Managing Plight and Measuring Contribution of Female Workers in Tea Industry of Bangladesh

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue VIII, August 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Managing Plight and Measuring Contribution of Female Workers in Tea Industry of Bangladesh

Mohammad Lutfar Rahman^1*, Harwindar Singh², and Khairir Khalil^3
1International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), Dhaka, Bangladesh;
^2,3 School of Business, Malaysia University of Science and Technology, Malaysia.
Corresponding Author*

Abstract: Bangladesh Tea Industry dates back 1856 when British companies established this agrobased industry in hilly area of Sylhet and Chittagong districts. To clean jungle, to make nurseries and to nurture the nurseries at a certain level, then transferring the tea plants from nurseries to plantation which constitutes continuous whole the year-round work, they need regimented work force who would work in the tea plantation for generations, they migrated workers from famine prone areas of India alluring them to enjoy a better life earning wages working in tea estates. The migrated workers succumbed their allurement and last 170 years they are still working generations to generation in tea estates with meagre wages but their life style has not been developed. A cup of tea when served looks pleasant but who knows there are endless plights endured by workers to make a cup of tea with soothing liquor right from tea plantation job, picking quality leaves and to make tea. Their fate is not changed to start a better living but the owners earn huge margin from selling quality tea to international markets.

Key words: Agro based, migrated, liquor, wages, international tea market

I. INTRODUCTION

Tea is a labor-oriented enterprise as it is agro-based. It requires labor at every stage of its work right from clearance of various fields, making nurseries, planting tea, nurturing, picking leaf and lastly manufacturing tea in the factory. (The et al. 2011).
Tea plantations in Greater India including Bangladesh is a legacy of the British colonial administration. The colonial government in Assam, north-eastern India, started the first tea plantation on an experimental basis in the 1830s and within two decades private entrepreneurs had developed and expanded tea plantations in north-eastern India as well as in other parts of colonial India (Sharma and Das, 2009: 16; Singh et al., 2006: 2). In the initial period of plantations, workers were recruited from different backward tribal areas, many of which were afflicted by famine (Behal and Mohapatra, 1992; Singh et al., 2006: 14).

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