Features
Tea and its distant past, a history of its origin and proliferation over the centuries
by ACB Pethiyagoda
It is presumed that the first newspaper advertisement connected to tea sales appeared in the London Mercurius Politicos of September 23, 1658. It read: “That excellent and by all physicians approved China drink called by the Chinese Teha, by other nations Tay alias Tee is sold at Cophee House, London.”
It is also presumed that brewed tea was a fashionable drink among the wealthiest in society as they thought it ‘cleans the spleen, kidneys, eyes, liver, improves the appetite, digestion, cures fevers, colds, dropsy, scurvy” and many other ailments and maladies. In short a `kokatath thailaya’!
Origin of the brew
From where did this wonder find its way to Europe? China. Tea was known in that country during the Han Dynasty (206 BC -220 AD) as evidenced from archaeological findings in more recent times. It started first as a cottage industry to serve royalty and nobility and thereafter developed into a large scale, well organized industry. Therefore, by the time of the Tang Dynasty (220 AD – 618 AD), it was a popular national drink among all classes.
The origin of tea goes back beyond 200 or 300 BC. The story goes that when a king broke journey while traveling and when cooking was in progress, some dried leaves of a wild tree were blown into a pot of boiling water. The brew was pleasant and invigorating. The Assamese, not to be left out, claimed a similar experience. With them it was not a king but native tribes who found the brew good.
Tea was introduced to England and other European countries by the East India Company – a company formed in 1600 AD in England with extensive trading connections all over the East. It owned a fleet of ships; large extents of land in various countries; and had an army to further its business interests and protect its officers. By 1839 indigenous tea was well established in Assam in plantations owned by the East India Company and British entrepreneurs. There was also tea of Chinese origin from seed brought by the Company way back in the late 1700s.
Darjeeling, about 7,000 ft above sea level, was another area in which by 1789 there were a hundred estates covering over 18,000 acres producing excellent teas with a distinctive natural fragrance making these the benchmark against which other teas were compared. Darjeeling teas are like champagne from the Champagne region of France!
To encourage rapid expansion of tea plantations in India, the British leased land to prospectors on easy terms – the first quarter of the extent free of rent for all time, the balance rent free for fifteen years and thereafter payment at nominal rates.
Tea growing in Nilgiris in South India came in later – around the 1880s and still later in some African countries, Burma, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Early planters
The first European planters in India were “in those days a strange medley of retired or cashiered Army and Navy officers, medical men, stable keepers, clerks and goodness knows who besides”. Their bungalows were of wattle and daub with thatched roofs. They ate rough, worked tirelessly, drank hard and believed that liquor kept malaria and cholera away. Death due to these was common and their incidence among the workers widespread.
Most of the early planters came out single but “some took Indian mistresses, usually surreptitiously, for there was no prospect of such women being accepted in European society. Such liaisons would be invariable for a new planter wanting to understand a totally new culture and learn the language. These sleeping dictionaries were a feature of planting life and were tolerated if discreet.”
Tea is a labour intensive crop – about 1.25 units of labour per acre for mature tea and 1.5 for land in tea with more land being opened up. This requirement was satisfied locally and any shortfall being made good from the neighbourhood. Workers lived under appalling conditions in makeshift shelters and were treated harshly with whipping of men, women and children as punishment for poor output until 1843 when slavery was abolished in British India. High mortality was due mainly to illness. difficult and unhealthy working conditions and malnutrition. Clerks, supervisors and other staff were drawn from educated locals.
Sri Lankan history
In Ceylon, cinchona was the first plantation crop with about 4,000 acres in 1883 but it went bust when the price of quinine, its commercial product, dropped drastically the world over. The investors in land were the British officials including the Governor and the Chief Justice. The first lands leased were around Kandy, Gampola, Dolosbage and Kadugannawa in around 1825 – just 10 years after the signing of the Kandyan Convention; the British losing no time in the plunder.
Most of this land “was regarded as crown land and available for acquisition by any and everyone with a fair skin. Any title the natives of Ceylon might have had was ignored and much common land was sequestered. In addition, although this was illegal, the inhabitants of entire villages inconveniently located in the midst of land required by the British were expelled.” The adverse effects of this Draconian law – the Waste Lands Ordinance – is still evident in the Kandyan areas.
Coffee was planted on a small scale from Dutch times in Ceylon and became a replacement for cinchona with about 37,000 acres in 1845. In 1869, the coffee rust (Hemileia vastatrix) wiped the crop out. Fortunately for the planters, tea was already known and accepted as a profitable crop and the lands cleared for coffee were gradually planted in tea.
Labour for coffee and later tea was mainly from South India brought by contractors or kanganies to whom planters paid for every able bodied man, woman or even child who could be put to work. From the wages of the workers, the kanganies collected ‘pence money’, a levy for recruiting them, which they had to pay throughout their working lives. The labourers were eternally in debt, while the kanganies often became wealthy.
The workers’ lives were hard but probably better than that in the villages they left in South India which were often racked with famine. The first batches came along the ‘North Road’ – Talaimannar to the Hill Country through thick jungle with many dying on the way. In later years, limited numbers were brought by boat to Colombo, mostly for the low country estates.
Just as in India, “The early planters of the 19th century had come in via coffee and were mostly working class. They might have been trained gardeners, or perhaps served in the ranks of the army. Their manners were rough, especially if they were single.” All this did not prevent them from assuming the ranks of Captain, Major etc depending on the size of the plantation and their success as planters!
The history of tea in Ceylon goes back to 1839 when some seed from Assam was put out in what was to be the Royal Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya. (The Gardens were established by the British in 1921 where previously this area was the pleasure garden of the Kandyan kings). Since then consignments of seed and even seedlings were received and planted in various parts of the present day tea growing areas; Rothschild in Pussellawa and Labookelle Estates in Ramboda being the first two and Hakgalla Gardens also.
However, the first commercial planting was on Loolecondra Estate in Hewaheta – a block of 19 acres by the famous James Taylor in 1867. Since then the acreage increased gradually to 9,300 in 1880, 525,600 in 2002, and 548,263 in 2011.
Today when we see attractive advertisements in glossy magazines of steaming tea in bone China cups with silver spoons, jugs and bowls on crisp linen; and row upon row of tea in eye catching packs in grocery stores, how many realize that these are the result of untold hardships suffered by countless men, women and children; from about 200 years before Christ for millions of others to enjoy now without a second thought. There are many other benefits we are recipients of and little thought is given to them. If this was not so we would grumble less when minor situations go wrong.
References:
A Brief History of Tea by Roy Maxham A Hundred Years of Ceylon Tea by D M Forrrest
(This article was first published in this newspaper in Oct. 2012. The late writer was a senior tea planter who later worked for Ceylon Tobacco Co. in its agricultural development projects)
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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