Land & Labour · Analysis
The Land That Grows the Tea that Belongs to No One Who Picks It.
Darjeeling's small tea farmers grow their leaves on the same slopes as the great colonial estates. They face entirely different laws, rights, and futures.
There are two Darjeeling tea industries. One is well-documented: 87 large estates, British in origin, trading under the world's most famous tea brand, protected by a Geographical Indication tag, regulated by a law passed in 1951.
The other is harder to see.
It consists of thousands of small farmers growing tea on plots of land for which they have no title deed, based on a colonial-era classification, excluded from the very brand their region created.
These small growers are called Small Tea Growers, or STGs. They cultivate tea on land classified as khasmahal, a category of government-owned land that occupants may use but cannot own, sell, or lease.
They grow the same varietal and cultivate at the same altitude. They produce tea that is, by terroir, identifiably Darjeeling.
And they remain, by law, outside the framework that gives Darjeeling tea its commercial value.
This is an aspect of the architecture of a system designed in the nineteenth century that has never been adequately dismantled.
Estates eligible to use the Darjeeling GI tag
Small Tea Growers currently recognized as GI-registered producers
Of India's total tea now produced by small growers nationally, yet the regulatory framework remains estate-centric
“Workers over generations remain landless and landlocked, facing myriad forms of marginalization.”
International Journal for Equity in Health, 2020, on plantation labour in India
Two industries, one hillside
| The 87 Colonial Estates | Small Tea Growers (STGs) |
|---|---|
| Registered under the Plantation Labor Act 1951 | Farm khasmahal land with no formal title or patta rights |
| Hold leases on state land going back to the British colonial administration | Not recognized as GI-registered producers |
| Eligible to use the Darjeeling GI tag | Cannot legally sell tea as “Darjeeling” at premium prices |
| Can sell directly via auction houses and for export | Forced to sell green leaf to estate factories at unregulated prices |
| Benefit from Tea Board licensing and certification infrastructure | Cannot use land as collateral for credit or investment |
| Employ roughly 55,000 workers, mostly on low fixed wages | No access to the Tea Board's certification or export infrastructure |
What parliament needs to do
The suggested changes are clear and doable, without being drastic. They are the minimum necessary to bring Darjeeling's tea industry into the twenty-first century.
Amend the Plantation Labor Act 1951.
Reform the in-kind compensation model so the state funds housing, healthcare, and food, rather than using them to depress cash wages. Workers need wages they can spend freely, not benefits that trap them on the estate. Enforcement mechanisms need teeth: penalties for non-compliance must be meaningful.
Grant land title to khasmahal residents.
Families that have farmed and lived on khasmahal land for generations deserve formal patta rights. Not symbolic mini-plots. Full, transferable title that allows them to borrow, invest, sell, or pass their land to their children. This single change would transform the economic position of thousands of small growers overnight.
Extend GI registration to Small Tea Growers.
The Tea Board's GI framework must be amended to recognise STGs as eligible producers on a par with the registered estates. Small growers farming within the Darjeeling district should be able to use the GI tag and access the premium price it commands. The current exclusion is indefensible.
Regulate green-leaf pricing.
The price estate factories pay for green leaf purchased from small growers needs a transparent, regulated floor. The existing setup, where the buyer determines the price without any oversight, isn't a functioning market; it's just extraction.
Darjeeling tea has a story that the world is willing to pay for. It is a story of altitude, fog, particular soils, and a century and a half of cultivation knowledge.
But it sits on top of another story that is equally real and far less told: of colonial land classifications that survive to this day, of workers whose families have lived on a hillside for four generations and still cannot own it, of small farmers growing the world's most celebrated tea who cannot legally sell it under its own name.
The 87 estates are Goliath. They have the leases, the GI access, the Tea Board infrastructure, the auction houses, and a legal framework designed around their interests. The Small Tea Growers are David.
They have the land under their feet, the knowledge in their hands, and no stone to throw except a parliamentary amendment that successive governments have not yet seen fit to pass.
Research sources: Plantation Labour Act, 1951. Government of India. · Besky, S. (2014). The Darjeeling Distinction. University of California Press. · Rajbangshi, P.R. & Nambiar, D. (2020). “Who will stand up for us?” International Journal for Equity in Health. · World Tea News (2024). Darjeeling Gears Up for Potential Paradigm Shift in Tea Cultivation. · Sikkim Project (2024). Tea Estates to Tea Tourism: Darjeeling’s Changing Landscape. · Next IAS (2022). Crisis of Darjeeling Tea Industry. · Centre for Financial Accountability (2023). The mismatch in land demand vs land policy in West Bengal’s tea gardens.