India Names Tea Board Chair

KOLKATA, West Bengal, India

A new chairman of India’s Tea Board has been named a year after the post was vacated. MGVK Bhanu, an India Administrative Service (IAS) officer in Assam was appointed last week in preparation for the 12th Five-Year Agricultural Plan.

He succeeds Basudeb Banerjee of West Bengal IAS, who vacated the office in October 2010. The position has been filled by deputy chairs and commerce department executives, all well-intentioned but their short tenure and interim status has led to “stumbling blocks in the normal operations.”

The appointment of the 26-year-veteran of government service was welcomed by planters and board staff. Roshni Sen, deputy chairman of the Tea Board, told the Times of India. "We are looking forward to work with the new chairman.”

All Assam Small Tea Growers’ Association, Hemanta Gohain, told the Assam Tribune that the State deserved the post as Assam alone produces more than half of the nation’s total tea. “The concerned ministry has done justice to the State by picking MGVK Bhanu for the post,” Gohain said. Bhanu is the son-in-law of PV Rangaiah Naidu, India’s former minister of state.

The Tea Board is statutory body of the Central Government under the Ministry of Commerce. It is comprised of 31 members including tea producers, tea traders, tea brokers, consumers, Members of Parliament and regional governments from the principal tea producing states as well as trade unions. The Board is reconstituted every three years.

Sources: Times of India, Assam Tribune