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RF_PH_11_SUDHA
ALOI
J
o
ill M
A woman beedi-worker, Santhi;
asks, “Does it help.the family eco
nomically in any way if the bonded
children are freed?”
Dinakt
Despite sincere efforts of the
Government to release the children
frem bondage, “The possibility that
retrieved children will again be
mortgaged negates the Government
efforts,” says Dr G. Kannabiran, a
member of the Central Advisory
Committee for Beedi Workers Wel
fare Fund.
It’s a vicious circle. Loans are.
taken, at exorbitant interest rates by ’
the parents from the contractors.
The ‘security deposit’ is the child.
The interest rates are so high (10 to
25 per cent) that me amount is
■never returned and the children
never redeemed, i
, .
, ..
....
l.e intanuciue in
is sold only through Mafco f,
lhf>
shrikhand is available in retail outls.-,)
k
eration facilities.
i‘lldren b™g bonded
On branded shrikhand’s sued industr>\m Chlng,estudy, F & B Database ’92’ says] distncts b-v povertyrelatively easily made at home J
the local halwai has found that
pete with domestically made si
one hand and with branded shrik r ■ cent of the adult
s is. thus, one where
ire under bondage in
arge organisation can
Another successful brand is ^y are mortgaged by
opment of a rich and. rasagullas, though the product still p repay the Ioans they
et says Mr. Mathew a national market This and other iro the contractors in
ams. recalling the or- manufacturer are sold through thjistry.
attempts to capture outlets in Calcutta. Bombay and
the parents sec no
ast glaring brand dethat’s wrong in mortSapan rasagullas).
Idren when we have to
___________ ________
I” asks Rajeshwari, a
following premises:
rivals, handy gifts and
<ne.
» made and sold all
Ined to^feill sweet
'tarketin^R location
lerally made under
iroducts have virtual--
ended children were
ently in North Arcotrrictworkers.
where it is esti:di
ere are overThough
2-lakh
1
orkers roll beedis
ors, the covert operaomplicity of parents
cation of these chiljavalis and Tongals
old Thangam laments
ails off into an agonis-
in Chinglepet district,
There is acute scaraj
’HE Development of modem
from Madras, ThanSmall Scale Industries is an- ing funds for small sc
hours a day. She lost
eresting episode of four de
tries. The banks neveijkn she was one-yearles of strenuous and co-ordinworking capital requirt
tother six months ago.
d efforts, on the part of the .dicated in the projej
«te and Central Government,
Funds are not made'a^ (she has a brother) fill
by their own parents to repay the come out of bondage, says he had
Without any money. neither time to rest nor time for of my family circumstances.
been mortgaged for a loan of Rs 700
titutional agencies and on beseveral legitimate expt
Together we eam Rs 20 a day. But loans to the contractors in the beedi
from the contractor. But his parents
netted with proclug 3 Imother’s elder sis- play. Nor has she seen her parents.
f of the entrepreneurs. In addiindustry in the State.
after
deductions
due
to
leave
taken
after us if we don’t But her’s is not a unique case in
■'could not repay the loan and he got
n to the impressive growth in
marketing. .
and shortfall in output for the day,. ■ Children are ‘mortgaged’ to con
The inadequacy. oj ofce-year-old is sad- Tamil Nadu. /
;
number of Small Scale Induc
our net income comes to around Rs tractors for obtaining loans. If the ‘bonded’ for nearly two years. He
wlrk for all the hours
Theruveethi
.
(12),
her
elder
es, spread of the range of procapital has proved to be
beedi workers fail to repay their would Work the whole day without
brother, remarks, "How5, can we 8 a day. At least, my contractor is
most detering elements
cts, the quality of products, the
re oraciyvu.
<><>■'>. are- loans they are “bonded” to the rest anti was not even allowed to go
not cruel,” he
observed. These
tivity to Indian Small Sj 3) 4 a school dropout, think of TV when the earnings are
hnology of production, the sysamong me hundreds of . helpless contractors. Suresh (13), one of the _____
It’s weeks hardly enough for our stomachs. I children who have been mortgaged few children who have actually : .- Beedi-worker Paneer (40) says,
< of production and continuous
tries.
■ . ./ I rrsa
, day.____________________
Added to this,.thffl went home. There is discontinued my education because
movement in all these areas,
working capital are not #
been a more encouraging phe.................
.........
fS/tea
dtfi.
wart* aeorWdbutsdit* rtsttori*
in proportion
to the
inflatt
menon in the process of depressure and the raising q
opment.
nflrHic
is k
fl jSoqfUtMd tJeescftb. ■ bwsftcfc tNjfa
per cent of the Smal
Staje
WsWRbatoAtl _
’ lowever, inspite of this re’ rkablgjjitperes^ and ranid, de-_
Xxt
—
■>-Ki,|t1Triiii.nn—nwHi sector even hi they eipousl
only)
tenorty
<4
p r
idu 1=
'pcrators'ca
ir’19 buses
Some of the contractors in Chenglepet, Tirunelvelli and North Arcot ’
districts make it mandatory for loan
seeking workers to' roll 1000 to 1,500 .
punni (one-side closed) beedis for
half the Wages. Manohar (30) of
Perumbadi village says .that ‘chil
dren are: employed to just close the
other end of the beedis and paid Rs
2 per 1000 punni beedis’.
.
