An attempt has been made in this assignment to understand the human resource management practices of tea gardens in Bangladesh. In fact, human rights of the tea gardeners as a whole are yet to be exposed in our country. This assignment deals with different aspects of human resource management practices of the tea gardeners, focusing on some significant issues of social, economic, political and cultural life of those people. Special attention has been paid on the knowledge of the people regarding gender equity, importance of education, good governance, labor law etc. The assignment also investigates the attitude of mainstream people towards the tea gardeners and the way tea gardeners think of the people of mainstream society. It has been suggested in the assignment that all out efforts must be made to raise awareness among the tea gardeners about human rights and related matters. Generally, it is assumed that the people working in different tea gardens all over our country have been leading a life of untold misery. But the life of these working people has not yet been investigated much. At present there are lots of population are involved with this industry in Bangladesh. The most of the labors are illiterate. Sometimes they don’t know how to write their name. The company arranges some training for them in very less time. The training and development programs in case of labors are not in satisfactory level. They learn by doing their work. The labors are not conscious about their different facilities also. Sometimes some organizations come to make them inform about different conscious facilities. But most of the times they are not attend in the seminar or program. Labors health conditions are not also in a satisfactory level, because of high drinking of alcohol. But they are getting the free medical facilities from the company. Labors are also getting some other benefits such as Residential facility, Food, Education facility, Job Security and Entertainment facility. On the other hand to be a managerial level employee it is highly education is needed and sometimes it is needed to do some other courses with this high education.

1. ““““Human ResourceHuman ResourceHuman ResourceHuman Resource
Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”
Course title: Human Resource Management Practices in BangladeshHuman Resource Management Practices in BangladeshHuman Resource Management Practices in BangladeshHuman Resource Management Practices in Bangladesh
Prof.
Department of Business Administration
IDIDIDID
1201010181
1201010249
1201010205
1201010007
1201010091
1201010202
Semester: 10
Department of Business Administration
Date of Submission:
1
Surma Tower, Sylhet
An Assignment on
Human ResourceHuman ResourceHuman ResourceHuman Resource Management Practices in Tea Gardens ofManagement Practices in Tea Gardens ofManagement Practices in Tea Gardens ofManagement Practices in Tea Gardens of
Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”
Human Resource Management Practices in BangladeshHuman Resource Management Practices in BangladeshHuman Resource Management Practices in BangladeshHuman Resource Management Practices in Bangladesh
Course code: HRM-409
Submitted to:
Prof. Dr. Bashir Ahmed Bhuiyan
Professor
Department of Business Administration
Leading University, Sylhet
Prepared by:
Torch Bearer’sTorch Bearer’sTorch Bearer’sTorch Bearer’s
IDIDIDID NameNameNameName
1201010181 Mahmudul Hasan
1201010249 Md. Alimuzzaman
1201010205 Mahmudul Karim Newaz
1201010007 Zakiatunnesa Uma
1201010091 Rabeya Rahman
1201010202 Masum Hussain
Semester: 10th
(Human Resource Management)
Batch: 30th
Department of Business Administration
Leading University, Sylhet
Date of Submission: 22 May, 2015
Management Practices in Tea Gardens ofManagement Practices in Tea Gardens ofManagement Practices in Tea Gardens ofManagement Practices in Tea Gardens of
Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”Bangladesh: A Case Study of Khadim Tea Garden”
Human Resource Management Practices in BangladeshHuman Resource Management Practices in BangladeshHuman Resource Management Practices in BangladeshHuman Resource Management Practices in Bangladesh
22 May, 2015

2. 2
Contents
Subjects pages
1. Introduction 5
2. Statement of research problem & rational for its study 5
3. Objectives of the Study 5
a. Primary objective 5
b. Secondary objective 5
4. Mission Statement of Khadim Tea Estate 6
5. Organizational Vision of Khadim Tea Estate 6
6. Bangladesh Tea Board (BTB) 6
7. HR practices of Khadim Tea Estate 7
a. Job analysis 7
b. Recruitment and Selection 8
c. Training and Development 8
d. Performance appraisal 8
e. Compensation Package 8
f. Allowances 9
g. Retirement allowances 9
h. Labor relations 9
i. Employee safety and health 9
8. Lifestyle of the tea workers 9
a. Occupation 9
b. Education 9
c. Income 10
d. Recreational Activities 10
e. Marriage and Dowry 11
f. Basic Needs 11
g. Child labour 11
h. Women Empowerment 11
i. Politics and Mainstream Society 11
9. Sustainability issues in the sector 12
a. Social issues 12
b. Environmental issues 12
c. Economic issues 12
10. Current approaches to sustainability 13
11. Source of the data 13
a. Primary sources 13
b. Secondary sources 13
12. Methodology of the Study 13
13. Problems of the tea industries in Bangladesh 14
14. Remedies and recommendations 15
15. Conclusion 16
16. References 17

