GUWAHATI: PM Modi will launch the distribution of land deeds to thousands of tea workers in poll-bound Assam on March 13, giving them a stake in plantations where they have lived and worked for two centuries since British planters brought them from villages of Chotanagpur division, Bihar and Bengal.Nearly 3.5 lakh families across 825 tea estates stand to benefit, with the initiative seeking to legalise land rights of generations living in labour lines without homesteads of their own. “The PM will hand over the first land patta to a designated tea garden worker. Distribution will then be carried out across the state,” CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said.Tea tribes and Adivasis, about 20% of Assam’s population, influence nearly 35 of 126 assembly seats. The assembly amended the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Landholdings Act in Nov 2025 to enable transfer of labour lines to workers.
