Labour Market and Livelihood Practices in the Closed Tea Gardens of Darjeeling Hills, West Bengal

The research article attempts to capture the livelihood practices of labourers in Dooteriah, Kalej Valley and Peshok Tea Garden of Darjeeling Hills which were closed since 2015. The labourers of these tea gardens lost their regular employment and are engaged in activities like quarrying and extraction, subsistence cultivation, animal rearing, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), shops, agricultural labour or daily wager, etc. as per the prevailing conditions of local labour market. The labourers also outmigrate to distant cities and seek job in urban informal services. It is found that they are absorbed in MGNREGA for a period ranging from 40 days/per year in Dooteriah, 44 days/per year in Kalej Valley and 60 days/per year in Peshok and their average annual income is ₹8,080, ₹8,888 and ₹12,120, respectively. The variation of overall annual income of labourers after closure is very high as the coefficient of variation in Dooteriah is 87.60%, Kalej Valley is 70.83% and Peshok is 71.27%. This indicates the fluctuating pattern of job availability in local labour market and the absence of social protection has led to poverty trap to the labourers.