In Assam, Humid Heat is Pushing Tea Workers to the Brink

This article was originally published in 101 Reporter under Creative Common license. Read the original article.

Jorhat, Assam: Shanti Lagun (56) has been picking tea leaves for 15 years, but on a scorching day in June 2025, she fainted for the first time while working at the Sotai tea estate, around 18 km from Assam’s Jorhat city.

“In the last two or three years, the heat and humidity have become unbearable,” she told 101Reporters. “Workers now routinely suffer from health problems like high blood pressure, nausea and digestive issues.”

Mira Rajwari, the sardani (supervisor) at Teok tea estate in Jorhat district, said that one day in the first week of July, six women fainted because of the extreme heat.

At Bahipukhuri tea estate in Udalguri district too, cases of women collapsing during work hours, along with rising instances of hypertension, have increased over the last few years, according to Nirupoma Saharia, an Auxiliary Nursing Midwife who serves as a first responder for tea workers in the area.

What may initially appear to be routine illnesses linked to strenuous outdoor labour are increasingly becoming chronic health concerns aggravated by prolonged exposure to extreme heat.

Lagun said that even after returning home from work during the peak summer months between May and August, her blood pressure often remains dangerously high.

“Even after resting for one or two hours, my blood pressure stays at 170 or 180,” she said.

Humid heat

Unlike northwestern India, where heat is largely dry, the Northeast experiences a long monsoon season stretching from May to September, bringing intense humidity along with rising temperatures.

“The air contains nearly 70% moisture. So when the outside temperature is 37 or 38 degrees Celsius, it feels more like 45 degrees,” said Bhupendranath Goswami, former director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune.

“In Assam, we are dealing with humid heat stress, which acts like a silent killer,” he said, describing the situation as a growing public health emergency.

According to Goswami, the number of days marked by extreme heat and humidity in the Northeast has risen sharply over the past few decades.

“Earlier, such conditions lasted for around 20 days a year. Since 2020, it has increased to nearly 100 days annually,” he said.

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Heat spells have also become longer and more intense.

“Earlier, a hot spell would continue for five to seven days. Now it remains unbroken for 15 to 20 days, sometimes even a month,” he added.

He explained that while temperatures remain relatively stable during rainfall, humidity and heat rise sharply once the rains stop. He added that this pattern is now occurring more frequently, alongside rising night-time temperatures.

The impact is already visible in Assam. Between January 1 and September 30, 2025, the state recorded 113 extreme weather days that claimed 47 lives, according to Climate India 2025: An Assessment of Extreme Weather Events, a report released by the Centre for Science and Environment. July recorded the highest number of extreme weather days, followed by August and June.

Women bear the brunt of rising heat

Tea garden workers are particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures in Assam, as their work hours largely coincide with the hottest parts of the day. For women workers engaged in tea plucking, prolonged exposure to humid heat has become increasingly difficult over the past few years.

“The weather improves during winter, but now winter barely lasts for one or two months,” Lagun said.

Under the plantation labour system, women are divided into groups of eight to ten and assigned specific areas for plucking tea leaves. Men rarely join plucking work and are instead mostly employed inside factories, handling loading, unloading, processing and packaging work, which offers comparatively greater protection from direct heat exposure.

Although official work timings run from 8 am to 11 am, followed by a lunch break and a second shift from 12.30 pm to 4 pm, most women workers begin their day much earlier.

“We wake up around 4.30 in the morning to finish household chores before coming to work,” Lagun said. “Even being a minute late can mean no work and no wages for the day.”

The pressure to meet daily targets leaves little room for rest, even during illness or menstruation. Anima Kurmi Majhi, a temporary worker and mother of a three-year-old child, said taking leave during periods or sickness is financially risky.

“If we fail to complete the day’s target, we may not be paid at all,” she said.

During the peak tea season between April and October, Majhi earns around Rs 3,500 over 15 days of work. In the lean season, this drops to around Rs 2,000-Rs 2,500. Since April 1, 2026, the daily wage for tea garden workers in Assam has been revised to Rs 280.

Bulbuli Gor, co-lead of Purba Bharati, an organisation working with tea garden women workers on health and education, said wage insecurity continues even during festivals.

“During Bihu holidays, workers are often paid for only one of the two days unless they complete their assigned targets,” she said.

Permanent workers employed throughout the year receive some protections such as sick leave, medical benefits, rations and housing. Temporary workers, typically hired between April and November, remain excluded from many of these benefits, according to Manoj Borah, welfare officer at Sockieting tea estate in Jorhat, and Nabin Chandra Keot, vice-president of the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha central committee.

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Can changing work hours reduce heat stress?

Labour groups and tea estate authorities have discussed revising work schedules to reduce heat exposure during peak afternoon hours.

“Work can begin earlier in the morning, followed by a longer break during the hottest hours and resumed later in the day,” said Dipanjal Deka, secretary of the Tea Association of India (Assam branch). “This would allow workers to cool down and rest adequately.”

Borah said staggered work timings have been considered, but many women workers prefer beginning work after completing domestic responsibilities at home.

“Keeping their preferences in mind, revised timings have not been implemented permanently,” he said.

He added that tea estates have introduced measures such as distributing oral rehydration salts (ORS) and maintaining ambulance services during summer months.

Meanwhile, the Assam government issued a circular in 2025 revising tea garden work timings following recommendations from the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha, said Keot.

“We regularly conduct awareness camps to educate workers about heat safety,” he said. “Workers are advised to carry umbrellas, rest periodically under trees and drink sufficient water and electrolytes.”

However, Bulbuli Gor said such measures alone may not be enough.

“Even in our tea gardens, old trees are being cut down,” she said, pointing to the shrinking shade cover available to workers during extreme heat.

She also highlighted long-standing community practices that may worsen dehydration risks.

“Many workers drink salted tea in the morning and then work for hours in intense heat,” she said. “This increases the risk of dehydration, hypertension and kidney-related diseases.”

Snakes, an additional threat

Rising temperatures are affecting not just workers, but also the ecology of the tea estates. As heat intensifies, snakes increasingly emerge from bushes and trees within plantation areas, creating another occupational hazard for workers spending long hours outdoors.

In July 2025, Birajman Bhakta (40), a tea worker at Lepetkatta tea estate in Dibrugarh, was bitten on her right hand by a snake that fell from a nearby tree while she was working.

Co-workers first rushed her to the garden hospital before she was referred to the Assam Medical College and Hospital for advanced treatment. Bhakta remained bedridden for 12 days.

Despite the seriousness of her condition, she said she received only half her wages during medical leave, in line with plantation policy.

“Workers get only half their wages during the 14 days of sick leave allowed after hospital referral. After that, there is no wage at all,” Bhakta said. “Fearing loss of income, I returned to work even though my health was still fragile.”

A widow and the sole earning member of her family, Bhakta supports her three children through daily tea-plucking work. But lingering pain in her hand has reduced her productivity, she said, and on days when she fails to meet the mandatory plucking target of 25 kg, her wages are further cut.

“We provide the best treatment possible to workers with serious health conditions and immediately refer critical cases to Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh,” said Dr Victor Topno, medical officer at Lepetkatta tea estate.

[AV]

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