Newspapers have for almost over a year now (2004) been writing about the crisis in the tea industry all over India. Reports in the past few months have especially focused on the plight of tea plantation workers.
As hunger emerged as a major problem they were facing, a study team with the Advisor to the Supreme Court in Writ Petition 196/2001 decided to take a closer look at the situation. The purpose of the present study was therefore to understand whether these reports of hunger and starvation were true. It was specifically aimed at seeing whether the Supreme Court’s interim orders in Writ Petition 196/2001 on the Right to Food and Right to Work are being implemented by the Government to prevent misery to people. The intention was also to understand what was the best intevention in this situation.