3. 3
Executive Summary
An attempt has been made in this assignment to understand the human resource management
practices of tea gardens in Bangladesh. In fact, human rights of the tea gardeners as a whole
are yet to be exposed in our country. This assignment deals with different aspects of human
resource management practices of the tea gardeners, focusing on some significant issues of
social, economic, political and cultural life of those people. Special attention has been paid on
the knowledge of the people regarding gender equity, importance of education, good
governance, labor law etc. The assignment also investigates the attitude of mainstream people
towards the tea gardeners and the way tea gardeners think of the people of mainstream
society. It has been suggested in the assignment that all out efforts must be made to raise
awareness among the tea gardeners about human rights and related matters.
Generally, it is assumed that the people working in different tea gardens all over our
country have been leading a life of untold misery. But the life of these working people has
not yet been investigated much. At present there are lots of population are involved with this
industry in Bangladesh. The most of the labors are illiterate. Sometimes they don’t know how
to write their name. The company arranges some training for them in very less time. The
training and development programs in case of labors are not in satisfactory level. They learn
by doing their work. The labors are not conscious about their different facilities also.
Sometimes some organizations come to make them inform about different conscious
facilities. But most of the times they are not attend in the seminar or program. Labors health
conditions are not also in a satisfactory level, because of high drinking of alcohol. But they
are getting the free medical facilities from the company. Labors are also getting some other
benefits such as Residential facility, Food, Education facility, Job Security and Entertainment
facility. On the other hand to be a managerial level employee it is highly education is needed
and sometimes it is needed to do some other courses with this high education.
Therefore, in reality, we have very little knowledge about socio-economic and human
right conditions of these people living in tea gardens. It may also be concluded that the
women, children and adolescent girls are the most vulnerable groups in terms of socio-
economic and the human right condition in tea gardens. Unfortunately, there is hardly any
development programme initiated either by the government or non-government organizations
in order to improve the living standard of the tea gardeners. Even though the government has
undertaken various measures to implement ‘Education for All’ policy throughout the country,
there are pockets like tea gardens still remains excluded in this regard. The children of tea
gardeners are believed to be deprived of all government facilities in terms of education due to
basically poor socio-economic condition and low level of awareness of their guardians. The
condition of human rights of the women and adolescent girls of tea gardeners has often been
described as pathetic, but no concerted effort have yet been undertaken to promote the human
right conditions as a whole in the tea garden areas of Sylhet. This is really unfortunate that
the tea garden workers make major contribution to the entire production system of tea, but the
deteriorating human right conditions in the gardens did not get adequate attention from any
corner.

4. 4
AcknowledgementAcknowledgementAcknowledgementAcknowledgement
At first, we are grateful to Almighty Allah for creating us in
such a beautiful country like Bangladesh and also for
controlling our life. For the mercy of Him, we have got such
courage to start this assignment on “Human Resource“Human Resource“Human Resource“Human Resource
Management Practices in Tea Gardens of Bangladesh: A Case StudyManagement Practices in Tea Gardens of Bangladesh: A Case StudyManagement Practices in Tea Gardens of Bangladesh: A Case StudyManagement Practices in Tea Gardens of Bangladesh: A Case Study
of Khadim Tea Garden”of Khadim Tea Garden”of Khadim Tea Garden”of Khadim Tea Garden”
After that we would like to give thanks to our honorable
Head of the Department Prof.Prof.Prof.Prof. Dr. Tofayel AhmedDr. Tofayel AhmedDr. Tofayel AhmedDr. Tofayel Ahmed for giving
us the opportunity to study in this subject. We would like to
express our thanks to the librarian of Leading University for all
his help that we have received.
Our respected parents who gave us mental support and
inspiration for our assignment, there is a special thanks for
them.
We also would like to give a lot of thanks to our honorable
course teacher, Prof. Dr. Bashir Ahmed Bhuiyan for giving us a
wonderful opportunity to make such an interesting and
valuable assignment and giving us a clear concept about the
assignment.
At last but not the least, without the help of our friends
and classmates it was quite impossible to prepare such kind of
assignment. They gave us some necessary information about
this topic which was unknown to us. So, we would like to give
thanks to all of them.

