Sri Lanka’s Tea Industry Faces Hidden Inequality Costs

Plantation workers, particularly those of Indian‑origin Malaiyaha Tamil heritage, confront a long‑standing legacy of inequality.

Malaiyaha women harvest tea in Sri Lanka’s highlands. Tea plantation laborers struggle with low wages, rising living costs, and limited access to essential infrastructure and services. (Photo by Munza Mushtaq)

MUNZA MUSHTAQ

In Colombo, 67‑year‑old Meenarasi Nesan departs before sunrise from her modest home in Kandapola, a tea‑growing town in Sri Lanka’s central highlands. By 5 a.m., she prepares tea, packs a simple meal of rice and lentils, checks on her daughter and grandchildren, and then climbs into the mist‑shrouded hills to begin her work.

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