The tea industry began in India in 1851. Most of the tea gardens were situated in Assam. Since Assam was sparsely populated and the tea plantations were often located on uninhabited hillsides, the 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 required the provision of financial and other incentives which the tea planters were unwilling to offer. Instead they took recourse to fraud coercion and persuaded the government to pass regressive penal laws. Thus the recruitment of labourers for tea gardens of Assam was carried on by contractor under the provisions of transport of Native Labourers Act (No 111) of 1863 of Bengal as amended in 1865, 1870 and 1873.
Read the passage given above and answer the questions:
Which of these reasons is NOT valid for the question given below?
The tea plantations were based on migrant labourers because:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Offered high wages to workers
Option (1) The plantations were based in sparsely populated areas — A valid reason (Incorrect). Assam was sparsely populated, so there were not enough local people to do the work.
Option (2) Offered high wages to workers — Not a valid reason (Correct). The planters were unwilling to offer financial and other incentives. Instead they used fraud and coercion and penal laws, so high wages were never the reason labourers came.
Option (3) Work was labour intensive in nature — A valid reason (Incorrect). The industry needed a very large number of workers; the bulk of this “sorely needed labour” had to be brought from other provinces.
Option (4) Plantation was located in uninhabited hillsides — A valid reason (Incorrect). The gardens were often on uninhabited hillsides, where no workforce lived nearby.
NCERT: Social Change and Development in India — Chapter 1: Structural Change, Box 1.5 (2025-26)
|
