A recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has revealed that wages for tea garden workers in Assam remain inadequate, with notable deficiencies in the implementation of labour laws and worker welfare provisions.
The report highlights the state's insufficient intervention in aligning wages with the Minimum Wage Act (MW Act), and notes that efforts to improve workers' conditions have not achieved significant progress.
The performance audit, covering the period from 2015-16 to 2020-21, assessed the implementation of welfare schemes for the tea tribe across four zones: Cachar, Dibrugarh, Nagaon, and Sonitpur. Out of 390 tea estates in these zones, 40 estates were selected for the audit based on plantation size and worker count. The audit involved scrutiny of records and interviews with 590 workers.
The report underscores that the Tea Tribes Welfare Department (TTWD) has made attempts to address worker issues but lacked essential socio-economic data, leading to disorganized implementation of initiatives. Wages for tea workers were reported as meager, and the Assam government has not set minimum pay rates according to the MW Act, 1948. The audit also found that workers are excluded from scheduled employments notified by the state, denying them minimum wage standards and variable dearness allowance.
The report notes that government efforts to raise wages by the MW Act faced legal challenges, hindering wage increases. Additionally, it highlighted wage disparities between workers in Barak Valley and Brahmaputra Valley, with Barak Valley workers earning at least 10 percent less. The government has not addressed this issue.
Assam’s tea workers were found to be among the lowest-paid compared to their counterparts in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and West Bengal. The report also criticized the lack of records for government authorization regarding the payment of wages in kind, as well as inadequate knowledge of the commencement year for such payments. Furthermore, the Labour Department was unable to provide details on the list of qualified items for payment in kind or the calculation system for these items, indicating non-compliance with the MW Act.
The report also noted that the Assam Tea Employees Labour Welfare Board had not undertaken mandated welfare activities, with 85 percent of its expenses during 2015-20 allocated to administrative costs. Of 187 planned welfare schemes with a budget of Rs 600.19 crore, only 82 schemes were implemented at a cost of Rs 210.65 crore, falling short of the allotted budget of Rs 365.60 crore. Additionally, nine out of 25 schemes mentioned in budget speeches from 2015-16 to 2019-20 were not implemented due to a lack of funds.
The TTWD attributed the shortcomings in scheme implementation to inadequate field staff, a long-standing issue since the department's inception in 1984. The report also observed deficiencies in facilities such as hospitals, schools, canteens, crèches, recreation clubs, and housing accommodations, compared to state government specifications.