‘No Justice – No Rest!’: How Activist Conceptions of Justice Influence Categories of Collective Identification among Tea-Plantation Labourers in Assam

Abstract

Activists working on behalf of tea-plantation labourers in the northeast Indian state of Assam
have promoted various visions of justice. Trade unionists prefer to maintain an ‘old-style’ tea-plantation
economy based on a combination of low cash wages and additional non-monetary benefits. Adivasi
(indigenous) activists used to advocate ‘Scheduled Tribes’ status for Adivasis in Assam (most of whom
are tea labourers) as a means to improve their livelihoods through affirmative action. In 2014, under the
guidance of international NGOs, Adivasi activists turned instead to advocating statutory minimum
wages for tea labourers. These transformative visions of justice not only imply different possible futures
for tea labourers, but also affect their categories of collective identification, turning them from ‘tea tribes’
into ‘Adivasis’ and then into ‘subjects of labour rights’. While these collective identities are often used
interchangeably, foregrounding particular aspects of them in different situations influences the constitution
and transformation of leadership patterns within the interest groups that are working on behalf
of Assam tea labourers.