SHYLOCK SEEKS HIS POUND OF FLESH : Green Leaf Cess in Assam may Bleed small Tea Growers to Death

Abstract

The silent economic revolution by small tea gardens across Assam has helped tackle rural unemployment apart from using land in an environmentally friendly manner. Instead of a reward for putting the otherwise unproductive land to good use the small tea growers have been asked to pay green leaf cess @ 20 paise($0.004) per kilo of green leaf, which amounts to Rs. 650/ per bigha($100/ha) per annum, says a news item in The Indian Express of April 8, 2009, edited version of which is reproduced in the text below. There are 65000 first generation small tea gardens across Assam, which support more than 300,000 families, including 2,78,000 laborers and 10,000 clerical staff employed. The green leaf produced by these small holder growers is processed by some 210 bought leaf factories, which produce 130 million kilo tea or 25% of the Assam States' total production. The small tea growers have now been asked to pay the green leaf cess in addition to a land cess of Rs. 22 per bigha($ 3.30/ha) and a fine of Rs. 200 per bigha($ 30.00/ha) if they put under tea the Government fallow land. Will this levy suffocate a green technology and kill the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs of rural prosperity and environmental health? Global experience shows that if the State could organise these small growers on the pattern of KTDA (refer to chapter 2 in this special issue) or TSHDA in Srilanka (refer chapter 3 in this issue) or closer home in Uttarakhand Tea Development Board (refer chapter 4 in this issue) or Kangra Tea Cooperatives, with technical support, processing and marketing facilities, the growers will earn more income and the state more revenue.