By A.S. Chandrabose –

Prof. A.S. Chandrabose

There are disagreements over the amount of land and housing that plantation workers need to live on, but this needs to be agreed upon. It is also believed that there won’t be enough land to operate the plantation industry if workers are given houses and land. We really want those who have this opinion to think about the following.

Requirement for housing 

As mentioned above, the number of families living on plantations is 261,000 in 2022. Hence, since 1997, the Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT) has built 76,000 houses, including single houses, semi-detached houses, and terraced houses, and this is including Indian housing in 2022. These houses are built on mostly about 2 perches of land. It is the need for at least 8 more perches of land to the residents of these houses, making a total of 10 perches of land with the housing. The 10 perches is the minimum requirement for both housing and being involved in small-scale livelihood activities. Because, according to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Plantation, it is around 80 percent of the estate workers, who were considered as registered permanent workers, who now left the estate job and become non-registered but live in the estate. These non-registered workers are commonly called temporary workers. The temporary workers are the major supply of labour in the RPCs estates. The temporary workers were created by the Regional Plantation Corporations (RPCs) through a retrenchment program initiated in 1992. Thus the total number of families living in the estate is 261,000, and if provided 10 perches (261,000 x 10) 2,610,000 perches of land should be provided with acceptable family-friendly houses instead of the lion houses they live in.

Land for housing

As of now, a total extent of 169,539 hectares is under the plantation crops in Sri Lanka in 2022. This includes tea (77,533 hectares), rubber (41,103 hectares), coconut (12,043 hectares), oil palm (11,132 hectares), forests (23,816 hectares), and others (3,912 hectares). It should be noted that when the RPCs and State-Owned Corporations (SoC) took over by the plantations, the total extent of the plantations was 196,580 hectares. When observing the above statistics, a total of 38,860 hectares of the existing plantation land were converted for the diversification of crops like oil palm, which included the forest reservation and other activities in the country. Hence, according to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Plantation, as of now, only 169,539 hectares are under cultivation, and the RPCs and SoC have lost a total extent of 27,041 hectares, which is around 13.75 percent of the total land obtained in 1992. Some of the land released provided compensation for the people who lost their land due to the Mahaweli development project, and around 200 hectares were released for the construction of government schools in the plantation areas. But the total land released for non-plantation activities is not easily available.

As mentioned above, it needs 2,610,000 perches, and it is equivalent to only 6,604 hectares (1 hectare is equivalent to 395.2 purchases), and it is only 3.89 percent of the total plantation crops in the country. If you take only the extent of tea and rubber land to be distributed to the 261,000 families, a total of (tea 77,533 hectares and rubber 41,103 hectares) 118,636 hectares, and it will be (6,604 x 100/118,636) only 5.56 percent of the total land of tea and rubber in the county.

By looking at the above, a total of 6,604 hectares of land is required by providing a minimum of 10 perches for a total of 261,000 families, and it will be either 3.89 percent or 5.56 percent of the total extent of plantation land in the country. It is not required to distribute the arable land to the construction of houses for estate families. As far as tea plantations are concerned, on average, 45.2 percent of the tea bushes are old tea bushes and give three-fold less than the productivity of high-yielding varieties. Moreover, a portion of the old tea bushes has been abandoned by the estate management. Thus, marginal tea lands with an extent of old bushes or abandoned areas can be considered as the alternative land for the construction of new houses.

Occupation in the line rooms

Nonetheless, it is also not required to have new land to construct the housing for entire families living in the estates. Indeed, the shape of the British-constructed one-room and veranda line rooms has undergone some changes. Some families have renovated their living rooms comfortably by extending their front and back space of the respective line rooms with separate toilets, and the distribution of such families ranges from 20 to 30 percent of the total estate population. It should be noted that around 30 to 40 percent of the families living in the line rooms are partially renovated. Accordingly, it is mainly the veranda of the line room renovated as the living room with a cement wall and fixed windows with classes and a door. The renovated front room is also painted with colors and kept the cousin chairs, etc., in the front room. Yet, part of them are still continuing to live in the same set of line rooms, and the condition is depleted. It is around 50 to 60 percent of the families living in the aforementioned depleted line rooms. However, as far as the supply of electricity is concerned, it is around 90 percent line room houses using the electricity. Hence, the supply of drinking water is not improved with the expected level. Thus, the above discussion shows that the need for the new houses is not at the expected level based on the families living in the estate sector; it is rather reduced in number.

It is also worthwhile to note not only the land allocated to the construction of new houses for the plantation community but also how much land is to be distributed to existing houses for the estate community by the management of the estates. According to Statistical Information on Plantation Crops (SIPC), published by the Ministry of Plantation in 2022, the number of estates that are being managed by the plantation is 321. As we noted above, it needs 6,604 hectares of land from the total of 321 estates managed by the plantations. Thus, it will be (6,604/321) 20.57 hectares from each estate. It should be noted that at present the existing houses occupied by the workers in the estate use an average of 10 hectares. Therefore, it needs an additional 10 hectares from each estate to complete new houses in the plantations.

