Labourers working in tea plantations in Assam and West Bengal should get the notified minimum wages and not according to other calculations as is prevalent now, Nirmala Sitharaman, union minister of state (independent charge) for commerce and industry asserted...Presiding a marathon discussion with various levels of stake-holders of the country’s tea industry, Sitharaman also dismissed the practice of negotiations between some labour unions and the industry, and insisted that labourers should get what has been notified as minimum wages…The 800-odd big tea estates in Assam employ about five lakh permanent workers, while about six lakh more are engaged as temporary and seasonal workers.