Addressing the Human Cost of Assam Tea: An agenda for change to respect, protect and fulfil human rights on Assam tea plantations

Over 850 million people in India consume tea daily. Despite this, tea plantation workers are often subject to inadequate working and living conditions with low wages, gender inequality and few employment benefits. This report on tea plantation workers in Assam was published by Oxfam International in October 2019.The 43-page publication discusses the political, economic, and social background of tea cultivation in Assam; the production and consumption of tea in India and globally; living and working conditions of tea plantation workers; women farm workers; an analysis of the tea supply chain; tea workers’ wages; and policy recommendations for the industry.It contains research by the Paris-based Bureau for the Appraisal of Social Impacts for Citizen Information, as well as the results of a survey of 510 workers across 50 Assam tea estates conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Guwahati.