Editorial Board

A Refereed Monthly International Journal of Management

Nature of Labour Welfare Laws in India with special reference to Tea industry of Assam

Author

Ms Onam Jindal Research Scholar Department of Business Administration Assam University Silchar-788011 Assam, India Email: jindal.onam@gmail.com

Dr Ranjit Singh Associate Professor Department of Management Studies Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad-211012 Uttar Pradesh, India Email: ranjitsingh@iiita.ac.in

Mr Bhartrihari Pandiya Research Scholar Department of Management Studies Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad-211012 Uttar Pradesh, India Email: rs178@iiita.ac.in

Mr Chandrakant Upadhyaya Research Scholar Department of Management Studies Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad-211012 Uttar Pradesh, India Email: rsm2018504@iiita.ac.in

Abstract

The labour laws is a reflection of the welfare state concept which was introduced to oversee the wellbeing and security of the employees and citizens overall. The mandatory ethics in the business of tea industry is overseen by the labour laws. Tea industry is the most important industry in the state of Assam and it is labour intensive. An attempt has been made to study the existing labour relation practices in the Tea industry of Assam. The secondary data and judgement have been drawn from various sources for understanding the status of the laws in the state. A comprehensive and systematic literature review was done to know the status of the important parameters of labour relation such as working conditions, personal policies and practices, wages and salaries, union activities, participative schemes, grievance redressal system etc. The literature points out that the tea industry of Assam has long been neglecting the human aspect of the organizations and not following the welfare schemes to an extent. The identification of the problem areas helps in action formulation and suitable recommendations for improvement of labour relations in tea estates of Assam.The findings will also help in the decision making for the policy builders.

Keyword: Decision making, business ethics, policies and practices, welfare benefits, labour laws, Tea Industry in India

1.Introduction

Tea is the cash crop in the state of Assam. It also has a cultural thread which connects the country. Speaking of volume, India is the largest producer and also the largest consumer of tea in the whole world. India produces around 27% of the world’s total tea production which is 13% of the world trade in this commodity. The bulk of tea production which is around 75-80 % comes from Assam and West Bengal. But, due to the sluggish growth of tea production and gradual decline in domestic consumption, India’s long dominance in the world market is taking a toll (Mitra, 1991). The impact is also visible in the world market scenario as the share of India has decreased drastically in spite of the expanding world market. The decreasing price of tea in both domestic and global arena is adding to the constant threat. This is also evident in Figure 1 as it shows the slow growth of tea as a beverage in spite of world growth. The graph depicts the stagnant condition of the tea industry in India for the last 5 years. The grave problem is due to the labour problems and change in climatic conditions to name a few. Elyse Petersen, CEO of Tealet- an online network of tea growers, retailers and wholesale buyers says that “An ethical tea company shouldn’t keep all their ethics behind a label, instead, they should be sharing as much information as possible. A business owner that puts in the hard work to find ethical sources of tea will be proud to share every detail about the tea’s origin.”

1.1. Industrial relation regarding labour law

The business has its own laws but to protect the human resource some laws are required. The business laws ensure that there is an ethical business proceeding. Labour welfare focuses on refining the standard of living, security, knowledge advancement, affectivity among employees, in addition to the minute set requisites (Deodhar, 2007). The biggest social issue that is troubling the sustainability in the tea industry is that of labor. The effort of tea production from the origin is quite labour intensive and exhausting. The tea tribe community which has traditionally done this labor work are in a very harsh conditions in some tea gardens. The labour in the tea market is not taken care of properly in many tea gardens and they lack the ethical values which should be mandatory. Labour welfare should be provided in each tea garden. The term labour welfare is a very wide term. It includes in itself a very broad range of amenities pertaining to the areas of economics, morality, ethics, legal, education, medical amenities, etc. As the global economy is getting more integrated, more components are included in this definition thus making the term labour welfare a very comprehensive and dynamic one. Though the facilities offered may vary, the basic aim of the definition is to safeguard the interests of the employees and to provide them with basic facilities as per the terms of employment.” The trend of labour law is going down as it is evident from the Figure 1.2. It portrays the condition of labour law for the past 5 years in India.

