Assam Agribusiness Statistics published by NIC, inform that in the year 2000 the total number of laborers employed in Tea Gradens in Assam is 60253 Assuming that there were no children at home and there were nobody unemployed, and therefore assume that every tea garden employee was accounted for.
If the decadal growth rate of Assam is 18.85%, then today's population should be around 7,950383. However modest this calculation is, be aware that this is a big number to reckon with in terms of political power. The actual figure however will be much larger than this. Guess what would happen if all these people because of some political influence change their religion because they have been crushed under the foot and suddenly remember that they have been alienated for a long time. I seriously think that the Assam government should provide them with a assamese status and no longer call them adivasis. Adivasi means aborigines. They may have been aborigines from another state with a distinct culture. So is everybody an aborigine from another culture. In assam itself we have several indigenious cultures, who do not call themselves adivasis. The present day tea garden laborers came here during pre-independance. But today everybody speaks assamese. Children go to assamese schools. The should be given a new assamese name. Maybe something like Hazira okhomia's or something that ties them with Assam. Evey tea garden should have a namghor where these people should be encouraged to join the mainstream if they are Hindu's. Other faiths can have their own synagogues. This way a strategic balance will be maintained. Thanks Mohan Rao Palleti I am Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analyst with NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
