Dibrugarh, April 24: The lot of women in the tea estates of Assam has improved considerably with the formation of numerous ?mothers? clubs? in the gardens.

The labour force of women employed in the tea estates, almost 8 lakh-strong, forms one of the biggest workforces in the entire nation employed by an agro-based industry.

A recent survey in some of the tea estates of Upper Assam showed such clubs have succeeded in improving the condition of rural women. Most of these were formed in the late nineties. ?The main problems in our tea gardens are lack of awareness about basic health and hygiene, childcare and nutrition, education and alcoholism. Now we have decided to take on all these problems and we are getting a good response,? said Ramoni Nayak, a member of the mothers? club at Maijan tea estate in Dibrugarh district, which is owned by the Assam Company Ltd.

Each club holds regular meetings in which members discuss day-to-day problems and those related to the community.

?This is a North Korean concept which was introduced in the gardens of Dooars in West Bengal. After its successful implementation there, gardens in Assam, too, decided to encourage the formation of these clubs. Their performance has proved to be of immense help in checking the spread of diseases,? said P. Khound, principal medical officer of the Assam Company Ltd, which has 16 gardens in the state. A mothers? club is functioning particularly well at Deohall tea estate, owned by the Warren group. ?We have also decided to motivate unemployed youths to take up other vocational jobs to support themselves and their families. After all, job opportunities are limited in the tea gardens,? explained a member of the mother?s club in Tinsukia district.

The club also encourages women to take up training in handicrafts, poultry and piggery. ?The biggest challenge which we are facing nowadays is that of unemployment and a massive growth in the population at tea estates. This needs to be checked immediately and for this, we need the help of these clubs. They have performed really well in the past five years,? said Uddhab Sarmah, general manger of the Warren Tea Company.

The club members have contacted the government offices to learn more about government schemes, information about which hardly reaches them.