[Assam] (Asom) Threat to Assam Tea & ULFA

Tue Nov 14 00:31:19 EST 2006

Today’s  The Times has headlined a  threat to  Assam’s tea in their foreign 
news page in the context of ULFA. It is a succinct  up-to-date account written 
from Tinsukia, Assam. Though there is nothing new  there for us netters,  yet 
I think,  there are things to chew over.  Alas! I am not able to reproduce 
the  picture and the map but one can get it  straight from today’s The Times, if 
interested.  
The  Times  
November  14, 2006 

The  tea plantations outside Guwahati have become a battleground in  the war 
being waged by Assam separatists, who are demanding  millions of rupees in 
protection money from estate owners  (EPA)   

The  battle for independence that threatens your morning  cuppa
>From  Jeremy Page in Tinsukia, northeast India   

AS YOU sip  your morning tea, spare a thought for Harendra Das. The chances 
are  he gave his life to get it in your cup.  
For more  than 30 years he managed tea plantations in India’s northeastern  
state of Assam, where Charles and Robert Bruce founded the modern  tea industry 
in the 1830s. Then, one humid evening in September, he  was shot dead near 
his home on the Hoolonghabi Tea Estate. He was  55.      

Looking  around the estate, with its pretty steep-roofed bungalow and  
manicured lawns, it is hard to imagine the sound of gunfire  intruding on such a 
tranquil setting.  
But this  is the front line of a bloody separatist conflict that has 
reignited  since September, claiming dozens of lives and threatening to cripple  Assam’
s world famous tea industry.  
“I used  not to have a lock on the gate,” said Ranjit Baruah, the 
59-year-old  owner of the Hoolonghabi estate founded by his grandfather. “Now  nobody 
dares go out, and my family doesn’t want me to stay here.”   
Police say  Das was killed by the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) — 
one  of 30 separatist movements in India’s northeast — after he refused  to 
meet its extortion demands.  
The front  has been fighting for an independent Assam since 1979, accusing 
the  federal Government of plundering the region’s tea, oil and coal  resources 
while neglecting basic infrastructure and services.   
In August  the Government announced a ceasefire, raising hopes for an end to  
the conflict that has killed 10,000 people. But within six weeks  fighting 
flared again. Last week 15 people were killed when a bomb  exploded in Guwahati, 
the Assam capital. Ulfa was blamed. Three days  later, soldiers shot dead a 
five-year-old boy during a battle with  Ulfa.  
Such  violence has long deterred investors and tourists from the region;  the 
fear now is that another prolonged upsurge could destroy a tea  industry 
mired in debt and struggling to cope with competition from  China and East Africa. 

Even  before the ceasefire collapsed, Ulfa was stepping up demands for  money 
from local businesses, especially tea plantations. “They’re  very 
vulnerable, living in isolated areas and working outdoors,”  said Dhiraj Kakati, 
secretary of the Assam branch of the Indian Tea  Association. “They can’t afford to 
pay — they can barely meet their  own costs.”  
Many of  Assam’s 800 tea gardens have massive debts and overheads because of  
their welfare obligations, colonial-era infrastructure and  geographical 
isolation. Now they have to choose between employing  private security guards or 
paying protection money to Ulfa.   
Das was  killed for refusing to pay a million rupees (£10,500); larger  
gardens have been asked for as much as 15 million. Ulfa denies being  engaged in 
extortion, but it admits to levying voluntary  “extra-constitutional taxes” and 
claims to have the support of most  of Assam’s 26 million people.  
Assam was  an independent kingdom for more than six centuries until its  
conquest by the British in 1826. When India won independence, it was  one of the 
country’s three wealthiest regions. Today it is one of  the three poorest 
states, even though it produces more than half of  India’s tea and 17 per cent of 
its oil.  
“The  people of Assam feel bruised and betrayed,” said Dilip Patziri, an  
Assamese activist appointed by Ulfa to negotiate with the  Government. “They 
feel they have a distinct culture and a separate  identity.” He also accused 
Indian troops and police of kidnappings  and killings.  
The  Government denies such charges and accuses Ulfa of targeting  civilians 
in a campaign as much about making money as winning  independence. “These 
attacks are just to prove their existence,”  Ripun Bora, a minister and spokesman 
for the Assam government, said.  “Nobody here wants sovereignty — how could 
Assam be independent?” Mr  Bora insisted that the door was still open for peace 
talks. But last  week the Government launched a massive counter-insurgency 
operation,  sending 2,000 additional paramilitary soldiers to the region.   
Indian  security officials say they will crush Ulfa, but others question  
their heavy-handed tactics. “We’ve diagnosed the problem, but we’re  treating 
the symptoms and not the cause,” said Absar Hazarika,  district magistrate of 
Tinsukia, the worst-affected area. “Poverty  is the root of the insurgency and 
development is the remedy.”   
Four years  ago he started an organic citrus farm in Guwahati employing 
10,000  people. Since then their annual income has risen twelvefold. Now he  wants 
to grow organic fruit, aromatic plants and herbal medicines in  Tinsukia.  
However,  he is struggling to find support within an inefficient and corrupt  
bureaucracy. “Nobody’s interested,” he said. “We can grow anything  here. 
Why only tea?”  
GATHERING  STORM IN A TEAPOT 
·  India is  the world’s third-largest exporter of tea, selling £200m worth  
annually  
·  Assam  produced 474,000 tonnes last year, just over half of India’s total  
output  
·   Assam  mostly has been an independent state, but in 1826 it was annexed 
by  the British East India Company, which was concerned about increased  
Burmese influence in the area  
·  Since  independence in 1948 there have been tensions between ethnic  
Assamese and a large non-indigenous population. In 1960 there were  riots after the 
Government announced plans to make the Assamese  language compulsory  
·  In  February this year, ministers adopted a proposal to change the  state’
s name to Asom, which they felt better reflected the  pronounciation before 
the British annexation  
·  The United  Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), classed by India as a 
terrorist  organisation, was founded in 1979. It seeks the independence of  Assam 
from Indian rule  
Industry  statistics: ICRA 

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 (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/)  

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