Welfare of Tea Growers

Jul 17,2019

The Government through the Tea Board is implementing Tea Development and Promotion Scheme (TPDS) which provides financial assistance to the tea industry in the country including the tea gardens of West Bengal covering JalpaiguriDistrict for increasing production and productivity of tea, and welfare measures for tea garden workers and their wards.  Tea Board has disbursed Rs.218.28 Crores in last three financial years from 2016-17 to 2018-19 of which the share of West Bengal was Rs.44.50 crores.

As per TPDS, there is no provision of extending loans to tea industry or tea growers.

The tea is mostly blended before it is exported, as such the origin (State/UT-wise) is lost in the process. Hence the data pertaining to the export share of the States and UTs are not maintained by the Tea Board.  However, region wise exports (based on the ports in the region) of tea during 2018-19 is given in the following table:

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Hardeep Singh Puriin a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.