Rations in Tea Gardens

It is as an accepted practice, which has been reiterated by tri-partite wage agreements over the past many decades that tea garden management provides a portion of the wages of all permanent workers in the form of subsidised food grains.   These food grains are bought by the management from the market and then provided at 0.40 p per kg to all its permanent workers and their dependents. Before the introduction of NFSA, tea garden owners were buying food grains at Rs.21 per kg and providing the same to the workers at 0.40 p per kg. Generally a worker with an adult wife and 2 dependent children would receive about 32 kgs of food grains per month, amounting to a subsidy of about Rs.660 per month.  After the introduction of NFSA, where through amendment to the PDS Control order, management has also been made the ration dealer in the garden. The management now purchases food grains from the Food Department at Rs.2 per kg and is providing these to its permanent workers at 0.40 p per kg. While each worker is losing Rs.660 per month, taking an average of 1000 workers per tea estate, each garden owner is adding Rs. 6.6 lakhs per month or Rs. 79.2 lakhs to his profits per annum.

The tea garden workers and their dependents are a population, suffering from chronic mal-nutrition, with frequent deaths due to starvation and ill health. Provision of cheap food grains from the AAY category, at 35 kgs per family, in addition to the 25-32 kgs of subsidised food grains already being provided by the management, would have helped to fight this chronic malnutrition. Replacement of subsidised food grains being provided by the management by NFSA food grains means that tea garden workers and their dependents continue to be in a state of chronic malnutrition.

The management is also making deductions in the subsidy it is providing as and when workers are absent, as if the rations being provided are part of its wages instead of a legal entitlement given to citizens of India. Effectively, NFSA is now being used to provide a subsidy to the management with no benefits accruing to permanent workers and their dependents.

It would also be best if SHGs were given the responsibility of running ration shops in all gardens rather than the management (as has been done in some gardens). If the ownership of ration shops lies with the management, they will always tend to misuse NFSA rations to replace their own statutory liability of providing subsidised food grains to workers.