Dibrugarh: At dawn, when mist still clings to the rows of tea bushes at Dikom Tea Estate in upper Asasm’s Dibrugarh district, 15-year-old Sukanti (name changed) ties her hair into a neat bun and heads out with a wicker basket strapped to her forehead. By noon, she will have plucked nearly 20 kilos of leaves. By evening, her parents will resume discussions about her wedding — planned quietly, before she “grows too old”.
Dibrugarh district, home to 177 tea estates — the highest in Assam, is not just the heart of the state’s tea economy. It is also one of the places where child marriage continues to survive, woven into daily life in the labour lines that run parallel to the plantations.
Despite Assam recording a overall decline in child marriage in recent years due to aggressive enforcement, tea garden areas remain stubborn pockets of vulnerability, where poverty, isolation and tradition intersect.
“Marriage feels like the only exit”
Most tea garden workers in Dibrugarh belong to Adivasi communities whose ancestors were brought from Jharkhand, Odisha and parts of central India during colonial times. Generations later, the economic conditions have barely changed.
Daily wages range between Rs 150 and Rs 250, often below a living wage. For families struggling to feed five or six members, marrying off a daughter early is seen less as a crime and more as survival.
“If she stays, we have to feed her, clothe her, send her to school,” says Budhni Tudu, a worker at Khongea Tea Estate near Lahoal.
“If she marries, that responsibility ends. Poor people don’t think in years — we think in days,” he says.
NFHS-5 data shows that 32–33.5% of women in Assam aged 20–24 were married before 18, significantly higher than the national average.
Activists say the proportion is even higher inside tea estates, though district-level data remains limited.
Schools end early — so do childhoods
Education is one of the strongest shields against child marriage. But in most tea gardens, schooling ends at the primary level. Secondary schools are often several kilometres away, requiring transport families cannot afford.
“After Class 5, the road simply stops,” says Rina Lakra, an ASHA worker of Hazelbank tea estate in Dibrugarh district.
“Girls drop out, start plucking leaves or looking after siblings. Once they stop studying, marriage becomes the default next step,” she says.
Girls as young as 10–12 are informally engaged in tea plucking, reinforcing the perception that they are “grown up”.
By 15 or 16, parents begin to fear gossip, relationships, or elopement — anxieties amplified by mobile phones and social media.
“Parents tell us, ‘Before she runs away, let us marry her off’,” Rina adds.
Tradition, patriarchy and isolation
In many tea garden communities, marriage between 14 and 18 has long been socially accepted, particularly for girls. Sons are valued as future earners, while daughters are seen as financial liabilities.
Land ownership is rare — fewer than 10% of women in tea communities own land — increasing dependence on marriage as social security. Dowry, though officially illegal, persists in informal forms, pushing families to marry daughters younger, when demands are lower.
Marriage as “protection”
Ironically, child marriage is sometimes seen as a way to protect girls — from trafficking, harassment and exploitation.
Between 2017 and 2022, 481 children were trafficked from Assam, many from tea garden belts. Traffickers often pose as labour agents, promising jobs in cities like Delhi or Mumbai.
“Parents think a husband is safer than the outside world,” says Anupama Sharma, who works with an NGO in Dibrugarh.
“But early marriage only shifts the risk — to early pregnancy, domestic violence, and lifelong poverty,” she says.
Health workers report high levels of anemia, malnutrition and complications from early pregnancies among young brides in tea estates, perpetuating an intergenerational cycle.
Cracks in the system — and signs of change
In recent years, Assam’s hardline approach has altered the landscape to some extent. According to a 2025 Just Rights for Children report, child marriage cases in Assam fell by 84–89% for girls and 91% for boys between 2022 and 2025.
UNICEF-supported Adolescent Girls Clubs in Dibrugarh have also shown impact. Between 2008 and 2010 alone, such clubs reportedly prevented at least a dozen child marriages through counselling and community engagement.
“Now parents are afraid of police cases,” says Anupama Sharma. “But fear alone won’t solve it. We need schools, livelihoods and dignity,” she says.