Big Win for Assam Tea Workers: Land Rights Granted - Will ST Status Follow Next?

Guwahati: In a day marked by major policy developments, Assam witnessed two significant steps aimed at delivering long-awaited justice to key communities in the state. From granting land rights to tea

garden workers to advancing the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status demand for six major communities, political leaders across party lines called the moment “historic” and “long overdue.”BJP MLA Mrinal Saikia hailed the passage of the Assam Fixation of Ceiling of Land Holding (Amendment) Bill, 2025, calling it an emotional milestone for lakhs of tea garden workers who have lived in Assam for over two centuries without owning a piece of land.“It was a very historic moment for us that the Ceiling Act was amended yesterday,” Saikia said, adding that the reform will finally allow workers to own their own plots. He emphasised that land ownership is essential not just for housing but for obtaining permanent residence certificates, bank loans, and accessing development benefits.“A community living here for hundreds of years without land to call their own this amendment corrects that injustice,” he said.Saikia also welcomed the state cabinet’s decision to approve the report on granting ST status to six communities Ahom, Moran, Matak, Chutia, Koch-Rajbongshi, and Tea Tribes.He said the government would table the report in the Assembly and send it to the Centre, expressing confidence that the move “will be passed in Parliament.”On the other hand, AIUDF MLA Rafiqul Islam said the demand for ST status is decades old, and every government has failed to deliver on repeated promises. He stressed that while the six major communities “genuinely deserve ST status,” the concerns of existing ST groups must also be addressed.This issue should not be politicised, Islam said.“The rights of the current ST communities must be fully protected even as the six communities are granted their due status. Both should go hand in hand,” he added.As Assam moves ahead with two major reforms including land rights for tea garden workers and advancing ST status for key communities, political consensus appears to be forming around long-pending demands.The upcoming parliamentary deliberations will determine how soon these changes become reality.