Tea Plantation in Champawat, Kumaon: archival, in Uttarakhand

From the archive record

Women worker plucking tea leaves from a tea estate in Champawat of Kumaon region in Uttarakhand. Experts say this leaves the local producers with no option but to sell the tea as a brandless entity in the Kolkata auction market. The brand giants lift it in bulk, package it as their product and the country enjoys the flavour without giving credit to its real producers, they say. “This is agonising yet it shows the potential of the local tea to rise as a brand name,” says retired IAS officer and tea expert SS Pangti. Earlier in 2004, the ND Tewari government had set up Uttarakhand Tea Development Board (UTDB) to establish the local tea as a brand. But, due to poor marketing strategy, the Uttarakhand tea is still suffering from identity crisis. According to officials, the total area under tea