Industrialization started in India with the establishment of plantation industry. Indigo, tea and coffee were the main plantation industries. Tea plantations were developed mainly in Assam, Bengal, South India and Himachal Pradesh. Government gave all kinds of help to the British plantation owners. It even collaborated with the owners to hire labourers and to force them to work. The owners used all kinds of unjust means to make the workers do maximum work for their own profits. Democratic laws of human values did not mean anything to these protmotivated British.
Tea industry in India dates back to 1851. Most of the tea plantations were in Assam. At the beginning of the 20th century, some 6 lakh labourers worked in these plantations. Since the population of Assam was small, labourers from other provinces were brought. They were promised high wages by agents because it was risky to work in plantations due to different kinds of diseases including malaria. But owners were not ready to give high wages. They tried cheating and forced to get labourers into their plantations. To help the owners, government also passed some penal laws.