How a group of lawyers and activists are bringing Assam’s tea labourers closer to justice

That Assam is the largest tea producing region in the world bears little significance to the plantation labourers at Balipada and other areas in the state. They have been working in abject conditions, for a meagre 115 rupees a day, at the behest of avaricious tea companies and the apathy of a state government that has over the years, chosen to treat the grave situation as a mere storm in a teacup..In the background of decades of flagrant human rights violations, the tea garden community, largely comprised of Adivasis, have finally witnessed a silver lining..A collaboration between PAJHRA, an NGO that advocates Adivasi rights in the state, and Nazdeek, a legal empowerment organisation founded by human rights lawyers, has worked to improve living and working conditions of the tea labourers..To truly understand the plight of the labourers, one must turn back the pages of history; it is a history chequered by grievous exploitation, social exclusion, even multiple instances of violence committed against the people of the community..-x-x-x-.Beneath Barnabas Kindo’s calm exterior lurks an all too palpable sense of being wronged. It becomes evident when he talks about the Kokrajhar massacre of 1996, perpetrated by Bodo militants..“More than 8000 Adivasis were killed and over 2 lakh people were rendered homeless. These killings take place frequently. The most recent killings occurred on 23 December, in three districts – Sonitpur, Kokrajhar & Udalguri. .In August, Naga militants were responsible for killings in Golaghat district. Thirteen Adivasis were killed and more than 10,000 were evicted from their homes.”.Almost the majority of the workforce of the tea plantations comprises of Adivasi tribes from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh that were brought to Assam as indentured labourers by British planters more than 120 years ago..Says Kindo,.“Despite the fact that we have been living here for so many years, we are treated as outsiders. Apart from these atrocities, there are sections of people here who want to keep us away from mainstream society.”.His organisation, PAJHRA, founded in 2002, has been fighting to enhance the capacity of the Adivasi community through a rights-based approach..Through years of training at the grassroots level, the workers are more aware of their rights and ways to avail of government schemes like NREGA and PDS. Apart from capacity building, PAJHRA has also endeavoured to promote and preserve the culture of the Adivasi tribes..One of the biggest problems PAJHRA aims to address is the non-existent access to medical care for workers at plantations..“The workers suffer from malnutrition; the rations provided are either inadequate or of inferior quality. The number of doctors and nurses at the health facilities is inadequate. There are no medicines available – the ‘one pill for all ills’ policy was followed. They also fall sick after inhaling pesticide, because they are not provided with any protective gear.”.Still worse was the condition of the women labourers, especially those who were pregnant. Assam has the highest maternal mortality rate in India, and a majority of these maternal deaths occur in these tea plantations. This is one of the areas in which Nazdeek’s intervention has played a critical role..“Nazdeek has helped in a big way in the Maternal Health Programme. Pregnancies and births weren’t registered before, and numerous women were denied access to life-saving medical treatment placing their pregnancies at risk. Now, with Nazdeek’s help, we have partnered with women from the gardens and trained them so that they can keep a track of health rights violations.”.-x-x-x-.The story behind Nazdeek’s formation speaks volumes of the efficacy of litigation as a method of dealing with human rights violations in India..Co-founder Jayshree Satpute, who has litigated human rights cases at the Supreme Court and various High Courts says,.“What I noticed while doing public interest litigation from a rights-based perspective was that while the issues of the clients were strong, the clients were often unaware of their rights & entitlements and the documents they brought to substantiate their claims were weak..And even if you manage to argue really well for years and years on the limited evidence you have, and you get a favourable decision from the court, you will find that the decision is not being implemented. This is because the client who came to you is often times not provided the tools and resources to monitor the decision and ensure implementation..They lacked access to a community of activists and lawyers to support them through the litigation process and beyond. In the end, the glory of winning a case didn’t mean anything..Most human rights litigation is not representative, because it doesn’t flow from bottom-up; it’s always top-down. Therefore, the value of the decision becomes nothing.”.In the end, the glory of winning a case didn’t mean anything. Most human rights litigation is not representative, because it doesn’t flow from bottom-up; it’s always top-down. Therefore, the value of the decision becomes nothing..She subsequently met fellow lawyers and activists with similar reservations about the litigation approach and a desire to bridge gaps in accessing justice..“Why not go to an organisation that wants to build the legal capacity of the affected community so that they can identify rights violations, they are equipped to file complaints, follow up with local authorities, and build up a case? If the issue goes to court, the case will be well-documented. That way, if we get a good decision, they will be in a position to get it implemented.”.As is evidenced by their work in Assam, the change in approach seems to have worked wonders. Nazdeek was instrumental in empowering the All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam (AASAA) to demand for minimum wage of the plantation labourers..“We began engaging with AASAA and gave them training on the right to minimum wage, what is guaranteed to workers under the law, and how to strengthen AASAA’s demands for higher wages through the power of the legal language..As a result of the campaign, the bipartite body agreed on 137 rupees, a significant increase from 94 rupees. After that, we kept building the pressure, and now the Assam state government has issued a draft notification inviting objections to raise the wage to 177 rupees.”.So why has it taken so long to enforce such a basic statutory requirement? Perhaps a symptom of the callous disregard for the Adivasi community as a whole, the finger can pointed at the bipartite body which decides the workers’ pay..Kindo says,.“Unfortunately, the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha is not worker’s representative; it is pro-industry. So every three years, the wage is increased by only two or three rupees.”.And it is an industry that has been getting away scot-free for eons. One of the biggest players, TATA Tea, even had the audacity of applying to the World Bank for a loan to supposedly make their plantation workers shareholders in the company..Unsurprisingly, serious violations of the terms of the loan exist, and PAJHRA, along with two other organisations filed a complaint to the Ombudsman with the support of Nazdeek and Accountability Counsel. Since the filing of the complaint in 2013, the World Bank has undertaken three visits by the Compliance Officer, who will submit a report in December..-x-x-x-.The conversation moves on to the unavailability of local lawyers to do pro bono work..“Lawyers expressed concern on the time and financial resources that would be required to engage in pro bono work, and the limitations of taking up human rights cases at the district level..The pro bono culture is really not there in India, except in legal aid cells, which don’t offer the best representation.”.So what has been done to make up for this dire need of pro bono lawyers at the local level? The answer came in the form of a clinical legal education programme at Tezpur Law College. And the students have responded enthusiastically..“We choose twenty students from the fifth semester. We brought in faculty from University of Chicago and Berne University to engage with the students on human rights the importance of social justice lawyering. .Sessions ranged from the theoretical to the practical, with students conducting fact-finding investigations and drafting complaints against local authorities on health, food and labour violations. Two exceptional students were given scholarships to come to Delhi and draft a writ petition in the High Court, based on their fact finding.”.This is something Nazdeek intends to replicate in other law schools. Says Jayshree,.“I visited a couple of Legal Aid Cells in various law schools, but found that they were defunct in spite of several efforts to revamp them. It’s time we look at these failures more closely and become more committed to offer better legal aid cells..If a handful of lawyers can manage to do it successfully, why can’t a university do it? There needs to be as much exposure to pro bono and human rights litigation as there is for corporate litigation. Students aren’t given the opportunity to choose.”.Things have changed rather quickly for plantation labourers in Assam since Nazdeek’s intervention in January 2013. Satpute puts it down to the power of the law..“Things have happened pretty fast; if you look at the larger context – more than 150 years of servitude and slavery – three years is nothing. This is because we were able to introduce legal and rights-based language into the protests, which have been happening for decades.”.On being asked why a law graduate would take up human rights lawyering, Satpute admits that though it is difficult decision to make, it can also be the most satisfying one.