Welfare, a progressive tool, was once well approved in 1931 (Gani, 1991). Essential aspects of labour welfare could also be discovered as the endeavor, which is generally undertaken inside the boundary or neighborhood of the commercial unit for the benefit and wellness of the labourers and their household (Mariappan, 2011). According to the Oxford Dictionary Labour Welfare can be defined as "efforts to make worth living for workers." Labour welfare has a direct relation with growth. It helps boost the rate of national economic growth. It helps in improving the workers standard of living by providing access to essential amenities and prevention of labour oppression. It leads to favourable industrial between the employers and the labour unions thus assisting in resolving industrial disputes. In India, the labour welfare schemes originated only after slavery was officially abolished in 1833. This led to the British importing Indian labour to support their manpower demands. This eventually led to the enactment of certain legislations protecting the interests of the labour community (Hasan, 1972). In view of this, the Apprentices Act was implemented in 1850 with the sole motive to inculcate in the poor and needy children and orphans the art to learn craftmenship thereby providing them means of sustenance. Other important acts that followed included the Fatal Accidents Act, 1853 wherein compensation was provided to the grieved families who lost their sole family provider in the event of “actionable wrong”. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1859 was enacted with its main focus on the creation of employment and not on labour welfare. International Labour Tribunal was the result of the First World War as well as the Second World War. Importance of labour welfare was acknowledged globally then. The Government of India amended the Factories Act. The effects of the Second World War saw the necessity of reforms needed in labour welfare as a result of India’s increased production in all the sectors and thus several reforms uplifting the welfare conditions of the labourers were implemented (Joseph, 2009). The post-Independence era after 1947 saw the Government of India devise strategies to boost the growth of the industrial sector. They acknowledge the direct correlation between labour welfare initiatives and the corresponding positive industrial growth trajectory. This led to further labour reforms and the amendment of the Factories Act, 1948 and the enactment of the Annual Five Year Action Plans that contained provisions pertaining to labour welfare (Planning Commission Report, 2010).Each five years plans have been focusing on the aspect of the welfare of labours as well. There have been several acts and schemes launched in India for labour welfare. Some of them are general in nature and some are specific to certain industry such as mining industries, plantations industries, tea industries, construction industries etc. In this paper, the labour welfare schemes applicable to tea industry with special reference to Assam are dealt with. The Tea industry in the Indian state of Assam dates back to roughly 170 years. It plays a very important role in the economy of the state and also of the nation as a whole. The tea industry in Assam is a huge employer as it provides an average daily employment to more than half a million individuals in the state. The total cultivable area under tea in Assam accounts for more than half of the total area under tea in the country. Assam produces more than 50% of the tea production in the country. Irrespective of the pros associated with tea production in Assam, there are numerous problems that have plagued the growth of it. Most of it is associated with poor welfare schemes such as inadequate housing, poor pay, poor infrastructure and limited social mobility. A number of tea gardens have been shut down due to other factors such as lack of storage, unfavorable climatic behaviors, pest issues and the market forces of pricing and demand and supply of tea. The tea labourers employed in the tea plantations of Assam are believed to be amongst the most backward and exploited working class labour group. Instances of a rift between the workers and management are common and the workers are not provided even the basic amenities to work in the tea gardens.

1.2. Objective of the study

The objective of the present paper is to study in detail about the nature of various labour welfare schemes as available to the labourers of tea estates in India with special reference to Assam under various acts.

2. Research Methodology

The process of literature review and the methodology adopted have been discussed in this section. A thorough and comprehensive literature review was undertaken in the area of employer branding. The systematic and comprehensive literature review is based on the procedures given by (Dubey et al. 2017) and (Tranfield et al. 2003). The databases searched for literature review in this study are Web of Science, Science Direct and Emerald Insight. These databases are considered to be the best quality and quantity wise for academic journals and conference proceedings. Keywords such as “Tea Industry” and “Welfare Benefits” were used to fetch the results. The search for the keywords was done independently on Web of Science and other databases using ‘and’ operator in the three reputed databases. The search syntax is shown in Table 1. The first stage search resulted in 781 journal articles when searched with the keywords “Tea Industry” and “Labour laws” along with “industrial relation” and “welfare benefits” in Taylor and Francis database on (August 23, 20180). In the Science Direct database, the result obtained was 423 with the keywords “decision making” and “participative structures” and “working conditions” and “tea industry” in India”. The same search was conducted in the huge database of Emerald Insight which yielded above 1000 responses. So, a second level search was initiated by adding keywords “working conditions” and “tea industry” and “labour laws” and finally 432 responses were yielded. Then, non duplicate citations were screened in “Mendeley” reference manager for all the databases combined. This resulted in 297 non duplicate citations. The next step was to apply inclusion/exclusion criteria as at this point of the evaluation. The initial inclusion criterion was that the articles must be totally written in English language, and the keywords searched must be present in the title, subtitles and abstract of the articles and thus 78 were excluded. The studies must examine welfare benefits in the tea industry irrespective of any region in their theoretical or empirical studies. This led to the exclusion of meta-analyses, unpublished research comments, dissertations, master’s theses and language publications not in English language along with studies that are not evaluating the above discussed issues. These articles have been reviewed to understand the work done in these areas. The research papers from all geographies were also studies to understand the dimensions in that industry. The results can be copied in their respective databases and crosses checked to provide the results, but as these databases are dynamic and actively updated, the results may vary in the number of documents (Gupta, Altay & Lou, 2017). So, these research papers were studied for identification of the welfare benefits which are provided in the tea industry and to what extent the laws are followed.