5. 5
Introduction
Now-a-days tea is the most popular drink all over the world. Modern man can not
think of starting a day without having a cup of tea. It refreshes the mind and gives energy.
Almost all people take tea once or twice a day. Tea is the oldest and most popular non-
alcoholic beverage known to man since three centuries B. C. in China. Until 17th century,
Coffee was the sole beverage known to Europe and it was only 1657 that the first tea packet
was sold in Galway House in London. About 100 years later, 1784-1789 tea drinking become
widespread in the world. Tea industry is an essential industry in Bangladesh, which brings a
lot of foreign currency for Bangladesh. It is the cheapest, the most well-liked, refreshing non
intoxicating widespread drinks. Tea was first cultivated in china. At the same time it was also
started to grown in southeast India. Day by day the use of tea was expanding in the whole
world especially in Europe, when the communication was established between the Asia and
Europe. In Bangladesh first tea garden was Malnicherra and it is located in Sylhet. It was
established in 1854. At present in Bangladesh there are 162 tea gardens. Five types of
companies are involving in tea cultivation in Bangladesh. Sterling Company, National Tea
Company, Bangladesh Tea Board, Private LTD Company and Proprietary. Own by
Bangladeshi Nationals.
Statement of research problem & rational for its study
Human resource management ensures right people at right place at right time. It
ensures the proper utilization of human resource in an organization. After acquiring
theoretical knowledge, this study helped us to acquire practical knowledge. We know Sylhet
is famous for tea production and there are many tea gardens in Sylhet. So to perform our
study we choose Khadim Tea Estate which is very famous all over the Bangladesh. We
choose Khadim because we know here thousand of labors are working under a single
management, so to know how the management manages this huge number of labor and how
they practice human resource activities within their organization. In this study we highlighted
the training and development program of Khadim Tea Estate. Behind the selection of this
topic there also some causes. As we all know in tea gardens most of the labors are illiterate
and unskilled. Beside that Tea gardens are earning profit and expanding their business day by
day. We thought there must be any mechanism behind this success, so from this attraction we
decided to find out the mechanism by which Tea Estates are performing their daily operations
and converting the unskilled employees into skilled employees and this is only possible by
training and development program.
Objectives of the Study:
1. Primary objective
The first and most important objective of the assignment is to gather knowledge about human
resource management practices of tea gardens in Bangladesh.
2. Secondary objective
a. To understand the condition of human rights of tea gardeners.
b. To explore the knowledge of tea gardeners regarding politics and political parties.
c. To know the level of awareness among the people about their basic rights.

6. 6
d. To investigate the knowledge about gender equity among the people living in tea
gardens.
e. To offer suggestions for improving living standard of the tea gardeners.
f. To improve the knowledge, attitude and practice of the tea gardeners towards human
rights, governance, labour law and gender equity with the help of providing education
in groups.
Mission Statement of Khadim Tea Estate:
Without any mission no organization can reach its ultimate destination. Khadim Tea
Estate also has some mission for which it is performing its activities. The mission of Khadim
Tea Estate are given as under,
a. To enrich the tea industry of Bangladesh.
b. To earn foreign currency by exporting tea.
c. To create employment for local people.
d. To fulfil the demand of tea in Bangladesh.
e. Contribution to the GDP.
Organizational Vision of Khadim Tea Estate:
The organizational vision for Khadim Tea Estate is very high but achievable.
Organizational visions are listed as under.
a. To increase the production for meeting the expanding demand.
b. The management of Khadim Tea Estate wants to achieve the sustainable market
leadership.
c. With the quantity they also want to improve the quality of tea leaves.
d. Create new market for Tea.
e. Create a competent labor force.
Bangladesh Tea Board (BTB):
History of Bangladesh Tea Industry dates back to 1840 when a pioneer tea garden was
established on the slopes of the hills in Chittagong where Chittagong Club now stands. First
commercial cultivation of tea started in Bangladesh at Malnicherra, Sylhet in 1854. Since
then tea has developed as an agro-based, labour intensive and export oriented industry in
Bangladesh. During the partition in 1947, Bangladesh owned 103 tea estates, covering 28,734
hector of tea plantation with annual production of 18.36 million kg yielding about 639 kg per
ha. With the passage of time, the industry had to struggle through manifold constraints to
increase the number of tea estates to 166 and small growers/holders about 600, allotted land
116,219 ha and tea plantation 58,719 ha in 2013. The country produced 66.26 million Kg of
tea yielding 1320 kg/ha, consumed about 64.00 million Kg (400 grams/per head) and
exported 0.85 million Kg in 2013. Tea plays a significant role in the national economy
through employment generation, export earnings as well as import substitution and poverty
reduction in rural areas. It provides direct employment to about 133,000 people, 50% of
whom are women. Further forward and backward linkage tea related activities have engaged
about 500,000 people. Internal consumption has been increasing very fast at 3.20% while
production has been increasing at 2.00% for the last 5 years in Bangladesh. Domestic

