India tea workers burn boss to death in Assam state

[W.G.Ewald]

BBC News - India tea workers burn boss to death in Assam state

Hundreds of tea plantation workers have set alight their boss's bungalow in north-east India, burning to death the owner and his wife, officials say.

Angry workers surrounded the bungalow at Kunapathar in Assam state late on Wednesday, following a two-week long dispute with the management.

Police said the incident happened after the management asked some workers to leave their accommodation.

More than half of India's tea output comes from 800 tea estates in Assam.

Local official SS Meenakshi Sundaram said some 700 tea garden workers surrounded the manager's bungalow on Wednesday evening and set it on fire. Two vehicles belonging to the manager were also torched.

The charred bodies of Mridul Kumar Bhattacharyya and his wife, Rita, were later recovered from the debris, Mr Sundaram said.

Police have detained three workers in connection with the incident.

Officials said Mr Bhattacharyya and his workers had been locked in a dispute for the past two weeks.

They said Mr Bhattacharyya had also faced protests at another tea estate that he owned two years ago.

In that dispute, angry workers set fire to his tea factory near the state capital, Guwahati, after he had allegedly fired on a crowd that had gathered near his house to protest against a reported attack on a local woman.

Several incidents of attacks on tea executives by angry workers have been reported from Assam in recent years.

 

[Ray]

A very unfortunate incident.

India is getting intolerant.

Lack of effective governance and an overemphasis on growth at the expense of the average person's strife over daily existence is creating this great void wherein people are taking law into their own hands.

And this is aggravated when they see the politicians have a merry time and feathering their nests!

And so take it out on the nearest who have some leverage to their existence, and in this instance, it was the tea garden owner!

 

[maomao]

The Bosses need to keep good number of muscle men to keep a tab on ever increasing violent and lazy labor class!

 

[Ray]

The Bosses need to keep good number of muscle men to keep a tab on ever increasing violent and lazy labor class!

That maybe true but the tea industry is in the dumps as such.

Govt apathy has ruined the tea industry bringing sorrow to the owner, management and the labour!

And the labour still working under colonial conditions!

 

[mushahary]

The Bosses need to keep good number of muscle men to keep a tab on ever increasing violent and lazy labor class!

That will not deter them , those people (tea garden workers) are notorious for assaulting managers and officials . And this is not the first time such incident has happened and they are definetly not lazy but most exploited group in Assam. First the British and now the tea companies , you would be surprised? shocked? to know that on average a tea garden worker get no more then 1500 / month for their work and their living condition is appalling ..
May be a little raise in wages and other benefits will help but then are we ready to pay an extra rupee or two for our cup of tea????

 

[W.G.Ewald]

I can only think of one or two bosses during my career who I would have liked to see burned alive.

 

[pmaitra]

While I deplore this killing of the boss and his wife, asking people to vacate their homes is a very insensitive act. Even in the US borrowers file bankruptcy and are exonerated of their loans, that can run into huge figures.

Again, silly labour laws, with no protection for the disadvantaged. This is the end result.

 

[satish007]

Bosses need guns,no easy become boss

 

[amoy]

India is getting intolerant.

Lack of effective governance and an overemphasis on growth at the expense of the average person's strife over daily existence is creating this great void wherein people are taking law into their own hands.

It's not owing to "overemphasis on growth. Instead, to INADEQUATE growth that results in intensified interest clashes

 

[nimo_cn]

Problems caused by underdevelopment could only be solved by development.

 

[Ray]

It's not owing to "overemphasis on growth. Instead, to INADEQUATE growth that results in intensified interest clashes

Growth and GDP assists the the overall economy.

If GDP was an indicator of ADEQUATE growth, then there would be no poor in China, the fastest growing GDP amongst nations of the world.

Nor would there be the thousands of protests that are there in China.

One must not be totally enamoured by statistics to be the bottom line of universal well being.

 

[amoy]

GDP is no equivalent to "growth"

Indices & Data | Human Development Index | Human Development Reports (HDR) | United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

 

[Ray]

I am not a slave to statistics which others find so enamouring.

Statistics depends on inputs that can prove the case and leave out other statistics that can skew the case.

Statistics cannot measure inputs that cannot be reduced into figures i.e. Happiness, Contentment, Desire etc. These are abstract. But it nevertheless plays a major role.

You must have seen the thread where a economist indicated that certain aspects were not considered and so it was conveniently showcased that India's is worse off than sub Saharan Africa, when the actualities were something different.

Further, each race has different indices for Happiness, Contentment, Satisfaction et al.

For the Chinese it is money and material wealth.

For the Americans, a car for each member of the family is a dire necessity.

For Indians it is spiritual satisfaction and economic well being to the extent that the basic needs are met.

Therefore, comparisons are as similar as chalk and cheese.

 

[johnnyboy]

Assam tea workers ate flesh after killing owner - India - DNA

Assam tea workers ate flesh after killing owner
Published: Tuesday, Jan 1, 2013, 8:00 IST
By Prasanta Mazumdar | Place: GUWAHATI | Agency: DNA

As the police are scouting for the accused of the recent gruesome killing of a tea garden owner and his wife in Assam, it has now been established that a section of the assailants had consumed flesh after killing the duo on that day.

Cannibalism in the incident was reported on Monday when two witnesses gave accounts to the police about the consumption of flesh by a section of the assailants.

"Two witnesses have told us that a section of the assailants had consumed flesh after perpetrating the attack," inspector general (law and order) SN Singh told reporters.Mridul Kumar Bhattacharya, owner of MKB Tea Estate in eastern Assam's Tinsukia district, and his wife Rita Bhattacharya, were killed by garden workers on December 26 to avenge the arrest of two workers by the police.

The workers, numbering around 700 to 800, marched up to Bhattacharya's bungalow. They torched a couple of vehicles before killing Bhattacharya and his wife and setting the bungalow on fire. Two charred bodies were retrieved later. The two workers were arrested by the police based on a complaint lodged by Bhattacharya. He had earlier served eviction notices to them. Singh said at least 14 people were involved, of which one had been arrested. "The accused are from the MKB tea estate and from some neighbouring tea gardens. They will be arrested soon," he said adding "the law and order situation in the area is now under control".

Cannibalism!!! we are frequently hitting new lows of late. :shocked: