Tea tribe community at centre of Assam election battle amid welfare push

Welfare measures, wage hikes and land rights outreach intensify as parties compete for tea tribe votes amid persistent socio-economic challenges in Assam's plantation belt

On April 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited a tea garden in Dibrugarh, where he interacted with women workers at the Manohari Tea Estate and described tea as the “soul of Assam”. Earlier, on March 13, the PM addressed a long-pending demand of workers by launching the first phase of homestead land pattas in 106 gardens across 20 districts.

 

Tea tribe community in Assam, which goes to polls on April 9, has emerged as a key constituency, with increased political outreach and welfare announcements.

 

Assam is India’s largest tea-producing state with over 359,000 hectares under cultivation. Tea tribes are the descendants of the labourers brought to the region during the colonial period from the present-day Jharkhand, Odisha, and Bihar tribal belts in the 19th century. They are largely concentrated in Upper Assam and parts of the Barak Valley and influence outcomes in over 35 Assembly seats. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made inroads into what was traditionally a Congress base.

 

 

In the runup to the elections, the Assam government distributed ₹95 crore among 486 tea gardens under a scheme offering interest subvention, subsidies for orthodox tea production, machinery support, and an agricultural income-tax holiday.

 

The Himanta Biswa Sarma government has also increased daily wages by ₹30 to ₹258 in the Barak Valley and ₹280 in the Brahmaputra Valley, with the chief minister indicating that further revisions may follow.

 

“Through direct benefit transfer schemes and land patta allotments, the BJP has consolidated tea tribes as a core vote bank, though many are still awaiting actual land allotments,” said Nivan Bagchi, a research scholar at Gauhati University.

 

Despite heightened political attention, conditions in tea garden areas remain challenging, data shows. These regions report some of the lowest life expectancy levels in the state, along with a high disease burden, malnutrition, and anaemia.

 

According to The Morbidity Status among Tea Garden Workers of Assam report (February 2025), 34.7 per cent of workers suffer from low BMI, with women (37.7 per cent) more affected than men (30.2 per cent).

 

Issues such as hunger, malnutrition, and severe anaemia among women and children around Assam’s tea gardens continue to persist.

 

Around 6 per cent of workers reported hospitalisation within a year, with Dibrugarh recording the highest rate at 10.2 per cent. In contrast, rates were lower in Tinsukia (5 per cent), Sibsagar (4.4 per cent), and Jorhat (3.2 per cent), the report added.

 

Arijit Raha of the Indian Tea Association said the region continues to face economic strain. “Labour accounts for 55-60 per cent of production costs,” Raha said, warning that wage hikes without corresponding price gains could pressure the industry.

 

Plantation owners also operate under statutory welfare obligations, including housing, health care, sanitation, and education, which add to operational costs.

 

At the same time, Assam tea faces competition from lower-cost producers, such as Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. Shifting consumer preferences toward specialty and organic teas also demand further investment.

 

While land rights carry both material and symbolic value, key demands, particularly the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for six groups, remain unresolved.

 

During her visit to Dibrugarh, Priyanka Gandhi accused the BJP government of delaying ST status and promised land pattas and free healthcare for large sections of the population. The Congress, in its manifesto, has promised ST recognition, industrial-level minimum wages, and expanded welfare schemes.

 

The Congress has also questioned the legal validity of recently issued “digital pattas,” calling them largely symbolic and warning of potential disputes.

 

While acknowledging the recent wage hike, party leaders argue that one-time financial assistance offers only temporary relief and stress the need for sustained wage negotiations.

 

Addressing a rally in Tinsukia on Monday, Nadda accused the Congress of treating the tea tribes as a “vote-bank” that it “harvested” every five years while not working for their welfare. “These people are grabbing the land of the Adivasis and the poor,” Nadda said.

 

The BJP has highlighted improvements in infrastructure, education, and welfare schemes, and has promised to gradually raise wages to ₹500 if re-elected. It has also pointed to initiatives such as job reservations, medical college quotas, and promotion of cultural traditions.