Climate change takes centrestage as Bengal's tea junction prepares to vote

A 30km drive from New Jalpaiguri station takes a tourist to Bhorer Alo, a govt tourist estate at Gajoldoba in north Bengal’s Dooars. Gajoldoba, where the first commercial tea estate was set up in 1874-75, is a tourist hot spot. Gajoldoba is also a microcosm of a Hills society in the throes of change — from tea to tourism, the region’s demography, the changing aspirations of youth and, consequently, the politics of a region known for the world’s finest brew: Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars — and Jalpaiguri, Alipurduars and Darjeeling, the three LS seats that vote on April 19 and April 26.

One huge issue is climate change, and its effect on the region’s 303 tea estates: a production and export slump.

“The climate change has been drastic,” said J C Pande, chairman of Indian Tea Association, Dooars chapter. “Rainfall is sporadic, untimely and temperatures have risen, resulting in poor yield. If you want to beat that, you need to use more chemicals, which will leave produce unsold.


In addition, the region’s organised tea sector has come under threat from Bought Leaf Factories (BLF), which procure tea leaves from tea grown on erstwhile farmlands. Farmers took to growing tea on farmlands after they started getting low prices on food crops. This forced many tea estates to shut, adding to the uncertainty of the three lakh plantation workers.

There are more than 50,000 small tea gardens in north Bengal, spread over Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and North Dinajpur districts.

Political parties are now trying to woo people from a region in transition. In Darjeeling, it’s essentially going to be a three-cornered contest between second-time BJP candidate Raju Bista, Trinamool’s Gopal Lama and Munish Tamang from the Congress-Hamro Party combine. But Bishnu Prasad Sharma, a BJP MLA from Kurseong who’s thrown his hat into the ring as an independent, may queer the pitch.

In Alipurduars, BJP candidate Manoj Tigga and Trinamool’s Prakash Chik Baraik are leading roadshows in the foothills. Jalpaiguri is looking at a two-pronged fight between BJP’s Jayanta Roy and TMC’s Nirmal Chandra Ray.

“Tea and cinchona plantation workers are the backbone of the economy in Darjeeling, Terai and the Dooars,” said Bista. “Despite their immense significance for the overall wellbeing of our region, plantation workers have remained economically marginalised.”

Trinamool-backed trade union leader Swapan Sarkar said wages had improved under the current govt. “The daily wage was Rs 67 a day under the Left. It has increased to Rs 250,” Sarkar said.

The downturn in the region’s tea gardens has prompted planters to downsize, leading workers to move out. The exodus of jobless workers, mostly migrants from the Chhotanagpur Plateau, has led to a conflict of interest with those engaged in farming, or other odd jobs.

Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee tried to address the issue by announcing land pattas to tea workers within closed gardens. But there were few takers, as the workers possessed much more land within the gardens than she promised, said Mani Kumar Darnal, general secretary of the Congress-affiliated National Union of Plantation Workers. “Once they take the patta for five decimals, they will have to release their extra land,” he explained.

“We want deed papers for the land we already possess. Anything below that is unacceptable,” said a plantation worker at Lakhipara tea estate.

The crisis accentuated since the mid-90s, when the region witnessed a migration of “Bhupali” (Nepalese in Bhutan) population in 1994 to the foothills. Members of the Mech, Rava and Rajbanshi tribes, who stayed outside the gardens, felt threatened, with the displaced workers joining the labour market. The Hills and the foothills became a cauldron of identity politics. The Gorkha community won’t settle for anything less than Gorkhaland and ST status for 11 Gorkha tribes.

The CM set up development boards for several communities, but it didn’t make much sense for the Hills population, who swore to achieve Gorkhaland and wanted BJP to live up to its promise of a permanent solution. PM Modi, in a recent meeting in Siliguri, urged Gorkhas to have patience, saying his govt was closer to finding this solution