There are more than 1000 tea garden in Assam where workers originally coming from Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh ad West Bengal have engaged themselves and subsequently settled in Assam permanently. They are known as Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, who are recognized as Other Background Classes [OBC] by the Government. These people not only constitute a sizeable chunk of the population in the state but also play a major role in tea production of the state [about 53% of the total tea production of the country] and this contributes to the economy of the state.

People belonging to the tea tribes communities are spread all over the State of Assam. Economically, they are quite backward and literacy level among these communities is extremely low. Some steps have been taken by the Government for improving the level of literacy and education besides other economic support for generating the family income under state plan. In order to achieve socio-economic development of the tea tribes people, the Government of Assam have been implementing welfare schemes through a separate Directorate viz. Directorate for Welfare of Tea & Ex-Tea Garden Tribe, Assam since 1983-1984 for speed implementation of welfare schemes