The present study in descriptive in nature.The study relies on secondary sources of data which are collected from various journals, articles, newspapers, periodicals, reports, websites, Indian Constitutions, statutes, five year plans, etc. in this study, various provisions of labour welfare from Indian constitution, various judicial pronouncements of hon’ble Supreme Court of India, several notifications of Central government, several provisions created in the different five years plans are taken into consideration. Moreover, various acts enacted by the parliament of India and state legislature were also consulted and analyzed to ascertain the nature of labour welfare schemes in India.

3. Labour Rights under Indian Constitution

The Indian constitution through various articles focuses on the effective implementation and functioning of various labour statutes. The importance of labour self-respect and the protection of the interest of workers are preserved in Chapter III and Chapter IV of the Indian Constitution. This is in alignment with the Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy of the constitution. Welfare, among the labourers, is an important constituent in the Indian Constitution. It states that both the Union and the State Governments are competent to frame legislations on the matters pertaining to labour welfare and its administration. There are various labour rights given to the workers through the Indian Constitution. Directly and indirectly, various articles protect labour rights; for example, Article 14 of the constitution of India protects labour rights by having right to equality. In the case of Randhir Singh vs. Union of India, the Hon’ble Supreme Court held that it is the goal of the constitution to ensure equality before law and therefore, the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’, thought not expressly declared by our constitution as a fundamental right, was declared as one of the fundamental right as given under Article 14, 16 and 39(c). Thus, if there is any unequal scale of pay based on irrational classification, this right is enforceable. Articles 21, 23, 24, 38, 39, 39-A, 41, 42, 43, 43-A and 47 of Indian Constitution provides an idea of the various conditions under which a labourer can be put for work. It is the duty of the government at both central level and state level to work towards labour welfare in congruence with the political and economic circumstances of the nation. In the Directive principles of state policy, it is given that it is the duty of the State to encourage social welfare. It emphasizes upon securing all types of justice, i.e., social, economic and political and it should include all types of institutions. It focuses on providing security with respect to right to work, public assistance and education. It also provides for healthy and humane conditions of workspace and for maternity relief. It goes on for protection by appropriate legislation or economic actions to all the human resources living wage, conditions of work which ensures a decent standard of life. The directive principles of state policy give special importance to the promotion of cottage industries on an individual or cooperative basis in rural areas along with raising public health, standard of living and nutrition. The Indian Constitution in Article 23 and 24 prohibits human trafficking and begging and other types of forced labour. It permits the employment of only those children who are of 14 years and above in factories and hazardous employment respectively. The Indian Constitution in Article 39 place an imposition on the state to ensure adequate health provisions for labourers and to see that the tender age of the children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength. The articles, though not directly but indirectly, protects the rights of a labourer. However, it is required to be implemented practically and the actions must be sought in case of avoidance of the principles.