7. 7
consumers presently consume about 95% of its produce, leaving very little for export. Due to
lack of exportable surplus the country exported only 0.85 million Kg in 2013.
With a view to enhancing production, improving quality, increasing export of tea and
improving standard of living of tea workers a 12 Years Strategic Development Plan for Tea
Industry of Bangladesh - Vision 2021 has been undertaken by Bangladesh Tea Board to raise
production up to100 million Kg by 2025. The tea industry has the potentiality and capability
to increase production. The country has 9705 ha very old and uneconomic tea area that yields
only 496 kg/ha. This tea area needs to be replanted with improved variety of planting
materials. Further about 4698 ha suitable land is available in 106 tea estates. Moreover we
have ample scope to increase our tea area through small holding tea cultivation in the
northern part of the country and in the three hill districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts. The target
of the plan can be achieved by intensive cultivation, replanting and extension of tea. The
present situation of low yield, high cost of production and quality improvement may also be
considered as thrust area for development. Furthermore, the issues of import substitution,
export expansion, poverty alleviation, employment generation, gender issues, maternal and
child health care and infrastructural development in the tea industry are also required to be
addressed to achieve Government’s ‘Vision 2021’. Bangladesh Tea Board, a statutory body
under Ministry of Commerce constituted under the Tea Ordinance 1977, has been given
responsibility to regulate, control and promote and sale of tea in the country. The Board puts
emphasis on bringing 100% grant area under tea.
We hope, with the cooperation of the producers and traders of tea, Bangladesh Tea
Board will be able to develop Tea Industry to increase tea production for meeting internal
demand as well as recuperating export market.
HR practices of Khadim Tea Estate
Here we will focus on the HRM practices of Khadim Tea Estate. To collect data on HRM
practices in Khadim Tea Estate we talked to the management and employee of the
organization. They are described briefly as under:
a. Job analysis
In Khadim the authority also perform the job analysis for various level of job. This practice
depends on the position of the job. To collect job analysis information they mainly use the
observation method. In this process the manager and assistant manager visit the field and
observe the activities of their workers and observe whether any labor waste their time doing
other things or not. In collecting the job analysis information the manager listed the duties
and responsibilities of his employees and compares his performance with the performance
standard. In Khadim they observe both the qualitative and quantitative performance of their
employees.
b. Recruitment and Selection
The minimum qualification for the top and middle level managers is at least graduation.
Preference is given to agriculture, botany background. One individual has to be strong and
hardworking also. The recruitment process for clerical staff is interview (written and viva). In
Khadim two types of labors are recruited; permanent and casual. Basically no specific policy

8. 8
we have found and they also take oral interview and the physical fitness. Sometimes
experience is also preferred. It is interesting that in case of lower level labor the management
doesn’t need to go outside of the garden because they can get the labor from the family of
their existing labor. It is a kind of hereditary method. Collecting labor from outside is a rare
case.
c. Training and Development
The training and development programs are arranged for the management staff. These
training and development programs are arranged by PDU (Project Development Unit),
BMDC (Bangladesh Management & Development Unit), and BTRI (Bangladesh Tea
Research Institute) under BTB (Bangladesh Tea Board). The Khadim Tea Estate provides
both on the job and off the job training to the employees. The middle and top level managers
are getting different training and development program and it is in satisfactory level. The
employees are getting different types of training program from the PDU, BMDC, and BTRI
under BTB. The training and development programs in case of labors are not in satisfactory
level. They learn by doing their work. Sometimes vocational training is arranged for the
workers but the participation is very low.
d. Performance appraisal
In Khadim Tea Estate performance appraisal is generally performed on the basis of
production capability of labors. In case of labors they are given certain level of production so
they have to fulfill that level for ensuring good performance. Their performance also depends
on the quality of plucking the tea leaves from the tea plants. The management also provides
incentives for the labors that perform well in their job. In the management level performance
appraisal is measured by the attentiveness of employees, their behavior, teamwork ability and
ability to fulfill their assigned duties and responsibilities.
e. Compensation Package
The employees get monthly payment. Besides this they receives residential facilities, profit
bonus, festival bonus. They also receive some additional facilities such as education
allowances, medical facility, transport facility etc. The workers are paid weekly. The workers
wage rate is Tk.69 per day in Khadim Tea Estate. Besides this, they are getting the following
facilities and
f. Allowances
The workers get ration at the rate of TK. 3.00 per kg rice. Workers get this on the basis of
member, work and age. One worker can get ration for his three dependent.
i. The labors are getting free accommodation in the garden.
ii. The workers get casual leave, annual leave, sick leave etc.
iii. The workers are also getting free medical services.
iv. The children of the workers are getting free education up to primary level.
v. They also get incentives in two major religious festivals.

