The total labour force working in the tea estates is classified into two groups (a) Adult Labour (aged 15 years and above) and (b) Child Labour (aged 5 to 14 years). In this chapter various socio-economic and demographic aspects of adult labour is discussed. This chapter tries to measure the level of awareness of adult workers regarding their children.

In the present survey of tea estates, 971 workers have been interviewed. Among them 46.3 per cent are males and 53.7 per cent are females. Of the total workers, 46.1 per cent were interviewed from public tea estates and the rest 53.9 per cent from private tea estates. The percentage of female workers compared to male is higher in private estates than in the public estates (Table 4.1).

Table 4.1 Distribution of Adult Labour by Status of Tea Estate and Sex

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers.
Source: Field Survey, 1996

Among the total workers interviewed, the Santhals occupy the highest percentage (21.5 - 20.4% male and 22.5% female) followed by Brahmin (16.5 %), Chhetri and Thakuri (13.3 %). The share of Rajbansi and Dhimal in the total population of working families is 5.4 per cent whereas the share of these groups in the labour force is found at only 4.0 per cent (Table 4.2).

Table 4.2 Distribution of Adult Labour by Caste/Ethnicity and Sex

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers
Source: Field Survey, 1996

The labour force working in the tea estates is classified according to various age groups. The highest proportion of workers, both male and female, belong to the age group 25-34 (34.6 % in total, 32.2 % male and 36.7 % female). Up to the age of 34 the proportion of female workers is high compared to male workers and the situation reverses after the age of 34 (Table 4.3). The proportion of workers (both male and female) increases with age up to the age group 25-34 and starts to decline after that.

Table 4.3 Distribution of Sampled Adult Labour by Age and Sex

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers
Source: Field Survey, 1996

The sex ratio of workers is found at 86.4 which is less than the sex ratio of working families (97.1). The sex ratio is only 38.9 in the age group 15-18. It starts to increase as age advances. The sex ratio among the people aged 60 years and above is extremely high (250.0) which has never been experienced in any census and survey (Table 4.3). It is to be noted that females are employed because of their plucking efficiency, but the efficiency declines as age advances. As a result the sex ratio has gone up with advancing age.

There are various types of work such as plucking, digging/ploughing, weeding, watering, nursery work, plantation, cutting etc. Workers are usually involved in all types of work in rotation as prescribed by the owner or the management. They have no specialisation in any work. Only three women workers were not working during the one week prior to the survey. They were on maternity leave. In total 28.9 per cent were involved in plucking and 27.8 per cent in plant cutting. The percentage of workers involved indirectly in tea production such as watchman, supervisor, driver, mechanic, maid etc. is at 13.5. Among the male workers, the highest percentage i.e. 26.9 is involved in plant-cutting followed by watchman 17.1 and plucking 15.8. On the other hand, among the females, 40.3 per cent are involved in plucking, 28.6 per cent in plant cutting and 13.1 per cent in weeding and 1.3% as maid. The percentage of female workers involved in factory work and as Naike or supervisor is very low compared to the male workers (Table 4.4).

Table 4.4 Distribution of Adult Labour by Types of Work (Last week) and Sex

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers
Source: Field Survey, 1996

The literacy rate of the tea workers is found to be lower than the national figure both for male (54.5) and female (25.0) (Table 4.5)

Table 4.5 Distribution of Adult Labour by Literacy Status and Sex

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers
Source: Field Survey, 1996

Looking at literacy by caste/ethnicity, literate Brahmins are 54.4 per cent. Among the Brahmins, 71.1 per cent males and 39.2 per cent females are literate. This rate is high both for male and female compared to other castes/ethnic groups. The literacy rate of Santhals who occupy the highest proportion in the total labour force of the tea estates is very low (13.4 per cent in total). Among the Santhals 21.7 per cent males are literate whereas only 6.8 per cent female are literate. The lowest literacy rate found was among the Yadav, Ahir, Kumhar, Kurmi, Baniya, Halwai, Mushar and Bengali groups (only 4.2 per cent). There is no single literate female in these groups and the Muslim group (Table 4.6).

