Defence
In India, tea was first produced and cultivated by the:
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Answer: Option D — Singpho tribe of Assam
Detailed Solution
The Singpho tribe of upper Assam is credited with being the first people in India to cultivate and drink tea, long before the British started tea plantations.
About the Singpho tribe:
The Singphos live mainly in the Tinsukia district of Assam (especially around Margherita) and the Changlang and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh. They are also found in Myanmar (where they are called the Kachin) and China.
They have a tradition of making tea from wild tea plants for centuries.
Their traditional tea is called "phalap". The leaves are plucked, dried in the sun, roasted, packed tightly into hollow bamboo tubes and smoked over a fire. The tea can be stored for a long time.
How the British discovered tea in Assam:
- In 1823, the Scottish trader Major Robert Bruce was shown wild tea plants growing in upper Assam by the Singpho chief Bessa Gam (Bisa Gam).
- His brother, Charles Alexander Bruce, later worked to develop tea cultivation in Assam and is often called the "Father of the Indian tea industry".
Maniram Dewan (Maniram Dutta Baruah), an Assamese nobleman, helped the British establish tea gardens and later started his own. He was hanged by the British in 1858 for his role in the Revolt of 1857.
The first commercial tea garden in India was set up at Chabua, in Dibrugarh district, Assam, in 1837.
The first shipment of Assam tea was sent to London in 1838 and auctioned in 1839.
The Assam Company, the first tea company in India, was formed in 1839.
About tea in India today:
- India is the second-largest producer of tea in the world after China.
- Assam is the largest tea-producing state.
- Darjeeling tea (West Bengal) was the first product in India to receive a GI tag (2004-05).
The Tea Board of India was set up in 1954 under the Tea Act, 1953. Its headquarters is in Kolkata.
The Tocklai Tea Research Institute at Jorhat, Assam (founded 1911), is one of the oldest tea research centres in the world.
Other tribes mentioned:
- Bodo: Assam; famous for the Bagurumba dance.
- Lepcha: Sikkim; the original inhabitants of Sikkim.
- Khasi: Meghalaya; a matrilineal society.
Why not the other options?
- ✗The Bodo tribe is known for the Bagurumba dance.
- ✗The Lepcha tribe are the original inhabitants of Sikkim.
- ✗The Khasi tribe is known for its matrilineal society and living root bridges.
Quick tip
Remember: first to cultivate tea in India = Singpho tribe of Assam ("phalap" tea; chief Bessa Gam showed Robert Bruce in 1823); first commercial garden = Chabua (1837); Tocklai = Jorhat (1911).
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Agriculture in India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Agriculture in India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers agriculture in India: cropping seasons (kharif, rabi and zaid), major food and cash crops and their leading producer states, irrigation, the Green, White, Blue and other agricultural revolutions, and allied activities such as animal husbandry and fisheries. Questions usually ask which crop belongs to which season, which state is the largest producer of a crop, and which revolution relates to which product. For example, the White Revolution relates to milk and was led by Verghese Kurien, and the Blue Revolution relates to fisheries. Producer rankings can change from year to year, so check the latest data for those questions. Practise the agriculture in India questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.