9. 9
g. Labor relations
In Khadim the relation between the management and labor is healthy but this is not stable.
But the management is very conscious about this factor and they always try to solve any
problem by negotiation. There is a labor union within Khadim Tea Estate. The management
always tried to fulfil the labor demand through discussing matters with the labor union. But
still the employees are not satisfied then they can go to the higher level authority.
h. Employee safety and health:
In Khadim the employees are getting the safety facilities both on the job and of the job. On
the job they are getting the needed tools to perform their job such as mask, glabs etc and off
the job they are getting residential safety, food safety etc. The employees as well as the labors
are getting free medical service in the garden. In each garden we have found dispensary with
one doctor, nurse, and medical assistances. These dispensaries are providing the primary aid
but in case of emergency the authority transfers the patient to M.A.G. Osmany Medical
College Sylhet and bears all the cost.
Lifestyle of the tea workers
a. Occupation
Respondents are involved in different types of occupation mostly working in the tea garden
itself. Their life as usual, most of the people including male, female, adolescent boys/ girls
and children are employed one way or the other. More than half of the people in the tea
garden work as tea laborer alone. They are to some extent permanent tea laborer. But some
other people are found daily wager as they live on daily wage, doing whatever work they get
every day. Some of the female people are housewife and very few female and adolescent girls
work as maidservant, mostly working in mainstream society. Although few people are found
unemployed, they try to earn from some irregular sources whenever possible. Rest of the
people is engaged with multiple works.
b. Education
Educational status of the people has been found frustrating in the tea gardens in Sylhet. Non-
availability of schools in the premises of tea garden is one of the important factors because of
which tea garden workers are mostly deprived of education. Apart from that, the low level of
awareness regarding the value of education among the people is another reason for not
getting educated. Among them more than half of the people are illiterate and around 20%
people are literate who can only write their name and can read a bit. On the other hand,
around 17% people have completed primary level of education. Tea- gardeners understand
the value of education for their children but hardly can help since their socio-economic
condition is pathetic. They mostly want their children to help the family financially and
therefore send them to work instead of sending them to school. Many of the people did not
look enthusiastic regarding sending their children to school. Apart from that, the opportunity
of having primary education is limited in the premises of tea gardens. Most of the children
including male and female are deprived of their basic right-‘education’. The situation is
worse for the girls than that of boys in this regard. A considerable number of male and female
children aged (6-12) years do not go to school. The poor socio-economic condition of the

10. 10
guardians is mainly responsible because of which the children aged (6-12) years usually
remain away from education. Discrimination against female children regarding education is
also a reality in tea gardens. Poor socio-economic condition, no availability of schools in the
premises of tea garden, lack of motivation among the guardians towards education, lack of
cooperation from the garden authorities, etc may be mentioned as the major obstacles towards
having all the children of tea gardens educated.
c. Income
All of the people earn an amount of money one way or the other. Some of the people do not
have regular income. Some of them have a fixed income for each week. Most of the people
earn on daily basis and a few earns a fixed amount of money monthly. It can easily assume
that yearly income of most of the people is very low. It is really surprising that many of the
people try hard to run their respective family with their meagre income. Respondents are
mostly daily wager, tea labourer, employees of the garden authorities, carpenter, small trader,
etc. Almost half of the people do some other work along with their main occupation since
they are unable to run their family with the main income. Many of these people are unable to
manage another work and therefore starve sometimes.
d. Recreational Activities
Recreational facilities are very limited in tea garden areas. Most of the people do not have the
time also for recreation. They are always busy to earn a little so that they can run their family
smoothly. But the children are the most sufferers in this regard. They are deprived of any
kind of recreational facilities. They do not have any field to play and sometimes they are also
engaged in different income generating activities, having no leisure time to spare. Most of the
people spend their leisure time through gossiping and listening to songs to tape-recorders.
Celebration of social and religious festivals is another way for the people living in tea
gardens through which they try to enjoy themselves a bit. Some people expressed their
frustration as they opined that no recreational facilities were available for them in the
premises of the garden. But most of the people admitted that they had full freedom in
celebrating their social and religious festivals. Only a few people complained of having
disturbed by those belonging to majority religious community while celebrating religious and
social festivals.
e. Marriage and dowry
The monogamous marriage is the common feature among the tea gardeners in Khadim Tea
Estate. Some people were found who had polygamous marriage. Early marriage also takes
place in the garden, but on a small scale. The problem of early marriage is mostly found
among the adolescent girls. Most of the people admitted that they had the experience of
receiving and giving dowry during the marriage of their son and daughter. One third of the
people said that they could not afford to give dowry and also did not receive any dowry
during the marriage of their daughter and son, and rest of the people did not answer any
dowry-related questions.

