Tea plantation workers meet with CJI staff during a visit to India in 2023. Photo: Jenny Cafiso/CJI
Tea plantation workers in North Bengal, India, are often deprived of their rights and subjected to exploitation by plantation managers and government agencies.
Plantation managers often fail to provide workers with the rights and statutory benefits set out in the Plantation Labor Act, including fair wages, medical care, and primary education for workers' children. Government agencies also deny workers their benefits and rights, such as ration cards and access to land ownership.
These violations are a loss of human dignity and result in unacceptable living conditions for the workers, most of whom are Scheduled Tribes (called "Adivasis").
The Human Life Development and Research Center (HLDRC), based in Matigara, is a project of the Jesuit Province of Darjeeling that addresses these injustices. It accompanies workers both on working tea plantations and in so-called closed gardens, plantations that have been abandoned due to financial or other problems, leaving the workers without a livelihood or income.
Canadian Jesuits International currently supports six major initiatives of the HLDRC:
- Conducting socio-economic awareness seminars
- Conducting seminars on legal and women's issues
- Conducting workshops to train and empower community leaders, women, youth and self-help group (SHG) leaders
- Providing training on how to apply for and receive provident fund and pension benefits
- Implementing alternative livelihood opportunities through SHGs
- Providing in-service training for village animators and HLDRC staff
To date, the HLDRC has reached out to approximately 5,000 people in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts through these initiatives. Work has been carried out on about 15 tea plantations; about 80 community leaders have been trained; hundreds of people have been helped to obtain official documents such as birth certificates or to access pension schemes; and over 30 SHGs have been formed, all but 5 of which are run by women. The SHGs have different focuses, including livestock, crop production, equipment rental, and tent making.
The HLDRC also conducts research and maintains a database on migrant and missing women, including victims of trafficking. It coordinates its activities with the Delhi-based Jesuits in Social Action (JESA) and is an active member of the Lok Manch.
HLDRC Director: Fr Pascal Xalxo SJ
Watch video about HLDRC: Helping tea plantation workers claim their rights
Visit HLDRC’s website: https://hldrcsocialcentre.org
Read the latest project impact report: Click here for English, Click here for French
The project at a glance:
Beneficiaries
Direct: 9,417 individuals, including 100 youth in skills and vocational training program; 70 women in self-help groups supported with small grants for livelihood programs; 1,000 students in study centers; 3,000 tea workers who have applied for homestead land rights; 1,247 workers assisted with various claims.
Total budget: $81, 836
CJI contribution: $45, 920
Activities:
- Workshop on cooperatives managed by an expert
- Training on how to start a small business, training on agriculture and mushroom growing
- Follow-up trainings every three months in villages and labour lines
- Training on how to measure homestead land and make a site plan
- Workshop on tea garden land rights, constitutional rights of tribal groups to be given to NGOs, and community leaders to advocate for tea workers' rights
- Publish a quarterly publication on land rights (2,000 copies)
- Publish leaflets on land rights (5,000 copies)
Establish help desks on how to claim pensions and other legal rights
Provide computer-based online filing support for tea workers claiming legal rights
Teacher Training Program
Summer computer and English classes for youth (50 total)
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