Budget: Leading tea body welcomes scheme for welfare of tea workers

Guwahati, July 23 – The Tea Association of India (TAI), the largest tea industry body in India, on Tuesday welcomed the scheme “Pradhan Mantri Cha Shramik Protsahan Yojana” (PMCSPY)”, announced in the Central budget 2024-25 devised for the welfare of tea workers especially women and their children in tea growing areas including Assam and West Bengal.

TAI Secretary General P.K. Bhattacharjee said that as proposed earlier in the Budget Speech of 2021-22, Rs 1,000 crores would be provided for the PMCSPY and is aimed at making need-based interventions in tea garden areas for interalia strengthening provisions of education and health services to the tea workers.

The scheme would be implemented in 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal.

Bhattacharjee said that under “Productivity and Resilience Agriculture” proposals for agriculture resilience, release of new climate resilience verities and digital public infrastructure are proposed, which will surely boost the rural economy of the country.

The government has particularly emphasised on the “Employment and Skilling”.

Bhattacharjee said that different skilling programmes along with schemes for skilling loans with guarantees from government-promoted funds and educational loans would help create an efficient workforce in the future.

The tea industry will also benefit from the same, he pointed out.

The TAI Secretary General said that the development of digital and banking infrastructure in the tea-growing regions has been a constant demand of the Tea industry for several years and that the announcement of “bank branches in the northeastern region” is a positive step towards this direction.

Saying that the announcement of the continuation of PMAY and PMGSY would surely benefit the rural population including the tea garden population, he on behalf of the TAI welcomed the proactive step of the government in addressing the “Economic Policy Framework” by proposing to initiate and incentivize reforms for (1) improving productivity of factors of production, and (2) facilitating markets and sectors to become more efficient.

These reforms would cover all factors of production, namely land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship, and technology as an enabler of improving total factor productivity and bridging inequality.