An Exploratory Study on Housing & Land Rights forAn Exploratory Study on Housing and Land Rights for Workers in Closed and Abandoned Tea Gardens, Dooars, West Bengal

[Tea Plantation Workers - Working Paper]

Since 2002, abandonment and lockouts followed by closures of tea estates were marked in the states of West Bengal and Kerala. The impact and burden of such closures and abandonment is highest on the socially disadvantaged section – women, children, and the aged. This study seeks to build up the case for a campaign on housing and land rights for workers in the context of continued closure and abandonment of tea gardens in West Bengal. The study also draws the perceptions/responses of various stakeholders on issues of housing and land rights of the plantation workers. This study was primarily conducted in Kathalguri Tea Estate of North Bengal.