A young Hindu tea garden worker was found murdered in Bangladesh, raising concerns amid upcoming parliamentary elections and a series of attacks against the Hindu community.
The visit was part of Modi's campaign for BJP candidates in the poll-bound state of Assam.
The recent flash floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain in north Bengal have caused massive destruction in at least 30-35 tea gardens in Darjeeling, with reports of loss of plantation areas, deaths of workers and damage to houses of labourers, prompting planters to convene a meeting to assess the situation, stakeholders said.
In the last three years, 20 gardens have changed hands, and 90 per cent of the buyers are from non-tea background.
BJP leader Nitin Nabin accuses the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government of altering West Bengal's demography by favouring infiltrators and neglecting the rights of the state's residents, promising to rectify the situation if the BJP comes to power.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah pledged the BJP will recover funds allegedly stolen by the TMC in Bengal and promised development schemes for North Bengal, while attacking Mamata Banerjee's governance.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused central forces of searching her car and criticised the BJP for alleged election misconduct during a rally in Islampur, Uttar Dinajpur district.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has accused the TMC government in West Bengal of preventing the implementation of central welfare schemes, depriving the state's residents of benefits such as Ayushman Bharat and PM Kisan.
Closure of tea plantations in West Bengal has taken a heavy toll on workers in the gardens.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced the state government will move the Supreme Court to vacate the stay on a CBI probe into the alleged Gorkhaland Territorial Administration teacher recruitment scam. The decision follows complaints of corruption and illegal teacher recruitment within the GTA.
In the fifth of a six-part series on the impact of demonetisation, Avishek Rakshit senses a storm brewing over the 850-odd tea gardens in the north eastern state, which have a weekly and fortnightly payment cycle.
The famed Darjeeling tea may have slip to a new production low in 2025, as changing weather patterns, a shortage of pluckers and mounting economic stress weigh on the region's gardens.
The sorry tale of how the operating managing committees, the state-supported worker committees who were to manage tea estates in West Bengal after their exhausted owners gave up and instead ran these into the ground, while pocketing the money, has been reported in some detail. But, what of the body of workers themselves?
Tea planters in Darjeeling have raised that a shortage of commercial LPG, triggered by the ongoing conflict in West Asia, could hit tea processing during the first flush, the delicate early-season harvest that commands the highest premiums and often sets the tone for the year.
Police say timely operation prevented a possible mass-casualty attack.
India, the land that gave the world Darjeeling and Assam tea, risks losing its place at the global tea table, not because of its leaves, but because of its lost opportunities, notes Kanika Datta.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has promised to expel infiltrators from West Bengal and secure the border if the BJP wins the upcoming assembly elections. He accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of neglecting North Bengal and favouring Muslims in budget allocations.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of corruption and land grabbing, promising action if the Congress party wins the upcoming elections in Assam. Gandhi also criticised the BJP's governance and economic policies.
The high-pitched campaign for the first phase of West Bengal assembly elections concluded with the BJP and TMC focusing on electoral rolls and dietary habits, while making promises to voters. Voting is scheduled in 152 constituencies across north Bengal and southern districts, with over 3.60 crore electors eligible to vote. A record number of Central paramilitary forces have been deployed, and several districts have been identified as highly sensitive.
A video shows the Congress leader taking instructions from workers of the Sadhuru tea garden on how to pluck tea leaves. She smiles as a few others click photographs, the minute long video shows.
After authoring a sweet success story by giving the management of its Kannan Devan tea gardens in Munnar, Kerala, to the workers, Tata Tea is planning to replicate the experiment in the North India plantation operations.
Darjeeling has 87 tea gardens spread across roughly 19,000 hectares, employing about 52,000 permanent workers.
Thousands and thousands and thousands of adults owe their lives to the commitment and medical fervour of Dr Armida Fernandez, who a grateful nation honoured with the Padma Shri this year.
The Assam government has taken the initiative to pay workers their wages electronically and has asked banks to open branches adjacent to tea gardens and install ATMs in estates.
'She was not a yes person. She would tell the truth and her feelings to Indira Gandhi, and Indira Gandhi would value her opinion. The same was the case with Rajiv Gandhi who would value her opinion.'
Indian eateries are adapting to the LPG crisis by cutting menus, increasing prices, and switching to alternative fuels like coal, as LPG supplies are disrupted due to global events. State authorities are cracking down on hoarding and black marketing of LPG cylinders.
The alpona (artwork) on the steep, winding road leading to Makaibari bears testimony to the visit of G20 delegates for the second tourism working group meeting in April last year. The lush tea bushes, the delegates joining in for the moonlight plucking of Silver Tips Imperial first flush, a favourite of late Queen Elizabeth II, cut a picture of mystical magic. But it's not the Kurseong tea garden's only shining moment - the last few years have been busy for the estate and its bungalow.
A tea estate owner and his wife were burnt alive by irate workers, who set their bungalow and two vehicles on fire on Wednesday.
The prime minister was apparently referring to Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg's controversial 'toolkit', which she tweeted and then deleted, outlining ways in which people can participate in the farmers protest.
'That a song can carry the weight of a people's dreams and move hearts across the world.' On Bhupen Hazarika's 99th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays rich tribute to the legendary singer and composer.
Scanty rainfall, last year's lockdown, growing competition from Nepal and the disaster of the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation are steadily weakening exports and sales of Darjeeling tea.
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance in Assam as coming together of "two dangerous forces of communalism and divisiveness", Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "insulting" people of the state
Sale of India's specialty tea varieties from exclusive estates in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are on the rise in the domestic market, and sought after in overseas markets too.
A nationwide strike called by trade unions to protest against the central government's labor policies had a mixed impact across India. While normal life remained largely unaffected in most parts of the country, some sectors like banking, transport, and insurance experienced disruptions. Sporadic incidents of violence were reported in West Bengal.
Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday asserted that her party, if voted to power in Assam, will bring a new law to 'nullify' the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state.
Emboldened by the Kannan Devan success story in Kerala, Tata Tea Ltd said the company does not see any hurdle in the participation of its employees and workers of Assam and West Bengal
The Congress party's traditional bastion among the tea workers in Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Tezpur Lok Sabha constituencies holds the key to the party's fortunes in the first phase polling on April 7 in Assam. The BJP has been trying hard to make inroads here.
