Activist Canvas
Minimum Wage Act was passed as a legislation in 1948. And it was said to be meant for the workers. But the tea garden workers of Darjeeling hills-Terai-Dooars and Assam are deprived of it. The workers in the tea gardens of southern India are paid much higher in comparison to their counterparts in West Bengal and Assam. The workers are mostly deprived of the benefits they deserve according to the Plantation Labour Act 1951. The entire region goes on witnessing malnutrition-starvation and rally of death. This has become a common scenario in this tea-belt since last 10-15 years.
But things cannot end in just facing deprivation helplessly. At the end it is people, the struggling people, who write the history, the history of winning their own right. An unprecedented struggle is flaring up now in the tea gardens of hills-terai-dooars. Workers from all strata are gathering in the path of struggle. They are demanding for determination and implementation of minimum wage. They would not settle in anything lesser. How could we keep ourselves apart from that heat? Thus comes this film. Snippets of documentation of this historic struggle of the tea garden workers.
Watch it here or for better view directly from the vimeo link.
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