Role of Women Workers in the Tea Industry of North East India

"This publication is based on the authors post doctoral study on women workers of tea plantations who in reality are the backbone of the tea industry. Having had a very close and long association with the tea industry, she has portrayed the various social, cultural and functional activities of female tea pluckers in great detail. Dr. Singh has traced the vicissitudes and annals of the tea industry with special focus on recruitment of immigrant labour to Assam which is indeed a heart rending Saga of suffering and exploitation, particularly concerning the women workers. This has been deliberated upon after extensive and painstaking research. The author concludes that the status of plantation women folk has not undergone much improvement inspite of elaborate welfare measures – they continue to be exploited in the highly male dominated social and functional milieu of tea plantations. Neglected, abused and discriminated from cradle to grave, these women desperately seek a change which is only possible through education and social empowerment. A fascinating insight on early plantation life in Assam and Bengal has been provided along with facts such as the attitudes, behavioural patterns and influences of the white ‘Planter Sahibs’ who at times tranmatised their workers into submission leading to pathetic conditions akin to slavery. This publication seeks to captivate the interest of not only those connected with the tea industry, but to also elicit a wide response in general on the conditions of women workers."