i

chapter i

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INTRODUCTION:
No matter its queen or a coolie, the day of billions of people
in the world starts with a cup of morning tea. A hot cup of
tea and a bunch of newspapers makes every morning
refreshing one and there is no better way to start a day than
this.

Tea is an inexpensive, and next to water, the most widelyconsumed beverage worldwide. Modern science, especially of
the last fifteen years, is beginning to confirm that tea has
health-promoting potential, a concept advocated by Asian
traditional for centuries. In fact, the medicinal value of tea

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has been recognized for a long time in as much as tea was

used as an elixir by ancient Chinese. When tea was
introduced to Europe, people of Holland considered it a
divine herb, a panacea. Having such characteristic features
tea is one of the major industries in India and India holds a
large share of world tea production and export. We know
that the people consuming tea are energetic but we do not
know the persons behind the production of tea are as
energetic as the people consuming tea. This report which
studies the social and economic conditions of tea plantation
laborers gives you the complete picture of it.
PLANTATION IN INDIA:
Tropical plantation crops developed in the past century have
gained a significant place in the world of commerce. To the
producing countries, they brought employment, exports and
widespread use of once unproductive land and to the
consumers around the globe important beverages, food and
industrial raw materials. Plantations are, perhaps the only
segment of Indian agriculture operated as an organized
industry. From areas whereon other food can be raised
economically,

plantations

offer

to

the

international

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community the champagne of tea with its mystery flavor

from

the

misty

heights

of

Darjeeling,

Niligiris

and

Anaimalais. Plantations are the largest single employer in

the private sector in the country. No other enterprise,
industrial

or

agricultural

can

generate

so

much

employment. It employs 2 million workers out of which 1

million are tea plantation laborers. It also gives 10 million
people indirect employment. Such is the contribution of
plantation industry in India.
WHY ANAIMALAIS:
The history of tea in India can be traced from the period of
English East India Company. They started planting in the
regions Assam and Srilanka. Later they introduced in the
Nilgiris and then the Anaimalais. The topic is on the tea
plantation laborers in the Anaimalais region. I

took

Anaimalais region in particular because unlike other places

Nilgirs or Darjeeling it doesnt have both tea industry and
tourism. It completely depends upon the tea industry. So
whenever tea industry gets affected the whole of Anaimalais
gets affected and the impact too can be found easily.
Anamalais is comprised of various small estates and a town

called Valparai. Anaimalais, most of the times, called as

Valparai. Valparai is located 3800 feet above sea level on the
Anaimalai Hills, a mountain range on the Western Ghats,
100 kilometers from the nearest airport, Coimbatore. A
small plantation town, the people of Valparai is mainly
plantation workers who live within the tea, coffee and
cinchona plantations that make the area. Valparai is mostly
carpeted with tea plantations and is renowned across
Southern India as among the most productive tea growing
regions in South India. All major tea companies have a
presence here including Tata Coffee, BBTC, PKT and the
largest planters, the Woodbriar Group. With its ever fresh
green lush meadows that spread across the hills and
valleys, Valparai is a peaceful retreat from the busy world of
cars, noise and pollution.
A SHORT INTRODUCTION ON DAILY LIFE OF TEA
PLANATION LABORERS:
Before the planting of tea in the Anaimalais region only the
inhabitants the muduvar tribe and the kadar tribes were
present. When the British first planted tea crops in this
region the people in the surrounding plains were brought

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the terrain was reformed and hectares of forests were

deforested so as to cultivate tea. Hundreds of laborers shed
their lives in this process. When plantations were ready the
Planters brought laborers from various regions and offered
various facilities for free.

What is today put as statutory

obligations were provided voluntarily on those days by the

employe. Those days were hard times for the laborers. They
could not withstand the climate and they were often affected
by diseases such as malaria. But things changed gradually
and today the laborers can demand for their right which
cannot be done in those days.
Let us see a days work of a tea plantation labor.
A laborer has to get up as early as 5 in the morning The
timings for work in the tea estates are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In this, 12 - 1 p.m. is the legally permissible lunch interval.
After 5 they are free. The climate of Anaimalais is such that
one always feel sleepy due to the cold climate. Just imagine
the night of laborers after putting their hardwork during day
they wish for an extended night. The mothers are allowed to
feed their children and to visit the crche.

The laborers

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working in factories may have night or morning shift. This is

the daily routine life of tea plantation laborers.
The following are the registered tea estate groups in the
anaimalais region:
1. THE BOMBAY BURMAH TRADING CORPORATION
Comprising of
MUKOTUMUDI
THAIMUDI
THONIMUDI
GEJAMUDI
MUDIS
ANAIMUDI
2. PARRY AGRO TEA INDUSTRIES LIMITED
Comprising of
IYERPADI
PARALAI
MURUGALI
SHIEKALMUDI
3. TATA TEA LIMITED
Comprising of
PANNIMADE
VILLONIE
URULIKAL
PACHAMALAI
4. HINDUSTAN TEA ESTATE

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Comprising of
SIRUKUNDRA
INJIPARAI
STANMORE
5. THE PKT LTD
Comprising of
KARUMALAI
VELLAMALAI
AKKAMALAI
NADUMALAI
6. JAYASHREE TEA INDUSTRIES LIMITED
Comprising of
SHOLAYAR
KALLAYAR
7. WATERFALL GROUP
Comprising of
WATERFALL EAST
WATERFALL WEST
8. NEPC TEA GARDEN
Comprising of
NEPC UNIT I
NEPC UNIT II
9. THE PUTHUTHOTTAM ESTATE LIMITED

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Comprising of
MURUGAN ESTATE & MALAINADU ESTATE
HYPOTHESES : In this paper the following Hypothesis
are to be tested :1. The social and economic conditions of the plantation
laborers in the anaimlais region has declined since
2001.
2. Decline in the Indian Tea industry impacts the wage
structure for the laborers and thereby affects their
economic conditions.
3. The socio-economic conditions of the planatation
laborers are better compared to the laborers in other
employment.

OBJECT OF THE STUDY :

1. To

study

the

socio-economic

conditions

plantation laborers in the Anaimalais region.

of

the

2. To find out the reasons for the decline in the growth of

the plantation laborers in the Anaimalais region.
3. To study whether the tea estate management provides
the welfare measures as per the law.
4. To compare the past and present trends of the
plantation laborers in the Anaimalais region.

METHODOLOGY :
The study has been confined to the region of Anaimalais
region in the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu.
A total of 48 respondents were considered for the purpose of
the study on the basis of random selection. Interview and
questionnaire methods were adopted for the purpose of
eliciting the opinion of persons relevant to the framework of
the study.

SOURCES OF DATA : There are two sources of data

collected for this work :
1. Primary Data: Interview method and questionnaire
methods have been adopted to gather first hand
information about the social, economic conditions

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and other factors concerning the tea plantation

laborers.
2. Secondary Data:

Legal provisions pertaining to the

labor welfare and the statistics of laborers and the

wage structure in the Anaimalais region collected
from trade unions, Labor office and Taluk office have
been used.