On
every 15 December tea-producing countries across the World
observe International Tea Day to draw attention of governments
and citizens on the impacts of tea trade on workers, small
growers consumers and the industry. In India, stakeholders
including tea related trade unions and small producers recognise
international tea day as the event to declare their rights
pertaining to wages, livelihood and living conditions. This
year the call to observe International Tea Day India Observance
was jointly made by Central Trade Unions, Workers' Federations,
Small Tea Grower Organisations and Civil Society Organisations
at a national level meeting held in New Delhi on 18 October
2006. The collective met Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Honourable Minister
of State for Commerce and Industries, GOI, and submitted
a memorandum along with the New Delhi Declaration on the
Rights of Workers and Small Growers in the tea sector.
International tea day is conceived as a collective platform
of stakeholders in tea industry, in particular, workers
and small growers, across eleven tea-producing countries
in the world in order to voice their rights and concerns.
International tea day has got wider acceptance among the
tea related trade unions and tea producers in the participating
tea producing countries, including, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
India, Kenya, Malaysia, Malawi, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania,
Uganda, and Vietnam.
Tea day observation in India will be organised at local,
regional and national levels in the major tea producing
states by tea related trade unions and small tea growers.
The local and regional level activities around tea day include
meetings, rallies, dharnas and seminars by trade unions
and small growers at zonal and district levels, taking up
the issues of living wages and fair prices in the states
of Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. At national
level, a public meeting will be held at Gudalur, Tamil Nadu
on 17 December with the mobilisation of around 10,000 people
including workers and small growers from the states of Assam,
West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
