Adivasi ladies plucking freshly grown tea leaves in a tea backyard within the outskirts of Guwahati on March 10, 2021. File
| Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR
GUWAHATI
The Assam authorities on Thursday, distributed ₹64.05 crore as a special incentive to about 370 tea estates, to mitigate the antagonistic affect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the beverage business.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma additionally introduced a subsidy of ₹12 per kilogram of orthodox tea mounted for fiscal 2023-24, to mark the 200 th 12 months of business cultivation of tea in Assam.
“The tea industry was the backbone of the economy of Assam, contributing to nearly 90% of the gross export value and providing direct or indirect employment avenues to more than a million people,” he stated at an official perform to disburse the help underneath the Assam Tea Industry Special Incentive Schemes 2020.
“It is due to the overwhelming effect of the tea industry on the economy of Assam that the State government came up with the special incentive schemes to help the sector absorb some of the shocks of the debilitating impact of COVID-19,” Mr. Sarma stated.
Orthodox vs. conventional tea
Apart from offering an curiosity subvention of three% on working capital loans on tea gardens, the promotion of manufacturing of orthodox tea over conventional crush-tear-curl (CTC) tea has additionally been accorded due consideration underneath the schemes, he stated.
“A subsidy of 25% shall also be provided by the government to tea gardens to set up units for orthodox tea production. The government shall also forego agricultural income tax accruing from tea gardens, for the next three financial years,” he stated.
Claiming rightful place
The Chief Minister exuded confidence that the Assam tea business would have the ability to declare its rightful place on this planet and home tea market within the days to come. He stated the federal government was taking measures vital to make the State’s tea business extra resilient than ever earlier than, and the business gamers should additionally do the needful for the federal government’s efforts to bear fruit.
Mr. Sarma additional underlined the initiatives of the State authorities aimed on the socio-economic empowerment of the plantation employees. These embrace ₹1.5 lakh every for the development or renovation of 10,000 homes of tea backyard labourers inside the tea gardens, funds earmarked for the maintenance and upkeep of roads in tea gardens, and mannequin faculties within the tea gardens for the kids of the plantation employees.
“The government shall also forego agricultural income tax accruing from tea gardens, for the next three financial years”Himanta Biswa SarmaAssam Chief Minister