Thus, the above discussion evidently shows that purchasing land for housing for 261,000 families living in the plantation is not the intangible task. Hypothetical perception of unavailability of (261,000 x 10 perches) 2,610,000 purchase is misinterpretation, delusion, and mistake. A quick rectification in this regard is necessary for the policy makers involved and implementation agencies, which include the Ministry of Plantation and Community Development formed by the present government of NPP in Sri Lanka.

Cultural aspects for Housing   

In contrast, the majority of the estate workers fall into the categories of unique South Indian culture, and when they migrate, they also bring their valuable cultural tools to retain their culture even though the travel was awful and hardship at the time of the formation of the new plantation system in the country. The unique life adopted through the plantation system is identified as a ‘plantation community’ as well. It should be noted that the people who have lived on the same plantation for the past six or seven generations have united with that land and live in an inseparable bond. There are temples where they have worshipped for generations in their residential areas and celebrated annual festivals in a big way. They also perform worship of minor deities in their living places. This will be performed throughout the year by various family members in the estate. The performance of worships is not a new practice in the society, and it transfers from old generation to new generation among the Hindu traditions. In addition to that, they school education and the traditional environment of existence stereotype tea and rubber gives additional social value to them. In addition to that, the cemeteries and tombs that are the memories of their ancestors are the unique symbols in their places of residence. Moreover, the people are well connected by their caste, ethnicity, and relationships while living in the same estate in the line rooms for the last several decades. Therefore, bringing them to settle far away from the original living places in the multi-store houses will have serious social consequences.

Workers population

As we note above, though a total of 261,000 families are living in the estate, all of them are not registered permanent workers (registered permanent workers are entitled to EPF, ETF, allowances, medical, medicine, etc.) in the estates now. According to the SIPCs, it is only around 110,000 workers, or 50,000 families, who are registered workers in the payroll of the estates in 2022. Others, a bunch of families (200,000) living in the estates, are, of course, previously occupied as the registered workers are now either retired at the matured age or have retired under the retrenchment policy adopted particularly by the RPCs and after the 1995s. For example, in 1993, there were 328,293 permanent workers, but now the number has been reduced to 109,000 (66.76 percent). However, many of them who retired under the retrenchment or otherwise have not left the estates. Several retirees returned back as the potential supply of labor force in the plantation sector. The laborers who are retired and supply as laborers have been considered under the category of temporary or casual workers for both the RPCs estates as well as in the state-owned estates in the country. The returnees of the retired workforce are well-experienced estate workers who worked in the same estate and return as temporary workers. Their contribution is a unique opportunity for the estate management. Many of the returnees are experienced workers from the same estates. The estate management gives minimum payments and considers them as temporary, contract, or casual workers. This type of workers is also known as non-estate workers.

The availability of such experienced workers at low cost means plantation work is being carried out without any hindrance. However, temporary workers do not get continuous work. They are given jobs for only 12 to 15 days a month. In this situation, the families of temporary workers on the plantations are forced to live in poverty. It is also noteworthy that a study cited by the World Bank in 2022 stated that 51 percent of plantation worker families live below the poverty line. The ones who created this situation are the plantation companies themselves.

The estate management strategically implemented the retrenchment and allowed them to stay at the same estate to get low-cost labor to manage the plantations. Similarly, they have reduced the number of workers who were permanently working in the plantations by many folds.

In fact, the greatest responsibility for protecting the plantation industry lies with the plantation management itself. The companies that have taken charge of the plantations have not improved them in any way since the 1990s to this day. For example, in 1995, the area of tea under the plantation management was 140,063 hectares, but now they have reduced the area of tea cultivation to 77,383 hectares (44.74 percent). When observing the statistics in the SIPCs, these companies have not expanded with high-yielding crops. Generally, plantation workers are seen as those who carry out the tasks given by the estate management and receive income according to the minimum wage decided at the collective agreements after 1992. Thus, it has never been the duty of the workers to run the plantations profitably and show it as a loss or profit. .

Conclusion

* A total of 261,000 can be place less than the 6 percentage of the total plantation land used in the country. #

* A family to be provided with a minimum of 10 perches that will help not oly for living but involved small scale farming tec. For their minimum survival

* The proposed plans to build multi-story houses as a single residence should be reconsidered.

* The New Village Development Authority for the Plantation Regions to be given  sufficient fund to establish the village ets. in the  estates.

*The author could be approached through this email: asboseou@yahoo.com or ascha@ou.ac.lk.