Tea tribes

The Adivasi community of Assam, locally known as Tea tribe are the descendants of tribal people who were brought by the British colonial planters as indentured labourers from the Chhota Nagpur Plateau region into Assam during 1860-90s in multiple phases for the purpose of being employed in the tea gardens industry as labourers. They are found mainly in the districts of Kokrajhar, Udalguri, Sonitpur, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and almost all the districts of Assam in India. The total population of the community is estimated to be around 5.5-6.0 million or about 20 percent of total population of Assam. Santhali speakers are also found in parts of Kokrajhar, Baksa and Bongaigaon districts. They generally use Nagpuri or Sadri as lingua franca among themselves along with use of other tribal languages like Santhali , Kurukh and Mundari . They have their own dance form, Jhumur, which is quite popular in Assam. Within the community, Munda tribe is the largest in terms of numbers followed by Santhals, Kurukh (Oraon), Gonds, Kharia, Bhumij and Saora.