Kolkata, Jan 9 (PTI) The Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Associations (CISTA) has urged the central government to include them under the ambit of various agricultural welfare schemes, contending that they are faced with pricing challenges.

In a letter to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, CISTA president Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty outlined “unique challenges” faced by the small tea growers (STGs).

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Unlike larger growers, they lack bargaining power and are at the “mercy of multinational tea companies when it comes to pricing”, he said.

"We fall under the purview of the Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry, leaving us ineligible for many key agricultural welfare schemes offered by the Agriculture Department," Chakraborty said.

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He also acknowledged the minister's recent query about potential schemes beneficial to STGs, and presented a list of 10 such programmes.

CISTA requested inclusion in schemes ranging from crop insurance to income support, citing their potential to act as "price shock absorbers" for STGs and the broader production ecosystem.

"Farming is not charity. The livelihood of hundreds of thousands of small tea growers is at stake," Chakraborty claimed in the letter.

"We request the government to liaise with the Agriculture Department and implement these essential schemes for our community," he said.

The schemes include the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan), the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojana (PM-KMY), Kisan Credit Card (KCC), the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)