PM Modi said "The progress of the tea industry and its workers will give pace to Assam’s progress" (X/@narendramodi)In honour of Assam’s oldest industry and the workers who made it flourish, over 8,600 women and men from the state’s “tea tribes” performed their traditional ‘jhumoir’ (also spelt ‘jhumur’ or ‘jhumair’) dance in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the heads of mission and ambassadors of over 60 countries.PM Modi, Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and a number of foreign dignitaries are in the state to attend the Assam government’s Advantage Assam 2.0 summit, which will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.The ‘jhumoir’ performance, which entailed months of preparations and practice, was organised by the state government to mark 200 years of the tea industry in Assam. Speaking at the event, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the event was to honour the tea garden worker community.Jhumoir – performed by women while men play traditional musical instruments – is a popular traditional dance which has a central place in festivals celebrated by “tea tribes”, comprising 17% of Assam’s population.In his address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an outreach to the community.“The BJP government is making Assam progress and serving its ‘tea tribes’, too. To increase their wages, a bonus has been announced for the workers of Assam Tea Corporation. Especially our sisters and daughter working in the gardens would face a lot of troubles during pregnancy. Now nearly 1.5 lakh pregnant women are being given Rs 15,000 financial assistance… For their good health, the Assam government is opening more than 350 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs. For children from tea tribes, more than 100 model tea garden schools are being opened. For the youths, we have arranged for a 3% reservation within the OBC quota for their employment. The progress of the tea industry and its workers will give pace to Assam’s progress,” he said.Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said: “Around 200 years ago, under the compulsion of livelihood, they had come to Assam from Bihar, Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh… from different parts of the country… They came to Assam and accepted Assam as their motherland and became Assamese over time. They took up a primary role in Assam’s tea industry and played a big role in Assam’s industrial development… Assam’s tea garden and adivasi communities made the Assamese community richer in culture, traditions, manners and customs…”Story continues below this adThe “tea tribes” or tea garden communities of Assam are multi-cultural and multi-ethnic communities of the descendants of tea garden workers – originally mostly from present-day Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal – who had settled in Assam in the 19th century to work in the tea gardens the British had set up.© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd