India’s tea pickers fend off sex traffickers by retraining as beauticians

Sukla Debnath was 15 when she sold her bicycle to fund a beauty course so she could teach others about make-up to improve their livelihoods

The 35-year-old has now trained more than 5,000 women, helping to create a ‘movement’ of women who are ‘aware of their rights’

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Beauty classes have helped thousands of women in India’s West Bengal state to become financially independent, making them less likely to become victims of trafficking. Photo: Sukla Debnath

Published: 2:00pm, 17 Jun 2023Updated: 1:15pm, 21 Jun 2023

Just after dawn each Sunday, Sukla Debnath packs a small bag with beauty products and visits India’s West Bengal tea plantations to train young women, most of them indigenous people – known as Adivasi – in make-up, hair and nails.

It is a three-month course, delivered for free by 35-year-old Sukla on the only day the tea pickers have off work, in a region where their tribal status leaves them among the poorest people in India. The training provides them with a new income stream, especially during India’s winter “wedding season” when plantation work often dries up.

Over 20 years, Sukla has trained more than 5,000 women near her home in the state’s Alipurduar district.

But the course is far more than a chance to learn the secrets of beauty for a little extra income – it could save them from the clutches of sex traffickers who scour the hillsides for victims.

Every Sunday, the only day plantation workers have off work, Sukla Debnath (centre, back row) visits tea gardens in West Bengal to offer beauty training. Photo: Sukla Debnath

“I want these women to be financially independent and aware of their surroundings,” Sukla said. “Then they won’t fall into the trap.”

The tea plantations of West Bengal, home to the famed Darjeeling, sit in rolling hills where female workers expertly pluck the aromatic leaves that are then dried and processed for sale overseas.