Literate workers are further divided according to their educational attainment. Among the total literate workers, 32.2 per cent have never been to school, 44.4 per cent have completed primary education, 22.2 per cent have completed secondary education, and only 1.2 per cent workers have passed the S.L.C. examinations and above. It is interesting that no single female worker has passed S.L.C. examination mainly due to early marriage, and gender discrimination in terms of education is apparent in all the above groups (Table 4.7). Therefore, due to this low level of literacy tea workers cannot get better jobs.

Table 4.6 Distribution of Adult Labour by Literacy Status and Ethnicity

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers
Source: Field Survey, 1996

Table 4.7 Distribution of Adult Labour by their Educational Attainment and Sex

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers
Source: Field Survey, 1996

The large proportion of workers (47%) working in the tea estates have been working since the last 10 years or more. Of them 37.4 per cent have completed 4 years but have not completed 10 years of service. Only 6.5 per cent workers have not yet gained one year's experience (Table 4.8).

Table 4.8 Distribution of Adult Labour by their Duration of
Employment and Sex in Tea Estate

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers
Source: Field Survey, 1996

58.4% of the adult workers were born outside the VDC/municipality where they are working at present. The percentage of males born outside the VDC where they are working is higher than that of females. Of the workers 12.2 per cent were born in other countries (mostly in India). Among them, 11.3 per cent males and 12.9 per cent females working in the tea estates were born outside the country (Table 4.9). At present, a number of workers born outside Nepal, are facing citizenship problems though they are Nepalese and working in Nepal. Likewise, even those born in Nepal are also facing the problem of citizenship.

Table 4.9 Distribution of Adult Labour by their Place of Birth and Sex

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers
Source: Field Survey, 1996

66.4 per cent males and 43.8 per cent females among the corresponding groups had found jobs in tea estates themselves. 24.2 per cent males and 46.4 per cent females had been assisted by their parents or guardians in finding the present job and the rest by friends and relatives. There is a remarkable difference in the male - female dependency ratio in terms of acquiring jobs.(Table 4.10).

Table 4.10 Distribution of Workers by Persons who helped them to get the Job

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers
Source: Field Survey, 1996

About 75 per cent have directly joined the present job (68.9 per cent males and 80.2 per cent females) and the remaining 25 per cent have shifted from other jobs like farming, domestic work and others. Most of those who have changed their jobs had been involved in agriculture. See Table 4.11

Table 4.11 Distribution of Worker by Type of Work Before Joining Tea Estate

Note: The total percentage may not add up to 100.0 due to rounding up.
        Figures in parenthesis indicate number of workers
Source: Field Survey, 1996

To analyse the reasons behind the workers' being attracted to the tea estates, the workers were mainly divided into two groups (a) those working in the public tea estates and (b) those working in the private tea estates. They were further classified into male and female, as the reason for being attracted could vary in each estate and especially in these two categories of tea estates.

Out of the total labour force 26.6 per cent (16.6 per cent males and 35.4 per cent females) from the public tea estates and 29.1 per cent (18.4 per cent males and 38.0 per cent females) from the private estates have reported that they were put to their present job by their parents/guardians. Further 26.1 per cent from the public estates and 24.5 per cent from the private estates have reported that they were engaged in this job because it had been easily available. It is interesting to note that 12.1 per cent workers from the public estates and 21.8 per cent from the private estates reported that they had joined the present job because they found it more secure compared to other jobs, though a government job may be more so than private jobs. A few workers (1.6 per cent of the total workers) had sold their land to the tea estate they were working in. (Table 4.12). The survey team encountered two workers in Gorkha tea estate of Ilam who, in spite of their viable financial conditions had sold their land to the estate and joined the plantation work force.

Table 4.12 Causes of Attraction for the Worker
to Present Job by Status of Tea Estate