NREGS guarantees atleast 100 days of work to every rural household.
Assam, which accounts for 51 per cent of India's and 13 per cent of the global tea production, employs a million permanent and seasonal tea workers, while another million are involved indirectly. The annual turnover of Assam's tea industry is Rs.5,000 crore.
The estate owners are planning to provide the workers perks depending on the days they come for work. Also, there is an opinion that NREGS work should not be offered during the plucking season in tea gardens.
Another major problem caused by NREGS is migration in large numbers. There are lot many people from the southern states coming to Assam to work in tea estates.
With the government providing them jobs in their own states with good pay, most of them are returning to their native places.
More than 300 workers and their families, for instance, quit a couple of estates in eastern Assam's Golaghan district to return to Telangana.
