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Indian tea to cheer Afghan refugees

Kohinoor Mandal

KOLKATA, Oct. 22

THE tea industry is gearing up to donate tea and money for the Afghan refugees under the Tea For Peace programme and the move has immediately inspired the whole of India Inc to come together and expand the kitty of the relief material.

Mr P.O. Desai, Chairman of the Federation of All-India Tea Traders Association (FAITTA), has initiated the process by himself agreeing to donate 20,000 packages containing 100 gm of tea. He has approached other tea associations and all the chiefs of Conf ederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) and Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

The members of CII, FICCI and FIEO instantly pledged their support and agreed to convince the Government to allow them to participate in donating relief material for Afghan refugees. It may be noted that the Pakistan Government has also agreed to receive relief material on behalf of Afghanistan from India and it was announced by the Indian External Affairs ministry spokesperson, Ms Nirupama Rao, last week.

FAITTA is a leading tea traders body of western India and Mr Desai is the Chairman of the Wagh Bakri Group. He has also written to the chiefs of other tea companies, including Hindustan Lever.

Justifying the move, a company spokesperson said ``refugees are refugees and we are not interested in the political aspects of the scenario. Innocent Afghans have no food or shelter and are living in sub-human conditions. Winter is about to set in and te a can be good health drink for them. Mr Desai has expressed a desire to travel to Afghanistan to give the relief materials in person.''

He added that while CII and FICCI had agreed to request its members to donate for the noble cause, FIEO was willing to sort out the diplomatic complications with the Ministry of External Affairs and the legal hassles with the Commerce ministry.

However, a section of the industry has expressed their doubts and have apprehended the move. They fear it might be viewed as an anti-national act as the Indian Government has pledged full support to the ongoing American onslaught. This group of industria lists are preferring to stay quiet for sometime and want the heat to cool down.

Tea industry, however, is most eager to go ahead with the project. A tea expert said the move was a masterly one from the industry which, at present, was suffering from the problems of plenty with the prices plunging. Moreover, the move would promote Ind ian tea in Afghanistan and could develop into a good export market in future.