They were once the epitome of colonial gentility and imperial wealth, sending bags of delicately flavored tea around the world. Today, thanks to changing drinking habits, a collapse in prices and rising labor costs, penury and death stalk the plantations of the lower Himalayas.
An inquiry into the fading fortunes of tea estates in Jalpaiguri, a remote part of West Bengal state bordering the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, found last week that at least 700 Indian tea workers have died from diseases linked to malnutrition in the last year after 16 estates were closed. Investigations by the supreme court and tea workers' associations found that the workers laid off could find no other work and legal provisions for health and support payments never materialized.
Activists say they end up foraging for food in forests to keep their families alive.
"We have seen a huge rise in starvation-related deaths after these tea estates were closed down. There is no effective safety net for those who lose their job and the result is that they die for lack of food or medicines," said Anuradha Talwar, a supreme court adviser, who compiled a report about the deaths.
Talwar's research showed that even those who were employed endured hardship. One survey showed 22 tea estates owed workers more than 360 million rupees (US$8.8 million) in back pay.
"Many health centers did not have adequate supplies of anti-snake venom serum. It is not indifference but a matter of life and death," Talwar said.
The country's tea industry has recently been hailed as an example of how to cope with globalization -- cutting costs while expanding overseas. One such company is Tata Tea, which bought Britain's Tetley while slashing its employees by 30,000.
Monojit Dasgupta, secretary general of the Indian tea association, said that tea estates had to "become competitive and that the tragic deaths should be put in context of a sector with 250 tea estates."
"We have seen [tea] prices crash from 78 rupees in 1998 to 55 rupees in 2004. We had to deal with the competition from new growers. The distressful situation in certain parts of Bengal is a chronic problem which perhaps needs timely government intervention. But I think it does not reflect the industry's position," Dasgupta said.
India, the world's largest producer and consumer of tea, has laws that theoretically protect the industry's remaining 200,000 workers. However, many are not enforced, Talwar said.
Many pickers have left to work in Bhutan's rock-crushing industry, where employment is erratic and often dangerous.
Indian Commerce Minister Jairam Ramesh said that the government was "engaged in finding a solution."
"I think we have a small number of problems, and we are looking at ways to deal with the plight of the people," Ramesh said.
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