Among the teas cultivated in India, the most celebrated one comes from Darjeeling Himalaya. The best of India's prized Darjeeling Tea is considered the world's finest tea. The region has been cultivating and producing tea since the last 150 years. The complex geo-environmental and agro-climatic conditions in the region lend to the tea grown in the area a distinct quality. However, in recent times, the industry is fraught with several problems. This paper attempts to explore the social and economic situations of tea garden labourers in Darjeeling Hills. It brings forth the plights of garden labourers in the region that produces the finest quality tea in the world. The paper deals upon the negligence and highhandedness of tea management towards the social and economic development of garden labourers. The basic aim of this paper is to highlight the conditions of tea garden labourers in Darjeeling Hills in the context of wide spread crisis in Tea Industry Sector in the country and its consequent impact on the laborers. It lists down the factors responsible in this connection and calls for a more robust debate, discussion and systematic research on these factors in order to understand the crux of the problems characterising Tea industry in Darjeeling and save once booming sector from degenerating into oblivion.
