HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, June 13: Bal Raksha Bharat, a child rights organisation, has taken proactive steps towards children’s wellbeing in Assam’s tea industry.
About 20% of Assam’s population (6.5 million) is directly associated with tea plantations. This World Day Against Child Labour 2024, Bal Raksha Bharat is highlighting the stark reality: the prevalence of working children in this vital sector of the state’s economy. Till 2023, Bal Raksha Bharat has directly reached 21,054 children and adults (12,177 in 2022) and indirectly 30,522 children and adults (17,575 in 2022).
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Aligned with the global theme ‘Let’s act on our commitments: End Child Labour!’, Bal Raksha Bharat has been at the forefront of addressing this issue, working tirelessly to ensure a brighter, safer future for children in tea-producing communities. Earlier, a MoU was signed between the All Assam Small Tea Growers Association and Bal Raksha Bharat to jointly address child rights issues.
Bal Raksha Bharat will support them by strengthening their business through the collectivisation of Small Tea Growers (STGs) and enhancing market linkages for their products. This pivotal partnership signifies a concerted effort to cultivate a nurturing environment for children within the tea industry, laying the groundwork for sustainable change.
In the past, Bal Raksha Bharat and the Tea Association of India have jointly organised a consultation on ‘Business and Child Rights in Tea Supply Chain’. The objective was to create a platform for various stakeholders, including tea growers, producers, associations, marketing companies, NGOs, the UN, government, and academia, to deliberate on the current scenario and agree on the way forward in realising the rights of children and the community.
Since 2021, Bal Raksha Bharat has demonstrated unwavering commitment and strategic engagement with various stakeholders, including Assam Police, government bodies, trade unions, educational institutions, and industry associations. Through collaborative efforts, Bal Raksha Bharat has advanced the child rights agenda, fostering a joint approach towards safeguarding children from exploitation and promoting their holistic development.
Sudarshan Suchi, chief executive officer of Bal Raksha Bharat, shared, “This flagship project of Bal Raksha Bharat in the tea plantation areas of Assam, initiated in 2021 and extended till 2026, has achieved remarkable success. By reaching out to 10 major tea plantations, engaging 3,000 plantation workers, and collaborating with 2,000 small tea growers across Jorhat and Dibrugarh districts, we’ve made significant strides in our mission. Our efforts have yielded three pivotal outcomes: empowering adolescent groups and communities to safeguard children from harm and exploitation, fostering understanding and implementation of child rights and business principles within the tea supply chain, and enhancing the capacity and coordination of the government child protection workforce to address pertinent issues in the state. This ongoing initiative stands as a beacon of hope, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to ensuring a brighter future for the children of Assam.”
“About 20% of Assam’s population (6.5 million) is directly associated with about 800 large tea plantations. While the region is renowned for producing more than 50% of Indian tea, it’s a paradox that the people in tea production, from plucking to withering to final packaging, are particularly alienated from the mainstream of development and record low progress on human development indicators, particularly in the areas of education, health and sanitation, housing conditions, nutrition, per capita income, etc., of the communities are significantly poor,” adds Abhijeet Nirmal, deputy director, Child Protection, Bal Raksha Bharat.
Bal Raksha Bharat has also been championing knowledge sharing, capacity-building programs, and community-based research, fostering a culture of empowerment and enlightenment with esteemed institutions like Dibrugarh University and Assam Agricultural University. With Dibrugarh University, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed for a joint collaborative approach for holistic community development focusing on children and women. This initiative aims at knowledge sharing and the initiation of academic programs and curricula related to child rights, capacity-building training programs for students and relevant stakeholders on child rights and child protection, and documentation of best practices including community-based action research.
