write a note on history of tea in india
Answers
Tea has been part of the Indian culture and society from a long time. The morning newspaper is accompanied with a cup of tea, and evenings too are incomplete without a refreshing cup. The teas from Darjeeling and Assam are among the most renowned teas in the world. Tea connoisseurs everywhere enjoy a cup of these beautiful teas. But how did tea come to India?
Commercial production of tea in India began after the British East India Companyacquired large tracts of land and converted them for mass tea production. Chinese teas were introduced to India by the British in an attempt to break their monopoly in tea production. The British, “using Chinese seeds, plus Chinese planting and cultivating techniques, launched a tea industry by offering land in Assam to any European who agreed to cultivate tea for export.” Before the British started growing tea for export, it was used only for medicinal purposes and not as a recreational beverage. The widespread popularity of tea as a recreational drink began in earnest in the 1920s (before which it was consumed only by anglicised Indians), after a successful advertising campaign by the Tea Board and several mass promotion drives by the Government, using railway stations as a base.
“The tea cultivation begun there [India] in the nineteenth century by the British, however, has accelerated to the point that today India is listed as the world’s leading producer, its 715,000 tons well ahead of China’s 540,000 tons, and of course, the teas of Assam, Ceylon (from the island nation known as Sri Lanka), and Darjeeling are world famous. However, because Indians average half a cup daily on per capita basis, fully 70 percent of India’s immense crop is consumed locally.”
Maniram Dewan (1806-1858) was the first Indian tea planter, and is credited with establishing the first commercial plantations of the Assamese variety of tea. India was the top producer of tea for nearly a century, but recently China has overtaken India as the top tea producer due to increased land availability. Indian tea companies have acquired a number of iconic foreign tea enterprises including British brands Tetleyand Typhoo.
Tea gardens in Assam do not follow the Indian Standard Time (IST), which is the time observed throughout India and Sri Lanka. The local time in Assam’s tea gardens, known as ‘Tea Garden Time’ or Bagantime, is an hour ahead of the IST. The system was introduced during British days keeping in mind the early sunrise in this part of the country.
By and large, the system has subsequently been successful in increasing the productivity of tea garden workers as they save on daylight by finishing the work during daytime, and vice versa. Working time for tea labourers in the gardens is generally between 9 a.m. (IST 8 a.m.) to 5 p.m. (IST 4p.m.) It may vary slightly from gaRDEN