Guwahati: Vision Spring (VS), an NGO, has been providing primary eye-care services to poor tea garden labourers in tea gardens of Assam.
Vision Spring is the social enterprise accelerating the use of eyeglasses in emerging and frontier markets and its mission is to increase lifelong earning, learning and well-being through eyeglasses for people vulnerable to poverty.
The organisation has conducted more than 80,000 eye screenings in Assam tea gardens and distributed 40,000 eyeglasses to tea pickers.
Overall, Vision Spring has corrected the vision of more than 5.5 million individuals across various sectors in the country.
Stakeholders from the tea industry and eyecare sector have expressed their support and appreciation for Vision Spring’s ‘Clear Vision initiative’, which involves eye screening and providing glasses to tea pickers.
Eyeglasses can greatly improve the productivity of a tea plucker by enhancing their visual acuity and reducing eye strain. If a tea plucker has uncorrected vision problems, it may have difficulty seeing the different types of tea leaves, which can lead to mistakes and decreased efficiency. In addition, the repetitive and precise nature of tea plucking can cause eye strain and fatigue, which can reduce productivity and increase the risk of injury.
The organisation held two meetings in Assam and Kolkata recently, which saw unequivocal support and appreciation by representatives from the tea and eyecare sector.
Vision Spring held a major event at Tollygunge Club IN Kolkata on June 10 on ‘Clear Vision Tea Gardens: Building Collaborative Action’.
This event focused on how clear vision through eyeglasses can lead to tremendous benefits concerning productivity and earnings for tea garden workers. The meeting discussed the ways to make India a clear-vision nation.
The event was attended by senior leaders from the tea sector, government, corporates, NGOs, social entrepreneurship, family foundations, and eye hospitals.
Secretary of Tea Research Association (TRA) Joydeep Phukan said the idea of screening all tea workers in the 200th year of Assam, which is now underway, can be explored.
“The Assam government has been proactive on the welfare of tea workers,” he said.
Tea Association of India (TAI) secretary general PK Bhattacharjee said the association has pledged to support Vision Spring in all its activities in tea gardens.
Vision Spring launched ‘Livelihoods in Focus’ in Guwahati in January this year in the presence of Dr Jordan Kassalow, who founded the mission. The programme was launched with a commitment of providing eyeglasses to artisans and micro entrepreneurs in the region over the next five years.
In Assam, three programmes were held on May 21, 23 and 25 respectively at Manohari Tea Resort, Dibrugarh, Chota Tingrai tea estate and Tocklai Tea Research Institute, Jorhat.
TRA director Dr S Babu described Vision Spring’s initiative as “fantastic,” while acknowledging that there is still progress to be made.
Nirbhay Singh, programme manager of the Ethical Tea Partnership in Assam, expressed a keen interest in collaborating with Vision Spring on the eye care initiative.
Tasdiq Ghaznavi, a senior official in Solidaridad, viewed the program as a great opportunity for the tea industry to collaborate with other stakeholders and provide robust eye care support to tea pickers.
During the meetings, several speakers emphasized the importance of eye screening for school-going children.
Sajjan Harlalka from the KK Saharia Lions Eye Hospital in Dibrugarh highlighted that poor vision is causing children to drop out of school.
He advocated for providing free eye glasses to children, aligning with Vision Spring’s ‘See to Learn Program’. Vision problems in children can manifest as behavioural or developmental issues, leading to frustration, inattentiveness, or disruptive behaviour.
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Sandipan Bhattacharya from the Rainforest Alliance emphasized the need to extend eye screening benefits to small tea growers, who now account for more than half of India’s tea production. The Rainforest Alliance is a certification program that supports farmers in creating profitable and sustainable businesses while respecting workers and the environment. Bhattacharya also suggested utilising existing health infrastructure facilities for eye camps.
In North Bengal, Vision Spring is collaborating with the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers to include small tea growers in eye screening programmes.
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