Adivasi Tea Garden Labourers Block Narsingtola Point Demanding ST Status and Wage Parity

The All Assam Adivasi Students Association (AAASA), along with several labour and tea community bodies, staged a strong demonstration at Silchar’s Narsingtola ground on Thursday (November 20), blocking the Narsingtola Point for hours to press a four-point charter of demands.

The participating organisations included the Barak Tea Workers’ Union, Silchar; the Central Committee of the Adivasi Tea Community Karma Puja and Cultural Conference; the Barak Valley Tea Youth Welfare Association; and the Barak Valley Adivasi Association. The protestors demanded:

1. Granting of ST and SC tribal status to the indigenous communities living in Assam.
2. Issuance of land pattas to indigenous people and tea workers.
3. Fixing the daily wage of tea workers at Rs. 551.
4. Ensuring equal wages for Barak Valley tea workers, on par with those in the Brahmaputra Valley.

A student leader addressing the gathering said, “There is a clear disparity between the wages paid to tea garden labourers in the Barak Valley and those in the Brahmaputra Valley, and we want that gap to be bridged. In 2016, our Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, assured us that land pattas would be provided, but from 2016 to now, with 2025 coming to an end, the promise remains unfulfilled. If this demand is not met before the 2026 elections, we will show the strength of the Adivasi community. We will intensify our political protests and, if necessary, we will even consider boycotting the elections.”

A labour union leader added that most tea workers still do not have legal rights over the land they have lived on for generations. “The land we have been living in for so long is not ours. We cannot call it our own as the patta is yet to be granted. This is our immediate demand. Back in 2014, when Narendra Modi came to Ramnagar, he assured that the wages of tea garden labourers would be increased, but to this date, it has not been done,” he said.

Other labourers echoed similar sentiments, warning that Thursday’s demonstration was only a symbolic protest. They said that if the government fails to address their demands, they will intensify the agitation with large-scale demonstrations in the coming days.

On November 18, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on Facebook, “Tea garden wages in Assam have finally matched the hard work behind every cup”, sharing that while earlier the daily wages of tea garden workers were Rs 167 in Brahmaputra Valley and Rs 145 in Barak Valley, now it has been changed and revised to match Rs 250 for both valleys.