11. 11
f. Basic needs
A considerable number of people don’t have any idea about their basic needs, and around half
of the people are simply unable to fulfil their basic needs because of poor socio-economic
condition. Very few people told that sometimes they could meet their basic needs and
sometimes they could not.
g. Child labour
Child labour is rampant in tea gardens. Poverty is the main reason why children are forced to
be engaged in some income generating activity. Most of the people expressed their
helplessness for getting their children engaged with works since they are socio-economically
poor. It is therefore children feel forced to contribute financially to the family. Poverty
alleviation is the only way through which children could be prevented from getting involved
in income generating activities. Apart from the poverty alleviation suggestion came from
respondents, lack of awareness is another reason which prevails among tea gardeners
regarding child labour.
h. Women Empowerment
Most of the people in the tea garden have a family with a male household head and few
people have a family with a female household head. So it may be concluded that male-headed
families are predominant in tea garden areas. Therefore, the participant of women in the
decision making process of the family is definitely less; although one third of the population
claimed that they took decision regarding family affairs in consultation with their male or
female counterparts. Around half of the people can spend their earnings on their own. These
people are mostly male. Some people, who are female, spend their earnings according to the
will of their respective husband. Others can spend their earnings according to the mutual will
of husband and wife.
i. Politics and Mainstream Society
Most of the people do not have any idea about politics and political parties of Bangladesh.
More than half of the people have a very negative idea about the politics and political parties
of our country, and one third of the people complained that the politicians tried to buy their
vote during the election. The rest did not make any comments. Almost two third people feel
that they are tortured, neglected and exploited in many ways. Almost 80% people have a
feeling that they are not equally treated with the mainstream people by the outsiders, and the
rest of the people do not have the feeling of any discrimination and exploitation.
Sustainability issues in the sector:
In its current state, sufficient supply and quality of tea is not guaranteed for the sector.
Several social, economic, and environmental issues, combined with the finite nature of
natural resources and rapidly growing populations, lie at the root of this situation. Supported
by a growing public awareness in the West of social, economical and environmental issues
associated with tea cultivation, the sector has become increasingly interested in sustainability.

12. 12
a) Social issues
There are several social issues that influence the overall quality of the tea produced and the
productivity in general. Workers on tea estates face discrimination, harassment and gender
inequality, combined with poor living conditions, little access to healthcare and low
representation. The income of tea farmers is low. This is often around their individual
country’s minimum wage levels, although this does not normally constitute a living wage in
tea-producing countries. Although traditionally tea is produced on estates, smallholders are
on the increase. Furthermore, poor yields and quality have led to high vulnerability of
smallholders’ livelihoods.
b) Environmental issues
Tea cultivation has multiple environmental effects. According to Clay, the main harmful
environmental impact of tea production is habitat conversion. Large areas of biodiversity rich
forests have been replaced by monoculture in Khadim Tea Estate. Next to loss of
biodiversity, land clearance also alters the natural flow of water, leading to an increase in soil
erosion, which on its turn leads to the loss of wetland habitats and the pollution of rivers and
lakes. As tea plants are grown in monoculture, they provide ideal conditions for a number of
pests. The result is that a number of toxic, harmful pesticides are widely used. Lastly, energy
consumption for tea processing is energy intensive. As the machinery used is often outdated,
energy use for tea processing is also very inefficient.
c) Economic issues
Due to the remoteness of tea plantations, and the small time window the freshly plucked tea
needs to be processed, farmers lack both market information and bargaining power.
Furthermore, although tea is ‘ready to drink’ when exported by producing countries, the
downstream stages such as blending, packing and marketing are the most profitable. This part
of the value chain is controlled by a handful of multinational tea packers and brokers, which
as a result can considerably influence world prices. As an effect of the low market price for
tea, farmers were not able to adequately invest for inputs or new planting material. This leads
to poor quality and yields, resulting in low pricing, thus creating a vicious cycle. In 2009 and
currently, prices are high due to severe droughts in several tea producing countries. A fear is
that motivated by the high prices farmers will produce too much tea, resulting in oversupply
and subsequently a plunging price.
Current approaches to sustainability:
In contrast to the coffee and cocoa sectors, there are no global governance initiatives
such as multi-stakeholder round tables, to improve the social, environmental and economic
conditions of tea producers worldwide. Nevertheless, there is a growing public awareness in
the West of the social hardship associated with tea production. Various standard systems seek
to address these concerns. Codes of conduct require suppliers to meet standards on food
safety, working conditions and environmentally friendly production practices. Certified tea is
commonly defined as tea that includes the three pillars of sustainability, namely ‘economic
viability for farmers,’ ‘environmental conservation’ and ‘social responsibility.’ Certification
entails the written assurance by an independent third party certification body that the quality

