Slavery of tea labourers in Assam

Tea workers in Assam and West Bengal are working under a practice of modern day slavery. They are also living in a condition of enforced famine.

The labourers have been living for hundreds of years-- generation after generation-- in their respective tea gardens. They do not hold any title of ownership over the land. They are only entitled to stay there as long as they work in the garden. They can be forcibly evicted from their huts and made homeless if they opt for any other work. Thus they are forced to work at wages which their owner pleases to pay them and which is far below the state minimum wages in all cases. In some tea gardens in Assam they are paid about Rs. 75/- 78/- or 85/- per day. When labourers demand hike of wages or payment of arrears the the gardens are illegally closed down and payments are stopped. This drives the labourers and their children, who are suffering from inter-generationl malnutrition, to literal starvation death. This is happening in Assam and West Bengal. Most of the labour unions are affiliated to political parties. Their priority is protect the interests of the political parties, not those of workers. The workers are living, nay dying, in a condition of artificial famine and working in a condition of slavery.

The working conditions of tea labourers in Assam is slavery-like for two reasons. 1. They are paid less than the statutory minimum wages. 2. They practically cant exercise the option to leave the work and look for alternative because such move will render them homeless.

The Muslims and The ISIS

Those who think themselves Muslims but do not endorse the brutality of ISIS should not condemn the acts of barbarity by the latter as only apologies for being Muslims. It should not be an apology. Also, the verbal condemnation is not enough. Such Muslims owe it to the world and to their claim that Islam has nothing to do with such madness of violence and brutality that they should make their version of Islam triumphant over that of ISIS and capable of stopping this madness. It is primarily the responsibility of such Muslims because those madmen in the group come from Muslim societies and are using Islam and plight of Muslim societies to justify their madness.

The sense of this responsibility should not come from any sense of collective guilt or as a collective punishment. This responsibility comes from you being true to your claims about your faith and ideology and the claimed commitment of your faith promote well being of humankind and prevent harms to them (al-amr bil-ma'roof wan-nahyu a'n-al munkar) and also because the harm is coming from your house.

Some may ask why single out ISIS only when killings and atrocities are being committed by many others far more in numbers. They may cite killings of civilians by USA and NATO drones in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other West Asian countries, Israeli killings in Gaza, executions in Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, atrocities of China in Tibet and Xinjiang etc. This argument does not hold ground because two wrongs do not make a right. Atrocities any where in the world are unacceptable and condemnable. All should work to prevent them. Every killing is brutal and tragic, whether it is crude beheading or surgical droning. But killing of people like British aid worker Alan Henning is more tragic. He was there trying to save people. Killing of children in their sleeps are also more tragic. Those who claim to be Muslim and also claim that their Islam does not allow such killings should work more to stop this barbarism being committed in their name.