Socio-Economic Intensity Score 93 Figure 6.3. The distribution of monthly per-capita income after out-of-pocket expenses 94 Figure 6.4. Scree Plot Eigen Values 95 Figure 7.1. Poverty Trap and Its Impact 101 v List of Tables Table 1.1. Production Break-up for Big Estates and Small Growers 3 Table 1.2. Incidents of Management-Labour Tussles 8 Table 1.3. Selection of Districts and Tea Estates 13 Table 2.1. Distance of Tea Estate from Basic Facilities 18 Table 2.2. Share of Estate Having Different Community Services 33 Table 2.3. Share of Trade Union Having Different Community Services 33 Table 2.4. Share of Estates having Different Community Services across Certified Tea Estates 33 Table 3.1. Industry’s Calculation on Daily Wage 41 Table 3.2. Actual Daily Wage based on Pay Slip 41 Table 3.3. Descriptive Statistics of Monetary Components of Wage 42 Table 3.4. Regional Disparity in Wage 52 Table 4.1a. No. of Earners in Households having Income–Consumption Gap 62 Table 4.1b. No. of Earners in Households having Income-Consumption Gap 63 Table 4.2. Result of OLS Model of Income–Expenditure Gap 64 Table 4.3. Income Inequality Decomposition at Household Level 65 Table 4.4. Food Items across Unit and Calories 66 Table 4.5. Daily Per Capita Calorie Intake across India (in Kcal) 66 Table 5.1. Occupational Health Hazards 74-75 Table 6.1. Identification of Indicators of Socio-economic Securities 90 Table 6.2. Steps of Calculating Index 91 Table 6.3. Intensity of Different Socio-Economic Indicators (Negative Scale) 92 Table 6.4. Consumption Security and its relation to Socio-Economic Insecurity 95 Table 6.5. Factor Loading with Four Principal Components 96 Table 7.2. Monthly Wage Gap and Share of Workers 100 Table 7.3. Monthly Income-Expenditure Gap and Share of Workers 100 vi List of Map, Boxes and Pictures Map 1.1. Selected Tea Estates across 9 Districts of Assam in Study 12 Box 2.1. Status of Basic Indicators of Selected Estates Box 5.1. Workers' Conditions and Survival Strategy: Case of Estate-36, Golaghat Picture 1.1. Group Interview Conducted in Estate-10, Dibrugarh 14 Picture 2.1. Child making an attempt to write alphabets and numbers in Estate-22 (Tinsukia) 19 Picture 2.2. Conditions of Crèche in Estate-7, Dibrugarh 22 Picture 2.3. Abandoned Hospital in Estate-36 (Golaghat) 24 Picture 2.4. Abandoned Hospital in Estate-36 (Golaghat) 24 Picture 2.5. Approach Road to Labour Colony in Estate-44 (Cachar) 25 Picture 3.1. Pay Slip in Estate 48 (Udalguri) 40 Picture 3.2. Pay Slip in Estate 9 (Dibrugah) 40 Picture 3.3. Pay Slip in Estate-6 (Dibrugah) 40 Picture 3.4. Firewood Collection 48 Picture 5.1. Pesticide Sprayer without any safety equipment in Estate-41 (Sonitpur) 74 Picture 5.2.