Jorhat Charter:

Revive Assam Tea Corporation (ATC):

1. The Assam Tea Corporation needs to be revived. The Tea Gardens under ATC are sick due to mismanage and lack of funds and support from the government.
2. Implement Plantation Labour Act 1956 in all tea gardens and provide the national level minimum wage to the workers with all other provisions given in the plantation Labour Act 1956.

Conserve Majuli:

1. The greatest river island of the world Majuli needs to be conserved for the cultural heritage of Assam. Take steps to protect it from land erosion due to flood.
2. Take initiative to upgrade the education system as per the present context and needs of the present requirement for the youth —
3. Make available computer in schools and should implement compulsory education on Basic computer course to the students of higher standards.
4. Provide Scholarship to the meritorious students.
5. Fee concession for the meritorious poor students who wants to take higher studies.
6. Promote technical education at the school level.

Create platform for extra curriculum activities for the youth:

1. Make a policy through which the college students or the youth will get chance of exposure.
2. Take up step of starting an ITI in the Jorhat constituency for youth development.
3. Encourage the youth to start small scale industry or the big industry as per their education and experiences by providing loans to them.
4. Recruit the youth in various posts of the government departments on the basis of their qualification.

Upgrade the existing Engineering College of Jorhat.
Village development

1. Promote SHG groups for early development of the rural people.
2. Make available water pumps in the paddy fields.
3. Provide good drinking water facility to all the villages.

Develop Tea Research Centre, Toklai

1. The Toklai Tea Research Centre is the only research centre in Assam. It is to be noted that tea constitutes as the major economy of the state, but the Toklai centre related to this economy is not properly maintained and used. It is just lying for the name sake. So the Govt of Assam should immediately take step to upgrade it with proper infrastructure.

Agriculture University

1. The Agriculture University of Jorhat needs to be upgraded with modern facilities and also increase the capacity of students.

Dry spell hits Assam Tea Estates

Ajit Patowary

GUWAHATI, March 22 – State’s tea plantations are under severe moisture stress during the current season due to prolonged dry spell. This moisture stress is of ‘unprecedented magnitude’ in the recent period, said renowned consultant tea scientist Prafulla Bordoloi of the P Bordoloi and Associates.

Bordoloi, who was speaking to The Assam Tribune, said that rainfall during November to March is very crucial for tea bushes. During this period, the consumptive use of water is estimated to be in the range of 420 mm to 450 mm. But, normally, the rainfall is about 250 mm in Upper Assam, 170mm in Middle Assam, 115 mm in North Bank and 240 mm in Cachar.

Ideally, tea plantations should receive about 210mm of rainfall between November and March in the quantum of 20mm in November, 10mm in December, 15 mm in January, 65 mm in February and 100 mm in March.

But, in the current season, the rainfall during this crucial period is infinitesimally low and the deficit has resulted in great moisture stress and this has adversely affected the growth of tea. The rainfall received by Nazira-Geleki area this time, for instance, is around 70 mm, against the ten years’ normal of 180 mm to 190 mm, said the tea scientist.

However, the situation is a little bit different beyond Tinsukia in Upper Assam with the area receiving about 75 per cent of the normal rainfall, he said.

Chairman of the North Eastern Tea Association Manoj Jalan has described the situation this time as worse than that in 1999, for the tea industry.

Chairman of the Assam Tea Planters’ Association Abhijit Sarma said that during the past 30 years, such a situation was not confronted. Tea planters with marginal and medium plantations will have to go for irrigation to overcome such situations considering the present climatic condition, he said, adding, “We will move the Tea Board of India in this connection.”

Bordoloi has estimated a loss of crop to the tune of five per cent of the total crop this year due to the situation. This would constitute half of the total first flush crop during March and April.

If the drought is prolonged, it will reduce the premium second flush crop and affect its quality also. The period of the second flush of tea is between May and June and the produce of this flush is considered to be the best in quality.

Bordoloi has said that the season this time has become almost like the 1999 season, when the industry had to suffer maximum due to drought. The tea industry in the State also experienced drought earlier in the corresponding period during 1960, 1962 and 1986, besides 1999.

In 1960, the rainfall received by the tea plantations in the corresponding period was 85 mm, while the rainfall received by the plantations in 1962 was 96 mm and the amount was 78 mm in 1986.The lowest amount of rainfall received by the plantations in the recent period was recorded to be 51 mm and the year was 1999.

Over five per cent of the total crop was lost in 1999 and the first flush of the crop was almost absent that year, said the scientist.

This time, the impact of the drought is felt in Dibrugarh, Moran, Sonari, Jorhat, Golaghat and Nagaon circles and in the North Bank, he said.

It needs mention here that the State could produce 487.497 million kg of tea in 2008 and to this, the contribution of Assam Valley (Brahmaputra Valley) was 432.346 million kg.