4. Labour Welfare Policies and Five-Year Plans

The basic three requirements for a living are food, clothing and shelter. Granting of housing facility, support for the Bhoodan movement, labour cooperatives, minimum wages, etc. were put forward in the first plan for the welfare of agricultural workers (Report of the Second National Commission on Labour, Vol. 1 ( Part 1), 2002). The second plan focused on the socialist pattern of society. Industrial housing was given due importance in the second plan. The Third Five Year Plan’s main emphasis was to increase the effectiveness of workers at work. As a part of the reoriented policy, cooperative activity was identified as a labour welfare measures. The Fourth Five-Year Plan has given due emphasis to the training of craftsmen, employment services and labour welfare(Report of the Second National Commission on Labour, Vol. 1 ( Part 1), 2002). The Sixth Plan focused on the implications of various rules and policy for the labours welfare and the worker in the organized sector. Seventh plan stressed upon the wage policy and the unorganized labour in all sectors. The Eighth Plan also concentrated towards a better life in the unorganised sector. It focused on the quantitative as well as qualitative development of the status of labour (Report of the Second National Commission on Labour, Vol.1 (Part 1)). The Ninth plan aimed towards creating employment among the people of agricultural and rural areas, which would reduce poverty, empowering women and disadvantaged groups, and educating children(Planning Commission, 1997). The Tenth plan continued with the approach of poverty reduction, providing employment and education of children. Gender gaps and reduction in wage rate was also taken care in this plan and it was expected to reduce inequalities (The Times of India, 2002). Reduction of gender inequality, environment sustainability, higher education for the age group of 18-23 years, poverty reduction, clean drinking water and increase in agricultural growth was the main motive of the Eleventh five-year plan (Etienne, 2009). The last plan that is the Twelfth plan aimed to achieve “faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth”. This plan laid emphasis for taking care of the unorganised sector (Report of the Second National Commission on Labour, Vol.1 (Part 1)).

5. Labour Welfare by Government

For the welfare of the workers, the Government of India accumulates funds. These funds are used toward medical, housing and drinking water facilities and more. Welfare Organization under the Ministry of Labour directly looks into most of the activities whereas state government takes care of the credits and aids. The Central Government is also keen on the social security of employees. In order to encourage welfare among the working class Central Government has taken up measure such as developing provident funds, Employees' State Insurance Scheme, pension and gratuity under various industrial housing schemes and laws (Tyagi, 2004). In nearly all the States and Union Territories in India, Welfare Centers have been established to promote welfare activities for the workers and in a number of States, welfare funds have been constituted under the Acts. In these centers, facilities are provided for games, recreation library, etc. The Governments at the Centre and in various States have taken an active part in labour welfare activities. However, much remains to be desired. The number of welfare centers in every State is too small, in relation to the vast size of countryand the number of workers. More activities are also desired in the field of education and in child and maternity welfare centers. Medical facilities can be left to the Employees' State Insurance Corporation and Welfare Centers can expand other activities. One great defect in running these welfare centers is that workers have little share in the management hierarchy and this is one of the important causes that these centers have not achieved great popularity and success. The importance and utility of such welfare centers are undoubtedly very great, because, in a country where the workers are still unable to look after their own interest, Government provides some welfare activities and also undertakes legislation to force the employers to undertake such activities (Saxena, 2005).

6. Labour Welfare Work by Municipalities

There are certain municipalities taking care of the welfare of workers. The Bombay Municipal Corporation has set up a Special Welfare Department through which it organizes 15 welfare centers (Tyagi, 2004).The Madras Municipal Corporation has set-up centers for adult education through night schools, crèche facility and canteen facility in the company’s workshop. A nursery school is conducted where poor children get free mid-day meals in addition to milk. Co-operative Credit Societies are also run by the Madras Municipal Corporation.The Municipal Corporation of Calcutta has also provided somewhat similar facilities to the workers. The municipalities of Ajmer, Delhi and Kanpur have also made provisions of welfare facilities of the workers. All municipalities and corporations provide provident fund benefits. Many have made provision for retirement of gratuities as well (Tyagi,2004).

