Origin of the Tea Workers

September 16, 2008 · Filed under Background of the tea workers · Tagged Tea, Tea Plantation, Tea plantation workers

Photography: Salman Saeed

Most of the tea estates are located in the northeast region of Bangladesh. The first tea garden was established by the Duncan Brothers. Since then all the tea gardens have been established by clearing jungles. Those who did the jungle clearing were non-locals brought by Duncan from Assam, Bihar, Madras, Orissa and other places in India.

Back home they were told that they would arrive at a “lovely garden in the hill country where they would look after trees with leaves of pure gold which would fall if you (they) shook them” (Jones 1986:11).

After they settled in this unknown country they realised that the story of the golden leaves was a lie and it remains a mystery to them till date.

The tea worker with different ethnic identities are people who are less-talked-of and forgotten. They are not well aware of their origins. Their lives in Bangladesh are confined to the tea gardens and they do not interact much with people of other ethnic identities. They do not speak their language perfectly and most of them are illiterate.

As they are a socially excluded group, they are a very easy target for exploitation by the profiteers from the tea industry.