Lockout jitters for south Assam gardens

Silchar, Feb 28 : The declaration of a lockout at Urrunabund tea estate yesterday, the second lockout in a plantation in the Cachar tea region in a month, has unnerved the planters in south Assam at a time when the output is surging and the average price of the CTC yield per kg is on an upswing.

The estate, owned by the Calcutta-based Jatinga Tea Ltd, is on the highway that links Silchar town with the airport.

A showdown between tea workers and the management at Aylabari tea estate under Karimganj district early February led to a lockout, which was, however, lifted after a week. 

The assistant labour commissioner’s office in this town has convened a meeting between the management of Urrunabund tea estate and the two labour unions early next week to sort out the tangle leading to the lockout in the garden. 

Urrunabund is one of the oldest and biggest tea plantations in tea-growing Cachar with about 500 labourers on the payroll and producing about 4.5 lakh kg of CTC tea. Its gross area is over a thousand hectares of land. 

Trouble began this week when a few labourers had a spat with the management. 

One of the labourers, Pintoo Baidya, even assaulted the general manager of the garden, R.N. Pandey, forcing him and his managerial colleagues to leave the garden and take shelter in Silchar. 

A section of the workers, owing allegiance to the BJP-controlled Barak Valley Cha Mazdoor Sangha, were irked after Jatinga Tea Ltd ordered a survey of the lands to find out how many of the workers and the outsiders were illegal occupants and how much land could be farmed out to these people. 

The labourers had also been venting their ire as the management appeared to be firm on evicting illegal settlers in the 30 acres of land of Urrunabund which Jatinga Tea donated to a religious trust in south India to build a 400-bed modern hospital there.

The Cachar Cha Sramik Union, affiliated to Intuc, has taken an initiative to defuse tension in the garden. Its assistant general secretary, D.N. Baroi, today said the management should refrain from taking any anti-worker stand.

Assam plans new measures to streamline BLFs, STGs

Supratim Dey / Kolkata/ Guwahati February 13 :

Concerned over the deterioration of the quality of tea produced in the state, the Assam government has decided to adopt at least 10 new measures from next year, primarily aiming at streamlining the bought leaf factories (BLFs) and small tea growers (STGs).

"In Assam, though the STGs are playing an important role, due to some policy deficiency our quality of tea is going down. The government, small tea growers and bought leaf factories, need to collectively take a few measures to maintain quality," said Pradyut Bordoloi, industry minister of Assam while addressing a press conference.

An eight member delegation, headed by Bordoloi and consisting of representatives from bought leaf factories and All Assam Small Tea Growers Association (AASTGA), recently visited Kenya to study the Kenyan model of tea production where the small tea growers account for 60 per cent of the total production.

Merits mention, tea production in Kenya started since 1924 after clones and seeds of Assam tea were sourced from the Tocklai Tea Research Centre, located in Jorhat in Upper Assam, and sowed in Kenya.

Bordoloi said that the state government was planning to identify catchment areas of approximately 250 hectares of plantation for each BLF and would make it compulsory for the BLFs to source green leafs from the catchment area.

The government also plans to check the "irrational" and "unauthorised" growth of BLFs in Assam. Currently, there are around 200 registered BLFs in the state.

Moreover, the government plans to make it mandatory upon Tocklai Tea Research Association to extend services to STGs, who till now could not afford it due to financial constrains, at a nominal rate from next year.

"Indiscriminate" use of any planting material would also be restricted, as also buying of green leaves by organised sectors from outside.

The government might also make it mandatory for all STGs to supply green leaves to BLFs three times a day during the peak season and twice a day during the lean season so that fresh leaves immediately reach the factory and is processed.

Bordoloi further said that from next year onwards the government would start a grading system for the entire tea industry of Assam and all tea factories would be certified "A", "B" and "C" grades by an "independent" grading agency based on the quality of tea they produced.

Furthermore, the state government has decided to give land 'pattas' to all STGs who presently cultivate in government lands, except reserve forests.

Assam produces almost 55 per cent of the total tea grown in India. Not less than 15 years back, the contribution of STGs in tea production of Assam was almost negligible, but it now stands to around 29 per cent

As a comparison, Assam produced around 400 million kgs of tea in 2007 and exported 170 million kgs, whereas, Kenya produced 369 million kgs and exported 345 million kgs in the corresponding year. Moreover, there has been a decline in the volume of export of Assam tea. From 250 million kgs, it came down to 170 million kgs in the last ten years.

Cheniram Khanikar, president of AASTGA, who was a member of delegation that visited Kenya, said that they were "overwhelmed" by seeing the Kenyan model, where STGs and self-help groups (SHGs) play a major role. Bordoloi said that if required the state government would go for appropriate legislations for implementing the measures.