7. Welfare Work by Employers

Dr. B.R. Seth observed that “The vast majority of industrialist in India still regard welfare work as a barren liability rather than a, wise investment”.In the beginning of 20th century, people were unreceptive to implement services for the employees, only a few came forward with the decision to inculcate these services. In 1915, medical services were initiated by appointing doctors and nurses by the Calico Mills in Ahmadabad.The industrial health department, Bombay, was actually a medical unit started by the TATAs in one of their mill in the year 1918. Further in 1920, housing and few others was begun by LalaShri Ram of Delhi Cloth Mills, Delhi. The British India Corporation in Kanpur, Tata Steel Company in Jamshedpur , the Binny Mills in Madras, Empress Mills in Nagpur and Birla Mills in Delhi had introduced Labour Welfare Programs which was mentioned in the Report of Royal Commission on Labour in India in 1931 (Seth, 1942). The various studies conducted in this field indicate that there has been growing realization on the part of the utility of welfare work. Welfare work, at present, is not left onto the hands of the employer for employee’s welfare. It is the legislation because of which the welfare activities are actually taking place. Already, canteens, crèches, rest shelters, pit-head baths in mines, etc., have been made mandatory under statutory obligations. The Government at the Central and State level is actively entering the field of labour welfare by providing welfare centers in industrial areas. Even so, there is still scope for individual employers, or their associations, for providing amenities and services for workers' welfare. Many enlightened employers, on their own initiative, have been doing their bit in the direction of workers' welfare, in different industries. It has been noticed that the voluntary welfare work undertaken by employers, in many cases, has been done grudgingly and in a patronizing spirit. There has been very little real spirit of service, and things have usually come from them in ill-grace. Many workers look on the welfare work undertaken by the employers with suspicion. The fear has been expressed that unless the workers are on their guard, "welfare" may be substituted in effect for part of the wages. Such vindictive use of welfare activities must necessarily have unfortunate consequences in the long run (Saxena, 2005).

8. Labour Welfare Legislations

There are several labour welfare legislations passed by the parliament of India as well as various state legislatures. Some of them are such as the Factories Act, 1948; the Minimum Wages Act, 1948; The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976; the Payment of Wages Act, 1936; the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947; the Workmen Compensation Act, 1923; the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972; etc. and many more. Four points have been focused of various acts. The natures of these acts are given under the following paragraphs:

i. Applicability of the Act

All the acts are applicable to whole of India except the Plantation Labour Act, 1951; The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961; The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, which excludes the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Article 370 of the constitution gives Jammu and Kashmir the right to enjoy different status then the rest of India. Therefore, various acts enacted before implementation of the Constitution of India are applicable to whole of India such asthe Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923; the Factories Act, 1948; the Payment of Wages Act, 1936. The Bonus Act, 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 were enacted after the implementation of constitution but still is applicable in the state of Jammu and Kashmir with the due consent of the state government. Thus, it is evident that being located in the state of Assam, the labour welfare schemes under the different acts are also applicable to tea industry in Assam.

ii. Focuses on organized or unorganized sector

The works under factories are usually quiet organized as the raw work is already performed so it only focuses on the organized sector whereas the rest on the acts considers both organized and unorganized sector. Tea estates in Assam are under organized sector and unorganized sector both and hence it is clear that all the labour welfare schemes under different acts are applicable to the tea gardens and factories and all of them other than factories act are also applicable to the unorganized tea gardens and factories. Since Factories Act is not applicable to unorganized sector, welfare provisions under Factories Act, 1948 are not implemented by the owners and cases of labour exploitation is often reported from these tea gardens.

iii. Relief obtained from the Acts

3

Some of the acts benefit labour every now and then whereas some provide very limited benefit. Retirement benefit, gratuity benefit, maternity benefit are occasionally like in case of retirement, gratuity is like a gift given to employee on leaving only if he has served for continuous five years and maternity benefit is when a women to expecting to give birth to a child. These provisions are equally applicable to tea estates as well.

iv. Regular or Contract and Adhoc Workers

Contract and adhoc labours are treated differently in some of the acts such as Factories act, 1048, Equal remuneration act, 1976, Payment of Gratuity act, 1972 etc whereas in other acts all kinds of labourers are treated similarly. These acts and schemes are applicable to tea industry as well. There are certain schemes and acts specifically designed for the labour welfare of tea industry especially in the state of Assam which is given in following paragraph

9. Welfare Bodies Related to Assam

A. Tea Board of India

For the upliftment and continuing development and growth of tea industry Central Tea Board Act, 1949 was enforced. The Tea Act 1953 had replaced both the act i.e. Indian Tea Control Act, 1938 and the Central Tea Board Act, 1949. Thus the new act got its power from1st April, 1954. Objectives of Tea Board are listed below:
i.	Tea is the main concern thus its manufacturing and promotion should be given due importance. Employees need to share a decent bond, have good knowledge and aims that enough research and development is done when it comes to assembly and advertisement of tea; 
ii.	The Tea board has the power to look into the matters related the fabrication of tea leaves, publicizing about tea, import and export of tea; value to be fixed for the tea; and the contracts to be taken or not by planters and manufactures;
iii.	The settlement of the clashes in relation to tea industry;
iv.	Expanding of activities related to agriculture.

