tea garden workers – Written by Rinju Rasaily and Devika Singh Shekhawat On November 28, it wasn’t business as usual in the tea plantations of Assam. The Assam government declared a holiday for tea plantation workers to watch the news of the landmark passing of the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Act, 2025 in the Assembly. The main focus of the Act, which has garnered widespread attention, is the insertion of a new Section 7A in the Act whereby “the government, after acquiring land under labour lines, gives settlement of such lands to tea garden workers residing and in occupation of such land.

” Advertisement At first, it appears that the longstanding demand for pattas (land titles) for tea workers is finally realised. However, much is left to speculation as to how this land settlement materialises for tea workers (permanent, temporary and descendants) who live and work in acute precarity on plantations.

Point number 4 and 5 of Section 17A indicates that “i) The Government may, by notification, frame conditions regarding the extent of disposal of such lands for utility and optimal usage of such lands for the welfare of tea garden worker in the manner as may be prescribed… ii) The extent of land per family of a tea garden worker to be settled shall be as such as notified by the government from time to time. ” Here, the Act doesn’t provide any clear indication as to who the title would be given to. Families of plantation workers currently living in the “labour lines” are allotted a “quarter” according to the housing allotted to permanent workers, an intergenerational identity and status.

Although women workers form the majority of the workforce and are pivotal to the tea industry, it is yet to be determined whether they get ownership of the land title in the family. The Act further states that there is a 20-year expiry period before the land can be resold, and only to a tea worker affiliated with plantation work within the same tea estate. This protects the land from being put to commercial use outside the plantations.

Advertisement In the absence of a census or any form of social mapping, discrimination during settlement – due to power imbalance within the heterogeneous tea communities–– remains a major concern. Land surveys are critical before any such amendments are made to assess the lived hierarchies in remote geographies of Assam. Further, the size of these land titles (pattas) will be instrumental in understanding how its use will be determined.

A sizeable plot of land that goes beyond housing needs would allow for land to be used for livelihood activities outside the ambit of plantation work. Land use beyond the maintenance of intergenerational plantation work is an important consideration for the government if it truly wishes to engage with tea workers’ rights and render justice to the historical oppression.

Rasaily is assistant professor (Sociology), Dr BR Ambedkar University Delhi. Shekhawat is a PhD research scholar (Sociology), Dr.

B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi, Views are personal.