13. 13
of the tea and the production process has been assessed, and conforms to specified
requirements.
Source of the data:
Both primary and secondary sources have been utilized for collecting data to make this
report.
a. Primary data: In this report we collected information from primary sources. We the
student of 30th
batch [HRM Major] conduct a survey (interview based) named Human
Resource Management Practices in Tea Gardens of Bangladesh: A Case Study of
“Khadim Tea Garden” as field work. Our group “Torch Bearer’s” work hard for this.
Finally we become success in this operation &create a report.
b. Secondary Sources:
We collected information from secondary sources too. Collecting information from books,
journal, newspaper & magazine. Also we use internet for data collecting.
Methodology of the Study:
There are as many as 18 tea gardens existing in Sylhet Sadar Upazila and Jaintapur Upazila.
Out of 18 tea gardens, Khadim tea estate was selected by considering the size and location of
the garden. The proportionate number of households and the smooth communication system
of the garden has been taken into consideration while selecting the total number of
respondents. In order to ensure proper representation, respondents were selected from various
broad categories of managements. A latest list of the number of households existing in each
tea-garden was collected from the tea garden for the purpose of selecting the household
respondents.
Problems of the tea industries in Bangladesh:
There are many problems in the tea estates of Bangladesh, these problems can be furnished as
follows:
a) Factory: Problems related with withering, processing (rolling), fermenting, drying/firing,
sorting and grading, packaging & storage, tea tasting and quality control and overall
managerial problems,
b) Field/ Tea Estate: Problems related to the field and the surrounding and also managerial
problems. But, I have discussed here only the existing overall problems and remedies of the
tea estates, which seemed to me important for successful tea culture.
According to us, these are some of the main problems prevailing in the tea estates:
1. Unexpected natural calamity, such as drought. The tea industry of Bangladesh had
experienced a severe and prolonged drought from Nov’ 98 to till the end of April’ 99
and also around the year 1999,
2. Deterioration of law and order situation of the tea estates, e.g. log stealing, shade tree
cutting, illegal occupation of land, lack of security both for the management and the

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labourer, political or outsider influence on their internal arrangements, pilferage of tea
from the factory etc.
3. Shortage of medicine and lack of other facilities in the hospital. The labourer (Kuli)
has no faith on hospital or existing staff or doctor. Mortality rate even for Diarrhoea is
also very high,
4. Lack of pure water and purification process, no hygienic latrine in labourer quarters.
Unhealthy atmosphere prevails in the labour line.
5. Rate of addicted person of wine is very high. The labourer are consuming near about
1 lakh gallon wine only in Moulvibazar and Hobigonj district. There are many bars of
wine namely ‘Patta’, which were legal bars since British rule.
6. Lack of infrastructure, e.g. roads, labour line quarters, water supply network are not
sufficient.
7. Lack of capital and modern machineries in various gardens.
8. Lower market value of made tea in comparison to increasing production cost.
9. Lower yield per hectare in comparison to increasing domestic need.
10. MRL value or Maximum Residue Limit on pesticides has not been followed strictly.
The European countries have declared that they will not buy Bangladeshi tea, if they
found the MRL value beyond the prescribed level since 1998 ( Ittefaq report, 4, Dec.
2000).
11. Lack of perennial water source for irrigation during dry season and also in prolonged
drought.
12. Lack of educational institutions/infrastructure and that is why literacy rate is poor.
13. The children of the labourer have been suffering from malnutrition. So, they are
growing up with ill health.
Remedies and recommendations
1. Law and order situation of the tea estates must be improved. It is in an alarming stage
in various gardens. Security of both executives and laborer must be ensured. Shade
tree cutting, log stealing, illegal occupation of land, pilferage of tea and disturbance
from the surrounding ‘Basti’ must be stopped in order to proper functioning the
estates.
2. M.B.B.S. doctor and supporting staff must be appointed in various gardens to ensure
proper medical facility. Suitable fund must be allocated for medicine, food, health
education etc.
3. To set up sufficient number of deep and shallow tube wells in the labour line is a
demand of time to ensure pure water. Purification of water for existing tube wells is
also important. Unhealthy atmosphere in the labour line must be eliminated by
introducing hygienic latrine and by stopping defecation elsewhere.
4. Wine consumption in the labour line must be reduced gradually to some extent, with a
target to make it zero. Health education can be carried out through Toki cinema
(bioscope) regarding family planning, health & hygiene by the Govt. information
dept. or any other N.G.O.