B. The Directorate for Welfare of Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, Assam

The workers in the tea gardens of Assam come all the way from West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The Government regards them as Other Backward Classes (OBC). There is a minimum of thousand tea gardens in Assam; productivity of tea contributes to the economy of India. Thus, the tea and ex tea garden tribe constitutes large population in the State with low literacy rate. The Directorate for Welfare of Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, Assam is doing the following activities: 
i.	Socio-economic progress;
ii.	Employment of tea tribes;
iii.	Providing education at stages like the primary stage and the secondary stage and also higher stage and further. 
iv.	Makes sure that development departments are delivering necessary features for a living.
v.	Monitoring development works at those zones occupied by the tea and ex-tea tribes. 
vi.	Educating women about the formation of women Self Help Groups;
vii.	Providing Eco-friendly working environment;
viii.	Ensuring a perfect channel between Government departments and other various organizations that will help to solve the matters of the tea garden tribes at the earliest.

10. Judicial Response towards Various Labour Acts

It is established fact that Judiciary is the third organ of the Government in any democracy, ensuring the basic rights of the people. It aims to provide justice to the labours. The Supreme Court in protecting poor and the weakest of the weak, unorganized labour is very appreciating. Justice, labour welfare, minimum wages, freedom from bondage and dignity, social security, health and children are the issues incorporated. The following are some of the judicial pronouncements of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in respect of labour welfare:

Thus, it is evident that Hon’ble Supreme court of India, from time to time, has enforced the various labour welfare schemes and laws. It is protecting the various rights given under several provisions of the constitution of India and the same rights given to the workers is defined and re-defined by the court from time to time.

11. Conclusion

The primary objective is to understand in detail the nature of distinct acts and schemes concerning the labour welfare in India with a special reference to tea industry of Assam, India. All welfare measures aim to furnish a greater lifestyle and dealing with conditions pertaining to labourers negative working stipulations influencing labour in a pathetic situation. The more than a few acts and schemes goals to dispose of gender discrimination and paying equal remuneration for the work performed for what they deserve. Economic assistance, educational help and training are supplied to motivate the wards of the workers. Labourers get compensated for what they deserve and wages are paid for what they do. Directly or indirectly all acts and schemes propose toward the welfare of labours' and providing them a greater society to live. Article 370 of the constitution gives Jammu and Kashmir the right to enjoy different status then the rest of India. Therefore, various acts enacted before implementation of the Constitution of India are applicable to whole of India whereas the acts after the implementation of Constitution are not applicable in the state of Jammu and Kashmir without the due consent of the state government. The labour welfare has been aimed toward increasing productivity and affectivity of staff as a satisfied labour will be more punctual and dedicated (Schultz, George, & Coleman, 2003). Labour is a subject, taken care by government both by the state and central level, in the Indian Constitution. Uniformity in payment for same kind of work is the goal of the constitution but is not the fundamental right because of unequal scales of pay based on irrational classification. The constitution does not allow child labour, forced labour and trafficking of human being. Five year plans also aims towards better life of the labours by fulfilling their day-to-day needs. No discrimination must be made in that for the same work same wage is to be paid. All the acts are framed in such a way that it leads to the well-being and upliftment of the labourers. The idea and observation on Labour welfare is very energetic, lively and strong (Ali, 2002). Labour welfare is inquisitive and time bound with numerous advantages and facilities given to the labourers through organizational aid (Sivarethinamohan, 2005). Labour welfare focuses on refining the standard of living, security, knowledge advancement, affectivity among employees, in addition to the minute set requisites (Deodhar, 2007). In India, the mechanism of offering welfare tactics to labourers incorporates statutory and voluntary measures (Panekar & Deodhar, 1999). The statutory framework and collective agreements between events prescribe the minimum ambitions to be accomplished for welfare measures and routine (Bhatacharya, 2003).It is, therefore, strongly observed that all employers of tea plantation industry of the state should implement all the above-mentioned Welfare and Social Security Schemes in full. However it has been observed from field study that certain measures of Welfare Schemes has been undertaken by employers even though it can be said that there is sufficient scope to enhance and augment the Welfare Schemes in tea gardens for the greater interest of employers as well as workers. As all these schemes are welfare oriented to the toiling masses, which has got direct relation to maintain and increase the efficiency of workers.

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