Chai Pe Charcha: School students to learn about famous Assam tea?
Guwahati, May 21: If the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) agrees to the suggestion given by a group from Assam, school students across the country would be able to learn in depth about the famous Assam tea.
According to a report published in the Guwahati-edition of The Telegraph, Golaghat-based North Eastern Tea Association (NETA), wrote a letter to the Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani in December last year to add a special chapter on tea in the NCERT textbooks.
"In Assam, tea is not just a product or commodity. Tea is a culture--a culture steeped in history and a history replete with highlights of development and contribution to economic growth and social progress," stated the NETA letter.
"The tea industry is agro-based and labour oriented. It provides direct employment to over one million people. Through its forward and backward linkages another 10 million people derive their livelihood from tea. Tea is the most traditional, affordable and healthy beverage in India. It is the most widely consumed beverage across the length and breadth of the nation. Tea is the cheapest beverage in the world, next only to water," added the letter.
Bidyananda
Barkakoty,
NETA
adviser,
said,
"The
tea
is
the
only
beverage
in
India,
which
has
its
roots
in
India's
freedom
struggle.
The
first
Indian
tea-planter,
Maniram
Dewan,
was
an
early
patriot
and
was
involved
in
the
rebellion
against
the
British
in
the
1857
mutiny.
The
British
subsequently
hanged
him."
The
group
has
around
123
members
who
produce
80
million
kgs
of
tea.
In its reply to the letter, the NCERT, on May 13, said, "The contents related to tea have been included adequately at relevant places in all geography textbooks from classes V to XII. Tea is an important beverage crop in India, keeping this in view, geographic conditions for cultivation of tea and tea leaves harvesting by women have been illustrated through text and visuals. Moreover, distribution of tea in India has also been shown through maps."
"This will be placed before the Textbook Development Committee during revision of textbooks," NCERT added.
OneIndia News