Northeast Echoes

The 119th meeting of the Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association was held at Thakurbari, Tezpur. This meet is an occasion for introspection and revelry. The tea industry has spawned its own culture, which is a cross between the stylish British élan and Indian hospitality. Tea people (the managers and their wives and children) continue to be the repository of both cultures carrying them forward with an equanimity which is both admirable and enviable. At a time when the global economic meltdown is threatening to send people's lives into a tailspin, the tea industry has already come out of its own recession. The industry has worked its way through the tortuous maze and now emerged on top.

Undoubtedly the tea fraternity has learnt valuable lessons in adversity, which it has not
considered important enough to document. Indeed, over the centuries since tea was first grown in Assam, those who have managed the tea gardens and produced that vital component which gives us our morning cuppa, have amassed a wealth of learning. This social capital has unfortunately not been institutionalised. All one reads about concerning the tea industry are related to labour strife and industrial relations. Undoubtedly, these are important social upheavals and have their space in the annals of the history of tea in Assam. But is that all there is to it?

Brand value

Over the years, tea has generated financial capital; it has generated employment for thousands and above all a brand name, "Assam Tea". The history of the tea industry is also a history of its planters, its managers, their lives, their experiences and much more. This compendium of experiences include managing labour conflicts, understanding complex human relations, facing the formidable challenge of militancy at its height, losing out to colleagues and friends in these wars of attrition, but, above all, the personal struggles and the dreams and aspirations of those who over the years have contributed towards making the tea industry what it is today.

Much has been written about the commerce ministry's attempts to provide special funds for rejuvenating the tea plantations. The special tea protection fund, a scheme initiated some two years ago, appears to have its downside and fewer takers. It would be too conjectural to go into the nitty-gritty of what makes the special tea protection fund an expensive proposition. This sparring game is perhaps best executed between the tea industry and the commerce ministry without any referee. Both sides understand each other too well to require a devil's advocate.

This article aims to look at the social capital that has been generated over the years in the tea industry. Social capital is the sum total of human experiences and their spontaneous responses to situations, which over a period of time become learned responses for others. Tea planters are constantly challenged by labour problems. How do they resolve these problems? Individual managers must be doing it in a way they know best. But over a period of time these individual responses to problems and challenges become the institutional memory of the tea industry. This institutional memory bank is an important piece of historical document. Does the tea industry in Assam have one or several such documents? If there are any, then very few people seem to know of them and fewer still have read them.

Oral tradition

There is a wealth of oral tradition in the tea industry dating back to the days of the British and thereafter. When oral tradition is not documented there is loss of institutional memory and also loss of time and resources because people have to reinvent the wheel time and again. Social capital generated over time can actually be synergised to become a catalyst for change. But perhaps one is asking too much from the tea industry. After all, the industry is not just about machinery and products! It is more to do with human beings who struggle to keep their lives and that of their labour force together. Tea
managers could well ask why they should be investing their time in proactive social mobilisation. Why should they create advocacy groups within the labour community to access government schemes? Are they not doing enough? Have they not generated enough wealth and foreign exchange? Where is the time and energy for further social action?

Each of these questions is legitimate. But an industry is a complex wheel within a
wheel. It is ironical that some of the roads leading to the tea gardens in Tezpur are the worst ones one has come across. You would have thought an industry that adds value to the exchequer deserves better. But governments seem to believe otherwise. In fact, until some years ago the tea labourers were not considered part of the general population when assessing the social needs of people residing in and around the gardens. The labourers were perhaps considered the responsibility of respective gardens. There is a serious dichotomy here. Schemes meant for the poor should reach people across the
board.

Hopefully, this has been resolved and the tea population now has access to social sector schemes such as the total sanitation scheme, the national rural health mission
scheme, the Rajiv Gandhi rural water supply mission and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, among others,

Yes, the tea industry is a history of people and their endeavours. Hence, social interface is oxygen to them. But is the social interface restricted to club life? What about the offsprings of the tea community? What sort of social life do they experience? Is it coincidental or by design that a tea planter's/manager's offspring hardly chooses to step into his parent's shoes? Why?

Social skills

If we talk of social capital, then we must also talk of social, skills which make up that social capital. Daniel Goleman lists them as (1) interpersonal relations (2) communication skills (3) analytical skills (4) problem solving skills (5) decision-making ability (6) life skills which essentially means how to live life and to just "be" rather than be thinking about what to do all the time. Tea people all have kids, some grown-up, others in their adolescence. They live lives that are deeply wired. In fact, we all are. There are wires everywhere connecting us to gadgets but we are less and less connected to one another. Kids with iPods have learnt to navigate around people and to avoid them because they are wired to their favourite songs. We have all entered the age of social autism. This social insulation means that we are unable to learn from each other. Social capital is, therefore, eroding even as we are losing our social skills.

But even so the tea community is still a very connected fraternity. They continue to share their ups and downs, their joys and sorrow. In a sense, they represent what psychologists call the "group mind", which is any day more intelligent than the individual mind. Harvard professor Howard Gardener says the 21st century is all about the group mind. "There are too many people who know too many things and lesser individuals who know everything. When people share information they create new information."

The 21st century is also about defining people apart from their work. It is about an identity that transcends their profession. The reason many people fear to retire from their jobs is because they fear a loss of identity. There are several tea garden managers who have retired and find a vibrant life beyond tea. Surely they can share their experiences. I was enamoured by the fact that the tea industry today attracts even academics into its fold. This enriches the tea experience. Satyakam Hazarika, who just stepped down as president of the Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association, is a mathematics scholar and his wife a former lecturer in physics. Truly, the tea scenario has changed. And that, in itself, is an achievement that merits documentation