Prabhat Kamal Bezboruah appointed as Chairman of Tea Board of India

Renowned tea planter from Assam Prabhat Kamal Bezboruah, who was once a banker in the US, was on 4 May 2017 appointed as the Chairman of the Tea Board of India. Bezboruah will have a tenure till November 2018.

With this, Bezboruah became the first non-IAS and the first industry insider to head the Kolkata-headquartered Tea Board, the governing body of the industry.

On the other hand, renowned coffee grower M S Boje Gowda was appointed as Chairman of the Coffee Board of India. He will serve the post till December 2018.

About Prabhat Kamal Bezboruah
• Currently, he is serving as the Head of the Tea Research Association (TRA).
• Bezboruah is also the owner of at least 6-7 top-rung tea gardens (Bokahola, Saotali, Longbari, etc) in Assam.
• He had also served two to three terms as the Chairman of Assam Tea Planters' Association.

Background
The Union Government recently notified that all agricultural boards under the Ministry of Commerce will be headed by a non-IAS and industry person while the Vice-Chairman will be an IAS and have the executive authority.

This move was welcomed by all the industry bodies like Indian Tea Association (ITA) and CTTA and top brokers.