Tea Brand Security - Common Man's Understanding

 

"Where are you from" ? first day in class, in a different country, the professor asked us all. There were students from all over the world, Brazil, England, Canada, France, USA and lots of other countries. Nervous I stood up when my turn came and I said, "India". It was followed by next obvious question, "which parts"???.... Darjeeling, its in the north-eastern part of India", I said, assuming that no one would know where or what kind of place I actually came from ... but to my surprise I heard may be three or four voices speaking in unision "O! the famous tea place"..... God!!! was I happy??? I sure was, and not only happy, I was proud to be from Darjeeling.... proud to be from `the famous tea place`....

Tea symbolises different things to different people depending on their cultures, traditions, locations and societies.... For the Japanese its sacred, and they have an elaborate process for preparing and drinking tea. For the British it symbolises tradition, and they will prefer drinking tea to any other breverage, and recently even for the beer guzzling Germans, tea has become a prestige symbol, only the rich can afford drinking tea in Germany. So we see that in different parts of the world tea means different things to different people..... relaxation, traditon, wealth.... and for us its the way of life. Darjeeling tea is regarded as the "champange among teas" and is in very high demand world over, and at times I wonder if the taste of tea produced in Darjeeling, has got something to do with the sweat, dedication and sacrifice of the people who produce it??? May be the hardships of the people who toil day and night for almost nothing is reflected in "that perfect cup of tea which is even better than the champagne".

Few years ago Sonam B. Wangyel had written in one of his articles, "immitation is the greatest form of flattery, may be that is the reason why, Darjeeling tea is immitated and sold world over", I remember feeling proud as a peacock after reading that article, but once I started to understand the economics of tea, I realised that comparing counterfeit tea with flattery was nothing but romanticising the devil....World over currently 35-40 million kgs of tea is being sold as Darjeeling tea, and the actual prouction is hardly 10 million kgs, so where from does the rest 30 million kgs come from and what does it mean to have an excess 35 million kgs available in the world market labelled and sold as Darjeeling tea?????

Lets discuss a hypothetical situation to illustrate how it effects us:

Assume that on an average one kg of Darjeeling tea fetches Rs 500/- ,
let the total production of Darjeeling tea be 100,000 kgs
so the total earning will be = 100,000 X 500
Which is = Rs 5,00,00000/- ........................... (a)

Now lets analyse what's happening in the world market,
Total supply of Darjeeling tea 4 times higher than the actual production, so
total supply = 100000 X 4, which is equal to 400,000 kgs,
assuming the same price to prevail i.e. Rs 500 /- kg
we find that total income will be = 400000 X 500 = 20,00,00000...................... (b)

So from eqn. (a) and (b) we find that there are people who earn more money than people who produce Darjeeling tea, just by counterfeiting and selling other tea as Darjeeling tea.

Therefore, we see that the importance of Tea Brand Security (TBS) is immense, as it will stop the flow of fake tea in the market labelled and sold so far as Darjeeling tea, which will inturn result in better market for the actual Darjeeling tea, this will definately cause the price for Darjeeling tea to rise. The illustration I have tried to show above is just a fraction of what is actually going on, imagine multiplying 10000000 (actual Darjeeling tea produced currently) X 5000 (expected price after flow of fake tea is curtailed). I tried doing that and got the result Rs. 500,00,000,000/- an staggering five thousand crores .... just a modest estimation..... the price might even be higher than mere Rs 5000/-, lets not forget Silver Tips, produced by Makaibari TE, was sold for an unprecedented Rs 18000/-per kg few years back.

The implications are clear, once TBS is into put into practice the ailling tea industry will get a much needed shot in the arm, the profits will obviously rise to levels much higher than now,..... but ..... ...... who will benefit from the TBS??? Of course tea garden industry as a whole will be a big winner, along with govt. of India...... but what I fear is.... what if the labourers continue to get paid, what they have been getting as of now (Rs 45 to 55 per day)??? what will be the share of labourers in the profit??? will there be any mechanism in place to ensure that the rights of the labourers are protected??? These are the questions that need to be discussed and thought about from right now, by all the labourers, unions and of course the political parties....... as I always say ..... in a globalised world the greatest weapon we can have is information...... collect the information share it.... think about it... discuss it... so that when the time comes to speak about and for your rights you have all the necessary tools to do so.

Tea board and current MP Dawa Narbula should be congratualted for this initiative, but they should also ensure that the fruits of the exercise do not stay with few people, rather let it trickle down to the sons and daughters of the soil, whose sweat and hard work makes Darjeeling tea the `Champange among all teas`...... once again lets not forget that the state of economy determines the standard of living.... so lets help build a vibrant economy but at the same time lets get united and demand our rights in a unified voice..... cause only we can determine and chart our own future.

Once again I leave you with another immortal lines from Bob Marleys song......`........ most people think..... great god will come from the sky...... take away everything.... make everybody feel high...... if you know what life is worth.... you will look for yours on earth...... now you see the light.... stand up for your rights........`

Hope, I made some sense