The issue of minimum wages for the north Indian tea industry took centre-stage at a four-hour meeting taken by Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with various stakeholders in the tea industry. The minister felt that more needs to be done by the industry and the State government.
“A large part of the meeting was devoted to the issue of minimum wages,” a source who was present at the meeting told The Hindu, adding that the minister wanted to know whether tea wages were being paid as per the law of the land.
Ms Sitharaman was here on Saturday to hold a similar meeting with stakeholders in the jute industry. Her meeting with the tea industry is seen by political pundits as an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to woo the workers in these industries. There seems to be a strong political agenda at work.
While 40 lakh farmers and 3.5 lakh workers are engaged with the jute industry, the tea industry provides employment to over 14 lakh people.
The minister was keen to know whether the North Indian tea industry is compliant with regard to payment of minimum wages as legislated. The north Indian tea industry mainly consists of Assam (which accounts for half of India’s tea output) and West Bengal, which has a 25 per cent share in India’s tea crop which averages at around 1000 million kgs.
Ms Sitharaman was keen to have the response of the West Bengal representative, although no one was present at the meeting. She was told that the Assam government notifies the minimum wages which is arrived at on the basis of bi-partite negotiations. Payments in kind under the Plantation Labour Act are also taken into consideration.
In case of West Bengal, the discussions are tripartite and long-drawn. The minister was of the view that clubbing of benefits with the wages gives a distorted view and should be avoided.
Source: thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/centre-asks-teaproducing-states-to-ensure-minimum-wages/article6502884.ece
