CUET Preparation Today
Why did tea plantations in Assam require labourers to be brought from other provinces during British rule? |
Assam had a shortage of workers as a large number of Assamese people were migrated to Kolkata due to better employment opportunities British planters preferred workers from other provinces due to their specialised tea-growing skills Local people were prohibited from working in tea gardens by colonial laws Tea plantations were located in sparsely populated areas, creating a shortage of local labour |
Tea plantations were located in sparsely populated areas, creating a shortage of local labour |
The correct answer is option 4: Tea plantations were located in sparsely populated areas, creating a shortage of local labour NCERT: Tea industry began in India in 1851. Most of the tea gardens were situated in Assam. In 1903, the industry employed 4,79,000 permanent and 93,000 temporary employees. Since Assam was sparsely populated and the tea plantations were often located on uninhabited hillsides, bulk of the sorely needed labour had to be imported from other provinces. But to bring thousands of people every year from their far-off homes into strange lands, possessing an unhealthy climate and infected with strange fevers, required the provision of financial and other incentives, which the tea-planters of Assam were unwilling to offer. Instead, they had recourse to fraud and coercion; and they persuaded the government to aid and abet them in this unholy task by passing penal laws. …The recruitment of labourers for tea gardens of Assam was carried on for years mostly by contractors under the provisions of the Transport of Native Labourers Act (No. III) of 1863 of Bengal as amended in 1865, 1870 and 1873. |
