CAPF AC 2025 Q53: Modern History – British Administration & Economic Policies
The indentured system in tea gardens of Assam was abolished in
- (a) 1926
- (b) 1934
- (c) 1938
- (d) 1946
Answer: (a) 1926
Explanation
End of the indenture system in Assam's tea gardens
How to think: the indenture (penal contract) system bound tea workers to the gardens for years under criminal law.
Its end came in 1926, after the Assam labour legislation was repealed.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1859 | Inland Emigration Act and the Workmen's Breach of Contract Act: penal contracts for tea labour |
| 1926 | Indenture system abolished in the Assam tea gardens |
| 1934, 1938, 1946 | Later labour measures, not the end of indenture |
The tea-garden workers, brought from Chota Nagpur and other regions, had been held under contracts that made leaving a crime.
Answer: (a) 1926.
Why each option is right or wrong
- (a) CORRECT. The indenture system was abolished in 1926.
- (b) Incorrect. 1934 is after the abolition.
- (c) Incorrect. 1938 is after the abolition.
- (d) Incorrect. 1946 is long after the abolition.
Key point
Assam tea labour: Inland Emigration Act 1859, penal contract system, indenture abolished 1926. Workers mostly from Chota Nagpur, Santhal Parganas, Odisha.
Remember
Assam tea indenture: 1859 begins, 1926 ends.
Common mistakes
- Picking a year close to independence because labour reforms are linked with that period.
- Confusing the end of indenture in Assam with the end of the indentured emigration abroad (1917-20).
- Mixing the 1859 Act with the abolition.
Exam tip
Educated guess: the earliest year in the list, 1926, is the one that fits the 1920s reform wave in colonial labour law. The others are later.
Sources
- Rana P. Behal, One Hundred Years of Servitude: Political Economy of Tea Plantations in Colonial Assam (Tulika / V. V. Giri National Labour Institute)
- Ranajit Das Gupta, Labour and Working Classes in Eastern India: Studies in Colonial History (K. P. Bagchi, 1994)