The tea industry of Assam, a state which is synonymous in the outside world with its tea, has asked the government to declare the beverage as the ‘National Drink’ of India. It also wants tea to be declared as the ‘State Drink’ of Assam.
“In view of its glorious past and in anticipation of its bright future, we sincerely feel that there is a genuine case for tea to be declared as the ‘State Drink’ of Assam. The logical step forward would then be to persuade the government of India to declare tea as the ‘National Drink’ of India,” said Bidyananda Barkakoty, Chairman of North Eastern Tea Association (NETA).
For India, which is the largest consumer of tea and the second largest producer of tea (till 2005 India was the largest producer), declaring tea will have an “integrating effect”, feels Barkakoty. India consumes more than 80 per cent of its domestic production and 20 per cent of the world’s production.
NETA had yesterday submitted a memorandum to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in support of its demand. In the memorandum, Barkakoty has put forth at least 33 reasons why tea should be declared as the ‘State Drink’ of Assam and the ‘National Drink’ of India.
“If whiskey can be the national drink of Scotland, sugarcane juice the national drink of Pakistan, vodka the national drink of Russia, tequila the national drink of Mexico, why can’t tea be the national drink of India,” asked Barkakoty.
Barkakoty feels that the tea industry in Assam, with its 180 years of glorious history, has already passed through many turbulent periods and is quite vulnerable to recession. Since the livelihood of millions of people is associated with the industry, it needs adequate support to protect it from being threatened.
He feels that the proposed new status of this beverage would provide a major impetus to the brand building exercise of Indian tea. “Symbolism apart, the declaration will be a good idea for bolstering the marketing of Indian tea. Tea is now accepted as a health drink world over. This fact coupled with the ‘State Drink’ and ‘National Drink’ tag would also attract the large youth population of the country towards this health beverage,” said Barkakoty.
Historically, Assam is the second commercial tea producing region after southern China. Southern China and Assam are the only two regions in the world with native tea plants. Assam produces more than 55 per cent of India’s total tea production and contributes 13 per cent of global tea production.
Business Standard
Tea industry demands 'national drink' status for tea
Posted by darj at 9:21 AM Labels: india tea, tea industry
MP calls for steps to revive recession-hit tea industry
Posted by darj at 8:57 AM Labels: tea industryDarjeeling: CPM Rajya Sabha MP from Darjeeling Saman Pathak said in Parliament on Sunday that the tea
industry has been affected by the global
meltdown and that urgent measures must be taken to save the industry. Sunday was International Tea Day.
Pathak urged the government to impose export regulations and formulate a master plan to save the tea industry from the crisis. The increasing influence of brokers, who manipulate the price of tea export, was also affecting the tea industry, he said.
Pathak urged the government to replace old tea bushes, as these had outlived their utility and had poor productivity. He said adequate facilities must be provided to the garden workers and their interests safeguarded.
"It is difficult to ascertain the quantity and market worth of the Indian tea that is exported, as private companies with support of brokers sell off nearly 60% of the produce outside the ambit of auction centers. Tea must be exported through auction centers to overcome this problem." said Pathak.
Western countries, such as the UK, USA, Germany and Japan are major tea markets, especially for Darjeeling tea. The demand in international market last year was 178.75 million kg, is much less than previous years.
Pathak said that in the last few years, some of these tea importers had drastically cut down imports, due to a series of "unavoidable" circumstances. A new policy for market management must be adopted to increase export in international markets, as the measures taken by the government are not adequate, he said.
From - Times of India
Mr Debabrata Biswas, the general secretary, All India Forward Bloc, alleged that the state government was practically doing nothing to regularize the small tea plantations and taking advantage of this apathy, the estate owners were depriving the plantation workers of all their legitimate dues.
He further said that there was no slump in tea industry with the market being steady everywhere.
“Yet the irony is that the total production of tea in India is much less than the tea being produced by a small country like Kenya. The government is not interested in reviving the tea industry. Take or instance the case of Darjeeling district. The tea industry is 150 years old. So many people are depending on it for their livelihood. Yet, there is no tea zone and the export mechanism is not as strong as it should be.
“The government instead of reviving the tea plantation is selling them to the real estate promoters. Besides, it is giving vest land for setting up small plantations and they are not being regularized and brought under the Plantation Labour Act. The owners are taking advantage of it and depriving the workers of the dues, which they as plantation workers are entitled to as per the PL Act,” he added. The Darjeeling district secretary of the AIFB, Mr Sritish Bhattacharya said that it was a known fact in the district that a move was going on behind the screen to sell out Bagdogra, Dagapur and Nischintapur tea plantations to the Realtors.
The Trinamul Congress has decided to gain a toehold in the tea industry by taking up the distressed workers’ cause. And so, it would take the movement of the tea workers to the streets of Delhi.
According to the party’s Darjeeling district president Mr Gautam Deb today, the Trinamul Congress would be staging a hunger rally in Delhi with workers of closed and abandoned tea estates some time after the pujas to highlight the plight of the workers and their dependents.
He added that to keep the momentum of the movement on Miss Mamata Banerjee would visit the Dooars of north Bengal from 30 August to 1 September.
On 30 August she would address a mass meeting at the Mal Colony Maidan. On 31 August she would visit the closed Bharnobari and Kathalguri tea estates in the Dooars.
On 1 September she would attend a mass meeting at Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district to involve more people in the movement to save the tea plantations and its workers. The Trinamul has made arrangements to make Miss Mamata Banerjee’s visit to the Dooars a success.
Source: The Telegraph
After a gap of two years, leading trade unions associated with the tea industry have decided to recommence a continuous movement designed to put pressure on planters as well as the Centre and the Bengal government over several demands related to the 3-lakh-strong workforce.
In 2005, the tea industry was paralysed by a fortnight’s strike over wages. Finally, the chief minister had to intervene, which resulted in the signing of a new tripartite wage agreement. By then, the industry had suffered a loss of Rs 50 crore.
While senior leaders of the Citu and Intuc, the trade union wings of the CPM and the Congress, have been insisting on the need to reopen the closed tea estates of the region, they did not take to demonstrations or resort to strikes.
“We had submitted a charter of demands to the planters and the governments earlier, none of which has been met so far,” said Chitta Dey, the convener of the Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers. “So we have decided to re-launch the movement to secure the workers’ rights.”
The leadership of the coordination committee of plantation workers has decided to meet representatives of constituent unions at Chalsa on April 20 to work on the charter of demands. “This would be followed by another meeting on April 27 in the Terai, where our plan of action will be finalised,” Dey said.
“To begin with we are thinking of organising conventions across the tea belt right through the month of May. If the planters or the governments do not take any initiative by then, we will go for a strike in June,” a leader said.
Source: The Telegraph
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