Tea Board sets stage for Tea Act amendment

A significant addition to the Act is the definition of 'small tea grower'

Tea Board of India is planning to propose amendments to the Tea Act 1953 for ratifying and eliminating some archaic laws, while regularising some others.

There are several reasons for this move. Take, the International Tea Agreement, for instance. Under this agreement, which expired in 1956, there was a quota for exports. In the light of World Trade Organization norms, the agreement is now irrelevant.

The proposed amendment in the Act is expected to boost the development of the tea sector, besides promoting research on Indian tea varieties.

“Tea Board has been licensing manufacturers, brokers. This Act proposes to formalise it,” said a producer.

The sector is unsure as to when the amendments , which have been in the works for the past many years, would actually be passed.

Among the more significant additions to the Act is the definition of ‘small tea grower’. In tandem with the Land Ceiling Act in West Bengal and Assam, the Tea Board has proposed to define small tea grower as a person owning less than 25 acres of tea estate in his name.

The Tea Board has justified that it is important to include the definition as many small growers were foraying into tea plantation.

Small growers have been gaining ground over the past few years. In 2011, Tea Board had to revise production figures to include production by small tea growers and the figure jumped from 988 million kg to a billion kg.

Tea Board would be entrusted with the role of protecting the intellectual property rights of tea of Indian origin within India and abroad. The protection would be by way of registering the Indian tea in accordance with the procedures laid under the prevailing laws and instituting legal action against infringement.

“These are all roles that the Tea Board is currently undertaking. But the amendments have been in the air for the past eight years. It should now be done without further delay,” said a producer.