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5. Housing problems of the labourer must be improved and solved. Unmetalled roads
must be transformed to metal led road and adequate water supply network must be
made.
6. The executives of the tea estates must be conscious about health hazards due to
pesticide residue in black tea. Still we have no measuring instrument to measure
‘maximum residue level’ of various pesticides. It will create a serious problem on
export volume or sales promotion.
7. Production cost variables are many, e.g.—wages of labourer, fertilizer, pesticide,
management and staff salary, electricity, gas, depreciation of machinery, packaging
material, storage & dispatch cost, etc. So, it is a tough job to reduce production cost.
Now, we have two ways--- quality and yield. If we produce quality tea with eye
catching bright orange –red colour liquor with flavor or to increase yield. Yield of
conventional seedling is very poor. So, we have to make clone tea with high yielding
variety and also have good quality. But which is the most contradictory situation in
tea culture. Because of quality and yield do not exist simultaneously. It is an irony of
fate in everywhere. Dream and reality cannot be the same around the world.
8. Shortage of capital and modern machinery can be solved by Govt. loan. But this loan
should be used only for tea culture. Forestation of valuable trees, horticulture should
be stopped in the tea field for the sake of tea culture and for the traditional labourer,
who cannot quit from the scene, who do not know any other technical work. Govt.
loan should not be used in housing or any other industrial purpose.
9. To establish sufficient number of educational institutions to improve literacy rate, to
eliminate superstition, ignorance etc. They should be conscious about cleanliness,
health and hygiene, over consumption of wine.

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Conclusion
Tea is the most popular non- alcoholic beverage, which is the second highest foreign
exchange earner agro-based commodity of Bangladesh. The assignment is designed to
understand the condition of human rights in the tea garden areas of Sylhet. Tea industries in
Bangladesh are facing various problems, such as security problems of the executives,
unexpected natural calamity, deterioration of law and order situation of the tea estates, log
stealing, political or outsider influence on their internal arrangements, illegal occupation of
land by the outsiders, lack of medical facilities, unhealthy atmosphere in the labour lines,
over consumption of wine by the laborer, lack of infrastructure (road, quarter, water supply
network etc), lack of capital and modern machineries, lower market value of made tea in
comparison to increasing production cost, lower yield per hectare in comparison to increasing
domestic need, some owners of the tea gardens are not using Govt. loans properly, lack of
perennial water source for irrigation during dry season and also in prolonged drought, lack of
educational institutions, malnutrition among the children of the labour line. For successful tea
culture the above problems must be solved .To reduce production cost we have to produce
quality tea with eye catching bright orange-red colour
liquor with flavour or have to increase yield. The tea estate has to make clone tea with high
yielding variety also have good quality. It must remove the screen of distrust and suspicion of
the European countries by establishing a clean image like Srilankan Tea Research Institute.
At present there are lots of population are involved with this industry in Bangladesh.
The most of the labors are illiterate. Sometimes they don’t know how to write their name.
The company arranges some training for them in very less time. The training and
development programs in case of labors are not in satisfactory level. They learn by doing
their work. The labors are not conscious about their different facilities also. Some times some
organizations come to make them inform about different conscious facilities. But most of the
times they are not attend in the seminar or program. We suggest the management team to take
step to make them aware about different facilities, from which they can be benefited. Labors
health conditions are not also in a satisfactory level, because of high drinking of alcohol. But
they are getting the free medical facilities from the company. Labors are also getting some
other benefits such as Residential facility, Food, Education facility, Job Security and
Entertainment facility. On the other hand to be a managerial level employee it is highly
education is needed and sometimes it is needed to do some other courses with this high
education. The employees are also getting some good facilities whatever they required. The
tea industry is going to face some new challenges globally. Some new countries try to
cultivate tea, which will be a threat to the countries like Bangladesh. So it is necessary for
Bangladesh to keep looking on the new competitor. It is also necessary for Bangladesh to
train the all employees of the industry with a scientific way, which can boost the production.
The companies also need to look for the new technology. They also need to use the best
machine for production. They also need to use the computer based technology to keep the
data and all the required information.

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References:
1. Khadim tea estate
2. Annual Report 1990-2000, Bangladesh Tea Association Chittagong
3. FIVDB, (2004), Pratyasha O Bastabata: The Picture of Education in Tea Gardens and
Haor Area of Sylhet (In Bangla), Friends in Village Development, Bangladesh in
Association with Commonwealth Education Fund, Sylhet
4. Hossain, Amjad. (2002), Bangladesher Shramik Andoloner Itihas (In Bangla), parua,
Dhaka
5. Sana, D.L. “ Tea Science”, Ashrafia Boi Ghar, Dhaka, p:248-266.
6. Islam, Mahabub-ul & Hossain, Manjur, “ Cha”, Camellia Agro-Industrial Services
Ltd., Dhaka, 247- 362.
7. Bangladesh Tea Hand book, Published by the
8. Bangladesh Tea Rehabilitation Project, p: 121-138, 1992.