Business Industry and labour A Sociological study of Tea industry in North Bengal

Abstract

vi newlineAbstract newlineThe tea plantation sector in India is shaped by both colonial and global forces, newlineinheriting a production system based on coercion and power from the colonial past newlineand a marketing structure involving global actors in advertising, branding, and newlinefinance. This hybrid form of capitalism reinforces the reproduction of class power. A newlinenotable feature of the contemporary global economy is the increasing influence of newlinemultinational businesses, consumer advocacy organisations, and international NGOs newlinein the upstream sectors of the value chain, which leads to the reregulation of trade newlineand affects the economy of producer countries like India (Neilson and Pritchard, 2009). newlineThe industrial relations of the tea industry have transcended national boundaries due newlineto trade liberalisation and globalisation. Hence, a critical perspective is needed to newlinelink the restructuring of the tea industry, the role of transnational corporations, and newlinethe changes in state policies following globalisation with the value chain system of tea newlinefrom production to retail marketing and the impact these changes have had on the newlinesocial dynamics of tea workers. The Value Chain approach can help us examine the newlineembedded reality within the North Bengal tea sector, which is undergoing various newlinechanges that affect regional economic actors differently. It can offer important newlineinsights into the dynamics of industrial restructuring within the global value chains newlineof tea and their implications for the future of regional production areas like North newlineBengal. This research examines the nature and extent of these changes and their newlineimplications for the tea industry and its stakeholders in North Bengal. newlineThis study investigates the macro-micro dynamics of capital and labour relations, newlinefocusing on how neo-liberal policies and corporate involvement have transformed the newlinepower dynamics and the structure of the tea sector, especially in North Bengal. Using newlinea value chain analysis, the study maps global and domestic tea production and newlinemarketing networks and analysed how they affec