Photography: Salman Saeed
In 1854 when the tea workers (Santals, Oraons,Munda etc.) from different states of India first arrived they each signed a four-year contract that eventually obliged them to remain on the tea gardens for generations. That was the beginning of hard labour, erosion of cultural identity and captivity that never came to an end. Illiterate, they didn’t understand what the document contained when they signed it. This ignorance led to a life full of suffering for them and for their children.
A century later, they still find themselves illiterate. Their poor housing conditions, low wages, long working hours, social discrimination, and de facto restriction on free movement deprive thwm of many basic human needs and rights that every human being must have for personal and societal progress. These conditions make sure that the children of tea workers can do nothing else but become tea workers. Deprived, exploited and alienated the tea workers live an inhumane life.
