Tea Developments in India

http://www.bilkulonline.com/business/trade-industry/4439-soon-tea-cutting-at-chaa-laaris-of-gujarat-to-go-costly-but-safe

Soon ‘Tea Cutting’ at ‘chaa laaris’ of Gujarat to go costly but SAFE

From 2014 smart use n throw glasses to be used on all

'cha laaris' (tea stalls) of Gujarat

Bilkul News, Ahmedabad, Dec 17: Tea is a divine herb - Xu Guangqi and

Where there's tea there's hope - Arthur Wing Pinero. These old proverbs still hold great value and relevance when it comes to India and specially Gujarat which has once again stood on the top to be the maximum tea consumer state of India after Punjab and Maharashtra.

Indian Tea Association President Arun Singh insisted that it was time when the businessmen in the tea industry take up the issues of tea workers more seriously and chalk out some programme for their upliftment and better life.

Interestingly, the national per capita tea consumption in the country is 1.4 kg annually; it is 1.6 kg in Gujarat.

To further boost tea consumption, the Tea Board of India, local brands and packers will distribute 8 lakh paper cups, carrying their logos, by March 2014,Piyush Desai, President of Western India Tea Dealers’ Association (WITDA) and Managing Director, Wagh Bakri Group, said here during the WITDA conference.

As a trial run Desai said more than a lakh cups were distributed in different tea stalls and laaris of Ahmedabad and to their surprise it was welcomed. However, in future it would be sold to them at a subsidized rate of 15 paise per glass.

Piyush Desai said the traders of Gujarat had requested the board to reconsider the clause of writing in English only on the packet to be made flexible by including the local language and instead of imprisonment punishment (which has put at least two traders of Gujarat so far and as many as 80 prosecuted so far) to be reduced to penalty and not imprisonment.

In another first, Gujarat Tea tycoon Piyush Desai introduced smart and safe glasses of tea before the media which will soon be the order of the day to drink the tea.

Presently, the tea is consumed in cheap plastic glasses or glass made of glass and washed unhygienically after its use every time by dipping them in dirty water and so on. In order to provide tea in good hygienic and convenient glasses a new effort by Piyush Desai’s company with the help and patronage of the Tea Board is going to set a new trend of serving the tea at all points in special safe, convenient and attractive glasses. These glasses will have the regional company’s name, tea board name, and local tea centre on it.

By the end of 2014, Maharashtra and Rajasthan will also be made part of this campaign, he said.

Tea Board of India Chairman MGVK Bhanu urged the consumers to partake tea without mixing it with sugar or milk for better health.

Bhanu also informed the media that there was an increase in tea production of 70 million kgs this year due to an order of Iran of 25 million kgs.

Bhanu also agreed that without tea being titled as “National Drink” it holds the status and is consumed by 80 percent population of the country.

The tea production is estimated to go up to 1500 million kgs by 2020 in India.

R P Singh, Parliamentary Secretary to the Assam Government’s Department of Commerce and Industry, who represents the top tea producing Tinsukhia area, said his government is setting up a tea park in a 200 acre area near Guwahati for showcasing different varieties for promoting tea cultivation.

Bhanu said tea industry provides employment to the maximum number of people, 12 lakh, mainly women. The Tea Board has commenced a Rs 30 crore drive to promote tea in rural areas of the country.