Assam produces more tea than any other single region in the world, around 680 million kilograms a year. Its green estates, lined with neat rows of bushes and shade trees, are one of the most familiar images of the state.
What’s less familiar is how those estates were built. For more than half a century, British planters recruited hundreds of thousands of people from the tribal and rural districts of central and eastern India, transported them hundreds of kilometres to Assam, and bound them to the gardens with contracts that made leaving a criminal offence.
Their descendants, today often called the tea tribes or the tea-garden community, and who often prefer the name Adivasi, now make up a large part of Assam’s population. This is the story of how they came to be there.
How the tea industry began
Tea was growing in Assam long before the British arrived. The Singpho people of upper Assam brewed it from wild plants.
In 1823, a Scottish trader named Robert Bruce learned of this plant. According to historical accounts, the Assamese nobleman Maniram Dewan directed him to the Singpho chief Bessa Gam. Bruce’s brother Charles later sent samples to the botanical gardens in Calcutta, where the plant was identified as a variety of tea, now known as Camellia sinensis var. assamica.
The British East India Company wanted an alternative to buying tea from China. The first batch of Assam tea reached London in 1838 and was auctioned in January 1839. The same year, investors formed the Assam Company, the first commercial tea company in the region. The industry grew rapidly from the 1850s.
The labour problem
Tea cultivation needed a great deal of labour. Land had to be cleared from the forest, nurseries established, bushes pruned and leaves plucked by hand. Planters needed plenty of labourers who would stay on the estates throughout the year.
Recruiting them was a problem, because local people would not work on the planters’ terms. People in Assam had their own land to cultivate, and the wages offered were low. Those who did go to the gardens often left to return to their own land. So the planters looked elsewhere and began recruiting labour from the tribal and rural areas of present-day Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and parts of Andhra Pradesh.
Labour was mainly drawn from Adivasi communities such as the Munda, Santal, Oraon (Kurukh), Gond, Bhumij and Kharia, and from some lower castes. Many of these regions had suffered famines, landlessness and harsh revenue policies.
How workers were recruited
Over the decades, the planters used several recruitment systems.
The arkati (contractor) system. In the early years, recruitment was largely unregulated. Licensed and unlicensed contractors, called arkatis, collected workers for a fee. Historians describe recruitment methods that included advance loans that trapped people in debt, liquor, deception, and even kidnapping.
The sardari system. Planters also sent trusted workers, called sardars, back to their home villages to bring relatives and neighbours. This method was legally recognised in 1870. Because recruits often knew the sardar, it was seen as less abusive, though it still depended on persuasion and promises that weren’t always honest.
The Dhubri system. From the 1880s, many contracts were signed at Dhubri, in Assam, rather than in the workers’ home districts, which allowed recruiters to bypass some regulations. By the late 1880s, more than half of emigrants were recruited this way.
One study cited by historians found that between 1874 and 1881, about 55 per cent of recruits came through garden sardars, 28 per cent through contractors, and 17 per cent as “free” immigrants.
The long journey
The journey to Assam was long and dangerous. Recruits travelled by rail, road and river steamer, often over weeks, through depots where they were held before being sent on.
Disease spread quickly in crowded depots and boats, especially cholera. According to research published in the Senhri Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, between 1863 and 1866, more than 5,500 of about 90,000 labourers died in transit. In 1884, 7,614 immigrant labourers died in the province. In 1889, records attributed 374 deaths to cholera alone, including deaths at Dhubri, on steamers and at landing depots.
Bound by law: the penal contract system
What made Assam’s system particularly harsh was that it was backed by law. Workers signed contracts, often for several years, and breaking them could lead to arrest and punishment.
The key laws were:
| Year | Law | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| 1859 | Workmen’s Breach of Contract Act (Act XIII) | Made breaking a labour contract a criminal offence. Applied to Assam’s gardens from 1864 |
| 1863 | Transport of Native Labourers Act (Act III) | First special tea-garden law: limited indenture to five years, licensed recruiters, set transit rules |
| 1865 | Amendment (Act VI) | Fixed monthly wages and a 54-hour week, but gave planters the right of private arrest of workers who ran away |
| 1870 | Amendment | Legally recognised the sardari system |
| 1882 | Inland Emigration Act (Act I) | Encouraged “free” emigration, leading to the Dhubri system; restored five-year contracts |
| 1889 | Emigrants Health Act | Introduced some medical and sanitary supervision |
| 1901 | Assam Labour and Emigration Act (Act VI) | Promised better health care and minimum wages; historians describe these as largely token |
| 1908 | Act XI | Removed the planters’ power to arrest workers without a warrant; penal clause of the 1859 Act repealed |
| 1915 | Act VII | Abolished the arkati (contractor) system; garden sardars became the only recruiters |
| 1926 | Revocation of Act XIII | The 1859 Act was revoked on 21 April 1926, ending penal indenture in Assam |
| 1932 | Tea Districts Emigrant Labour Act | Replaced the 1901 Act and set up a Controller of Emigrant Labour |
Even a senior colonial official, Charles Elliott, described the 1859 Act as one-sided and unfair in its operation.
The planters’ power of private arrest, in force from 1865 to 1908, meant that a worker who left a garden could be caught and brought back by the planter’s own men. For more than four decades, the line between employment and captivity was very thin.
Life on the gardens
Life on the estates was hard. Workers lived in lines of basic housing within the estate, worked long hours for low wages, and had limited access to health care and education. Disease was common, and mortality was high, especially in the early decades.
Because workers had come from many different regions and language groups, a common language developed on the gardens. Sadri, also called Bagania in Assam, became the main link language among the community, alongside Santali, Kurukh, Mundari, Odia and others.
Resistance
The workers did not simply accept these conditions. Records from the plantation era are full of strikes, desertions and protests.
