Tea garden workers see hope in land bill, yet fear gaps that could spark conflict

Dibrugarh, Nov 30: For countless young dreamers growing up amid tea gardens, the hope of owning even a small plot of land in their parents' name one day is more than a matter of inheritance; it is the promise of an uninterrupted future.

It is a kind of assurance that their dreams might finally rise above the rows of bushes that have long bound their families to a life of unending labour if the newly introduced the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holding (Amendment) Bill, 2025, is implemented in letter and spirit.

The tea industry, though the largest source of employment in the State, carries within it a quiet tragedy. Its rigid rule of replacement, the demand that a worker's child must take over the parent's job in order to retain the family's quarter in the labour lines has crushed the aspirations of generations.

A house that shelters a family for decades is not truly theirs; it is held only as long as the bread winner serves the estate.

When a parent retires or is taken away suddenly by illness or fate, the child is forced to choose - abandon education and step into the same cycle of labour, or lose the only home they have ever known.

Many brilliant young minds have been pulled from classrooms and distant colleges. There are heart-breaking stories, of both boys and girls who once dared to dream of lives beyond the gardens but were summoned back to replace their parents, not out of choice, but out of fear of homelessness.

Dreams collapsed not from lack of ambition, but under the weight of a system that demanded work in exchange for shelter.

Among these numerous silenced stories is that of 48 year-old Sunam Oraon (Kujur) of Monkhooshi Tea Estate. A budding athlete whose feet once seemed to defy gravity, he dazzled his schoolmates and seniors by shattering record after record in his school long jump and high jump events.

While pursuing his studies, he dreamed of soaring far beyond the boundaries of the tea garden and joining the Indian Armed Forces. He grew up idolizing Carl Lewis - the legendary Olympic star whose victories in Barcelona and Atlanta he had watched wide-eyed on a flickering television screen, while teachers narrated tales of great news that made Sunam believe he, too, could one day leap into history.

When his father retired, his elder sister replaced him. When she married, the responsibility shifted abruptly to Sunam. He was forced to abandon his studies and return home, compelled to join the garden workforce so his parents and younger siblings would not lose the labour quarter that sheltered them.

"I never wanted to toil in the tea gardens but my destiny left me no choice" he told The Assam Tribune, his voice laced with regret. "The burden of responsibility crushed my dreams. I slipped into depression then, and even now I keep questioning my fate. Now, with the new land policy, at least the next generation do not have to worry like me."

There is also the story of Nicodim Minj from the Basmatia tea estate of the Andrew Yule Tea Company. A bright, earnest student of Dibru College, he once envisioned himself climbing the management ladder, first as a welfare officer, then an assistant manager, and perhaps, someday, the manager of the very plantation where he grew up.

But as the eldest son, he had little choice. When the threat of eviction loomed over his family, Nicodim left his studies and stepped into the role of breadwinner to keep the labour quarter that had sheltered them for years.

“My only aim was to be in management someday," he told The Assam Tribune, his voice heavy with unspoken loss. "If land pattas (land ownership) are finally given to the workers, then the management will no longer be able to force our children to replace us. It will save the futures of so many people like me.”

While the government's intention to allot land has been warmly welcomed across the community, many questions linger like the process of allotment, the timelines, and the other finer details of the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holding (Amendment) Bill, 2025.

Ghanashyam Munda, president of the Assam Sangrami Chah Shramik Sangha (Dibrugarh circle), articulated these concerns with quiet urgency. "It land is allotted only to the worker currently employed in the tea garden, there will be moil within families, he warned.

"A tea garden job has always been treated as inherited property, where every sibling believes they have an equal right. If employment in the garden becomes the sole criterion for receiving land, it will sow discord among brothers and sisters. The Act remains silent on whether temporary workers or only regularized ones qualify. Besides, what about the unused tea garden land where local families have lived for generations but are no longer employed in the estate?"

Echoing this sentiment, ATTSA leader Lakhinder Kurmi cautioned that while the decision in indeed a welcome move, the government must clarify how it plans to utilize the vast stretches of unutilized tea garden land.

"Estate managements are selling plots after plots to outsiders and corporate buyers. Yet they have done little to secure those lands for the non-working families whose parents and forefathers toiled here for decades.

If these plots continue to be sold off, the future of our workers will be jeopardized, their livelihood, their security and their heritage will be at risk."

He further added, "If the government truly intends to grant land rights, let them do so before the 2026 elections. Let it not become yet another election season promise.”