Assam
Assam is a state in North-Eastern India, south of the Eastern Himalayas where the Brahmaputra River runs through the northern region of the state. Assam is well known for its tea and silk productions, therefore it is a relatively rich region (when considering land ownership) although some may object as many workers are employed by affluent people, which could potentially suggest a sense of inequality. Assam is slowly changing and adapting to its situation as time progresses with the help of government funding and tea production companies.
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The Kaziranga National Park is a tourist destination in Assam and a world heritage site. It holds two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses and is home to the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world so was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006. Outside the park borders, there are also many private resorts (which is a topic of debate between locals and private landowners as land is being used for private purposes rather than accommodation for locals). Rapid increase in tourist inflow has led to the economic empowerment of the people living on the outskirts of the park, relating to tourism-related activities, encouraging the protection of the park. Kaziranga has flat regions of rich, alluvial soil by the River Brahmaputra.
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The Brahmaputra Valley is the main physical feature of Assam. The Brahmaputra River enters Assam near Sadiya at the northeast corner and runs towards the west for almost 450 miles before entering Bangladesh. The river valley is surrounded on all sides, except the west, by mountains and is intersected by many streams that flow from the neighbouring hills and empty into the Brahmaputra.
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Assam is one of the most socially deprived regions in India with a deprivation score of above 0.45. The average literacy rate for India is 74% (2011), which is a substantial rise from 12% in 1947 during British rule. Assam has a 72.19% literacy rate which shows that education is Assam is slightly lower than the national average. This may be because people do not have the time to be educated if they are busy earning money for their families, especially if they are living in poverty. It could also be because people may migrate out of Assam to receive better education or more well-paid jobs in more urban regions such as Kolkata.
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The economy of Assam is largely interdependent upon agriculture with 69% of the population engaging with it. The land is mainly used for tea plantations and rice paddy fields where tea is grown at elevations near sea level, giving it a malty and an earthy flavour, rather than the more floral flavour of highland teas (e.g. Darjeeling, Taiwanese). The Lallamookh Tea & Co Ltd. registered their tea garden factory has an annual capacity of 1.4 million kg of tea per year – contributing to Assam’s tea production as a whole of 652.95 million kg of tea.
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The population of Assam in 2012 was 30.94 million showing that Assam has a high population density. However, a population like Assam’s, of 200-500 people per square km, is normal for India’s current population of 1.3 billion (2016). In India there are more densely populated states than Assam such as Bihar with 1000-9000 people per sq. km. This is because Bihar is the poorest and most deprived state in India with the highest birth rate in India – resulting in a more dense population.
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Climate change - As climate change is becoming a global issue and contributing to global warming, it is also having a large impact on Assam and its vegetation. As sea levels are rising every year, flooding has become a larger issue than it used to be. In July 2016 (monsoon season), Assam experienced 60% more rain than it did in July 2015 and around 490,000 acres of farming land was affected, resulting in the Assam Branch Indian Tea Association (ABITA) losing 21-30% of Assam tea crops. It is also difficult to get around Assam during monsoon season as the roads are made of mud/dirt within the tea plantations and therefore when it floods, the grounds become saturated, making it harder to drive through the floods. The flooding also increases the risk of an endemic of water-borne diseases such as malaria which workers will often be vaccinated against by the government-funded hospitals.
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Improving education - Assam is mitigating and reducing the birth rate by building new schools and forms of education for locals. By encouraging people to study, they will understand how to look after themselves and family planning. Introduction of more education has improved the birth rates and it has decreased.
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Improving welfare of workers – Every tea company, including Lallamookh, accommodates every worker in the plantations and the factories. However, the Tea Board of India are now introducing various schemes to develop and maintain the welfare of workers including a scheme to develop one drinking water pump and one sanitary latrine per 200 workers.
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When I last visited Assam in July 2017, I began to see it in a more geographical way. I was and still am truly fascinated by the people that live there and the processes behind their daily routine. Personally, my experience in Assam was very interesting and the monsoon season made my opinion of it even more positive because the rains in India are nothing like the rains in England! However, other people, especially the workers, may view the identity of Assam as a way of earning money due to the largely available jobs in the tea industry if they are looking for local jobs.
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During my stay at the Lallamookh Tea Estate, I visited most of the plantations including the nursery plantations and the tea factory owned by Lallamookh. I learnt that every bundle of tea leaves that is collected, weighs around 30kg. Each worker carries their bundle down from the plantations to a weighing scale where it is determined whether they have collected 30kg of tea leaves. The workers must be strong! There was also a point where I went up the steep plantations and attempted to pick tea leaves with one of the workers. As she picked the leaves with both hands with such speed, I struggled to pick them with only one hand! I could feel how strong she was when she held onto me as I walked down the steep narrow pathway. Being a worker in the tea estate requires an unimaginable amount of work and perhaps, to an extent, I do wonder how these workers relive the same routine again and again everyday. The workers here may feel that it is worth putting in the effort as long as their families get fed and they remain healthy.
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“These workers are extremely fit and strong which is why they can carry 30kg bundles all the way down from the plantations. You would expect them to be less strong and nourished but that is not the case. They are a thousand times stronger than anyone would think” – Nirav Patel, co-owner of the Lallamookh Tea Estate
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By Kaya Patel