The best-known of these is the Chargola exodus of 1921. From 2 May 1921, labourers in the Chargola and Longai valleys of the Barak Valley went on strike and left the gardens. By mid-May, around 6,000 to 7,000 labourers had left. The workers said they were answering the call of “Gandhi Maharaj”, inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Thousands of workers moved towards Chandpur (now in Bangladesh), hoping to take steamers home. On 20 May, police and military personnel forcibly drove the workers out of the railway station. Cholera broke out, and a medical officer estimated at least 160 deaths in the second half of May.
The colonial government’s own account, presented to the British Parliament, blamed outside agitation and denied claims of starvation wages. But the exodus became a powerful symbol of resistance and is still remembered by tea workers in both India and Bangladesh.
Members of the community also took part in the wider freedom movement. Among them, Malati Mem, a woman from a tea-garden family, is remembered as one of Assam’s early martyrs of the freedom struggle in 1921.
After Independence
The Plantations Labour Act, 1951, set rules for housing, health care, education and welfare on tea estates across India. It placed legal duties on employers that the colonial system had largely ignored. In November 2025, the Act was folded into the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, one of India’s four new labour codes.
Still, many of the problems that began under colonial rule have continued in some form: low wages, poor housing on some estates, limited education and health outcomes, and dependence on the estate for work and shelter.
The tea community today
Estimates of the community’s size vary. Commonly cited figures put the tea-garden community at about 7 million people, around 20 per cent of Assam’s population. Of these, an estimated 4.5 million live in about 800 tea gardens, and another 2.5 million in nearby villages.
Legal status. In Assam, the tea-garden communities are classed as Other Backward Classes (OBC). The same communities are recognised as Scheduled Tribes (ST) in their states of origin, such as Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. There are demands for ST recognition in Assam. Existing tribal groups have opposed this, and earlier efforts have not succeeded. In November 2025, an Assam Group of Ministers report suggested a new “ST (Valley)” category for six communities, including the tea tribes. The proposal has been sent to the Central Government, and no final decision has been made.
Reservation. In February 2026, the Assam Cabinet approved a 3 per cent reservation for tea tribes and Adivasi communities in Grade I and Grade II state government jobs. They already had reservation in Grade III and Grade IV posts.
Wages. Daily wages remain a central issue. Until March 2026, tea workers earned ₹250 a day in the Brahmaputra Valley and ₹228 in the Barak Valley. An interim increase of ₹30 from 1 April 2026 raised these to ₹280 and ₹258. Worker organisations have long argued that wages remain too low for a decent standard of living.
Peace and development. In 2022, a peace agreement with several Adivasi armed groups in Assam included a promise of an Adivasi Welfare and Development Council and a development package.
Culture. The community has kept much of its heritage alive, including the Jhumur (Jhumair) dance and music, and festivals such as Karam and Sohrai, which are also celebrated in Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
Why this history matters
This history is part of every cup of Assam tea. The industry that made Assam famous around the world depended on the labour of people brought from other regions under coercive contracts.
Knowing this history helps us understand present-day debates in Assam about wages, land rights, education, ST status and politics. It also recognises the role this community has played in Assam for more than 150 years.
Timeline at a glance
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1823 | Robert Bruce learns of the Assam tea plant, used by the Singpho |
| 1839 | First Assam tea auctioned in London (January); Assam Company formed |
| 1859 | Workmen’s Breach of Contract Act |
| 1863 | Transport of Native Labourers Act |
| 1863–1866 | Over 5,500 of about 90,000 recruits die in transit |
| 1865 | Planters get power of private arrest |
| 1870 | Sardari system legalised |
| 1882 | Inland Emigration Act; rise of the Dhubri system |
| 1901 | Assam Labour and Emigration Act |
| 1908 | Private arrest abolished |
| 1915 | Contractor (arkati) system abolished |
| 1921 | Chargola exodus (May) |
| 1926 | Penal indenture ends (21 April) |
| 1932 | Tea Districts Emigrant Labour Act |
| 1951 | Plantations Labour Act |
| 2025 | Plantations Labour Act folded into the new labour codes (November) |
| 2026 | 3% reservation in Grade I and II jobs (February); wages raised by ₹30 (April) |
Conclusion
The British planters could not find enough workers in Assam willing to work on their terms. Through contractors, sardars and penal contracts, they brought hundreds of thousands of Adivasis and villagers from central and eastern India to work in the tea gardens. Thousands died in transit and in their first years on the plantations. Those who survived built one of the world’s great tea industries.
The penal contract system ended in 1926, but many of the issues raised by its history, such as fair wages, dignity, land rights and recognition, are still debated in Assam today. The tea community is no longer a community of migrant labourers. It is an integral part of Assam, and its history is an important part of the state’s history.
References
- Sharma, Ajanta and Singh, Khwairakpam Premjit (2020). Foreign Elements and Orders in Colonial Assam: Tea, Enclosure, Migrant Labour and Labour Legislation. Senhri Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 5(2), 76–82.
- UK Parliament, Hansard (3 and 27 June 1921). Written answers on the Assam tea labourers’ exodus.
- The Assam Tribune (10 March 2026). Tea garden workers in Assam to get Rs 30 interim wage hike from April 1.
- Drishti IAS (23 February 2026). Assam grants 3% reservation to tea tribes and Adivasis.
- Behal, Rana P. and Mohapatra, Prabhu P. (1992). “‘Tea and money versus human life’: The rise and fall of the indenture system in the Assam tea plantations, 1840–1908”. Journal of Peasant Studies.
- Behal, Rana P. (2014). One Hundred Years of Servitude: Political Economy of Tea Plantations in Colonial Assam.
- Sharma, Jayeeta (2011). Empire’s Garden: Assam and the Making of India.