Tinsukia Upper Assam Tea Garden Worker Life

Tinsukia district in Upper Assam contains some of India largest tea estates producing the prized Assam CTC and orthodox tea. Tea garden workers, predominantly from Adivasi communities brought as indentured labour during British era, live in tea garden lines — rows of brick or mud quarters within estate boundaries. Women pluckers carry bamboo baskets on their backs and pick two leaves and a bud from each shoot, covering several kilometres of row per day. Cooperative wage boards under Plantation Labour Act govern minimum wages. Worker welfare committees in larger estates manage ration shops, schools, and primary health centres. Tea garden cooperative credit societies allow workers to avoid informal moneylender debt. Garden managers set daily plucking quotas and pay by weight of green leaf. Tinsukia tea is shipped through Kolkata and Guwahati for auction.