A two-cup pot of Darjeeling tea costs Rs 500 at cafes in Kurseong and elsewhere. An eight-hour-long grinding shift at tea gardens earns the workers Rs 230 as daily wage.
Revenue loss from export crops like tea played a big part in Sri Lanka's rapid economic decline. For descendants of Tamil-bonded labourers, life is more difficult now.
Adding up to 17% of Assam’s population and 35% of its electorate, the tea tribes will be critical to the outcomes in about 40 out of 47 constituencies that go to vote Saturday.
There are 30-lakh tea garden workers in Assam, but they continue to be on the margins even though Assam’s Republic Day tableau called them the state’s ‘backbone’.
IAF is firming up plans to revamp airlift capabilities with medium transport aircraft that will be assembled in India & serve as its main workhorse. Embraer is leading contender as of now.
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