Plantation crops are high value commercial crops with greater economic importance and play a vital role in Indian economy. The major plantation crops include coconut, cashew nut, coffee, tea and rubber. Exports of tea, coffee and rubber are contributing 15 percent to the total agricultural export earnings. It is the source of livelihood for millions of small and marginal farmers and provides employment for millions of plantation workers. The export earnings from plantation crops like coffee and tea played a significant role in financing Indian development.

Occupational Health Hazards refer to the potential risks to health and safety of workers in their workplaces. Tea garden workers are susceptible to a number of hazards in their workplaces due to physical, biological, mechanical, chemical and psychosocial factors. The present paper tries to examine the occupational health hazards faced by the tea garden workers of Hajua Tea Estate of Sibsagar District and Marangi Tea Estate of Golaghat District in Assam.

Landless dalits and adivasis have occupied parts of a corporate rubber plantation at Chengara in Kerala for five years. Despite being pressurised in various ways, they have held out, sticking to their demand of land for them to pursue livelihoods. None of the agreements so far reached with the state government has been satisfactorily implemented. Yet, the issues raised by the Chengara struggle have a social and economic significance that no government can afford to ignore.

India is the largest tea-producing country in the world and contributes 33% of the global tea production. Much of this tea comes from the biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern regions and the Western Ghats. Due to market fluctuations, increasing costs of production and lease expiry, many coffee, tea and cardamom plantations have become unviable for active management, resulting in labour unrest. In Thiruvananthapuram division of Kerala alone, 536 ha (55%) of the total 969 ha of the planted area was abandoned.

Biodiversity is a commonly used word to describe the variety of life on earth. It refers to the wide range of living organisms: microbes, plants, animals and their habitats. Biodiversity on organic farms accounts for efficient nutrient recycling and effective insect management. An organic farm is a balanced system where the problem of insects is well taken care of by their natural
predators. Therefore, most farms rich in biodiversity possess greater resilience and are able to recover more readily from stress such
as drought, pests, diseases, epidemics, etc.