News — social projects

After many months of work, we have finally secured an ATM for our workers at Chota Tingrai Tea Estate. This ATM will allow digital salary payments for workers and 24/7 access to cash for the community. We hope that this increased access to their accounts will help our workers grow their savings accounts, and save them long, and currently thanks to COVID-19, hazardous trips to town for banking. However, we must provide a lot of education to our workers in order to ensure that inclusion in the formal financial sector benefits them. For example, many of our workers do not know how...

Guest Post by Avani Jalan Education in tea estates has been a long-standing challenge. Tea estates have historically been extremely rural and lacking access to government schools. Post Indian independence, the Government mandated that tea estates have elementary schools to improve primary school access for worker communities. At first, the tea estates funded and operated schools themselves. As the state’s capacity to provide basic services increased, the government gradually took over school operation. At Chota Tingrai, have two such government schools educating 250 students. Mana Organics’ community development team works in conjunction with government teachers to ensure quality teaching and...

Guest Post by Avani Jalan By buying Mana products, you not only enjoy a great cup of tea, but also support tea growing communities and the environment. Here’s a look into one such community: Chota Tingrai tea estate spans over 1480 acres, with 860 acres of planted tea. Chota Tingrai is home to 600 families with a total population of 2200. This small community comprises people of all ages and a part of our mission is to shape this community into a self sufficient, sustainable and healthy society. The workings of this community are no less than those of a...

In Assam, making tea is a community enterprise. While parents pluck or work in the factory, children attend tea estate schools or play sports in tea estate sports fields. Families live in houses constructed and maintained by tea companies. When people get sick, the first doctor that visits is from the estate hospital. Chota Tingrai Tea Estate itself is home to 367 families, situated in two villages. Additionally, we have a hospital, two schools, two soccer fields, a church, a mosque, and several Hindu shrines. Indian plantation law requires us with the maintenance of these structures, and the general welfare...

What we have accomplished so far As of January 15, we have managed to open bank accounts for all Chota Tingrai’s permanent workers. Additionally, 85% of casual workers now have accounts. We hope to complete casual worker bank account enrollment in a few weeks. The credit for this progress goes to our banking correspondents. They have worked tirelessly, helping workers fill out applications. They have met with bank officials innumerable times to ensure the bank understands workers’ needs. Thanks to the banking correspondents, the bank has agreed to install ATMs with biometric identification. This will eliminate the potential of pin...