Increasing Trend of Unemployed Workers and Their Rehabilitation in Tea Industry of Bangladesh

Bangladesh Tea industry is menaced by the growing number of non-workers in 163 tea gardens stretching over greater Sylhet and Chittagong tea districts. The indentured tea workers brought during British era from various famine-stricken areas of Indian subcontinent alluring better income and living condition now stands at 437619. As tea industry is labor oriented and needs very cheap workers for its sustainability, a ratio of 1:1 has to be maintained at the maximum to deploy workers in an acre. Hence there is no scope to increase number of tea garden workers from existing 122840. Huge non-workers are the sources of various troubles in tea industry. There is only 7000 hectares are left for new plantation. The existing tea plantation comprises about 50% area old and are becoming unproductive. There is no adequate measure to replenish old areas with new planting materials. In absence of development work in the gardens such as infilling, block infilling and replacement replanting in a massive way in old areas huge number of tea gardens workers are rendered jobless. From a total 314779 jobless workers a good number would have been employed had there been development work in tea gardens. A section of unemployed workers might be employed in export processing zones which are created by the government near to the tea gardens.