Pannerselvam .(41)/. another
beedi-worker, explains: Tor every
.25 beedis falling short of the stipu
lated quota, 40 paise is deducted .
from the wages. So, we lose inyari-'
ably Rs 6 on that count. For leaf-.
cutters and punni workers we have
, to pay Rs 3 to each. For thread Re 1
and Rs 1.75 goes for Provident Fund '
I (PF). Eventually, after deducting
interest on loans we are given a
meagre Rs 150 a month.
In Tamil Nadu, where there are
D. Sampath Kumar ’
300 big beedi-manufacturers and
3000 to 4000 contractors with about
“Sometimes the bonded children are
ten lakh workers in the industry, the
beaten merdkssly and parents do
legislative provisions for the welfare
not have any right to question the
contractors until the Ioans are re- of the beedi-workers are being blataritly flouted. And this will con-'
il ’ is'
u impossible
----- to
- free" these ' tinue to eternityunless some drastic
It
children because the parents them; steps are taken .to ensure them
selves are reluctant to admit that natural justice if not Constitutional
their children are being mortgaged.’ ', justice.
. -, ,roun mese Divisions, we need the
personnel Immediately for our'
.ewtexpansion schemes:
r'^P~°°RAl. MANAGER code-oi
in
iv
iarwar
smooth ScdlinQv lOf th8 1p°ineeririg
degree in Mechanical/Chemicol/
with 15 years experience in
____ El
.^.-.^-—^.^emenl plant, of which 5 years in a
«s than the level of Works Manager:
Uct<
1 oymg wfflh their future
CHENNAPATNA: Say “Chenna- m
patna” and the first word that '
flashes into mind is toys. Toys,
ofcourse, being synonymous with
children one would think that this is’
one.place adding in its own way
somJ happiness in the lives of many,
little ones. But. ironically, this town
of toys has a large number of chil
dren who have never seen a toy in
their lives. In fact, they have very
little time to even think of toys and
play. They are too busy rolling out
beedies day in and day out to keep
hunger at bay.
r
; The beedi workers o;
na live in abject pover
beedi factories are saic
:ing . Added to that is
health hazards the woi Lack of medical care an,
living conditions, and f.
handling of tobacco. .
tobacco dust has ensure
of the beedi workers
TB, asthma and other
diseases.
• These workers are n
under the ESI act as mi
names are not on the r
In addition to the large number of
factories. This deprives T
child labourers, there are thousands
ESI hospital facility and
of women, aged and sick among the
pehsalion. Without PF ar
beedi workers in Channapatna. In
benefits these poor daily
•fact, the majority of workers are
left with nothing for a r
women who are paid on piece rate
Why is the Govemmer
basis. The beedi manufacturers and
quiet about the abysmal .
their sub-agents supply the workers
of the workers? “The offic
iwith tobacco powder, leaves, etc
•ly find it more benefit
and collect the rolled beedis which
'oblivious of all kinds of
are packed aqd marketed underi
titles on the part of erring e:
different brand'names.,
I
‘ The beedi workers of Chennapatna
Hence they never make an
to find out the truth and f
;j
There are six beedj factories in
g Chennapatna employing about six ’.actual workers strength, factory -weak labour force on their rolls to hood. “I have not been given PF. offenders. The factory o«
i thousand workers largely women turn out, etc. Other factory owners -' avoid income tax, says the joint and other statutory recoveries. It -. are in league with the subS and children. Most of these unorga-i 'don’t; ’even show fifty percent of ■■ secretary of the recently formed, -suits me fine. When it is a matter of ’ swindling the labourers, i
B , nised workers are victims of ex-<: -their
workers’, names on the
rolls.
their workers'
rhe relic
Beedi Workers Association in day-to-day survival ■one cannot. . easy to organise the poor!
Chennapatna. .- ..'•
< -.'.. . affortj t0 think of tomorrow, Even a ' either. It is a vicious circle
K ploitation.' Many of them are aged, , Thus they cut down on the expendi- « . rw.
B .ailing and have been working as - ture to be incurred on welfare provi- ,. 7 However, many illiterate beedi
J: rupee less in my daily earnings .-• don’t know what to do" e
■ .daily wagers for 20 to 30 years. They - siqns like hospital, canteen, P.F., workers,, r
.... job of feeding„ my
...j big
the members of the Beedi’
particularlyj.the women makes the
» have neither job security nor wel-;. . gratuity, etc which have to be made labourers don’t seem to care family quite difficult.” That is how' Association as to their help
®’ ’fare facilities. .
.
for permanent' workers as per the whether their job is of a permanent- 50 year old Muniamma and many of land inability to get justice
B-, Of the six factories, only one . labour laws. They also manipulate or temporary nature as long as they. ■her fellow workers feel about their
affected workers.
■ ’maintains proper accounts as to the ..the production figures by showing a -get some work to earn their liveli- .. .situation.
-S.V.Upendra (.
?
,
■.harbour.
eJ
IS^^ii^’g^'glite^iSstatE^-
nent'.sttould befell?versed
>iy nKJiiuia<-iuni ly,
?■ .<_
KARWAR POR1 j should be co pa b Ie: of/ha nd i i r> g ‘
,—D—,------- 1 cargo to ajiS fro,-?-'
l"\Ci^dran Naw’s pre-/ :.The second phase,' to be’.started '
• C ■£-’£?,
ew ’’u' Rase Seabird 'Ihas SofterThe first k completed'w /dd^jecdgnaed early by
><';
aud Butter? Ore prob- two more berths-one for medium however, dtd frttle to develop
fee
,
iJ5daSC'-h
* ■fcaoc*’
S-.4IIU
“matron y® witnarawg
laV f
fe?
...K
;y.~.vv.iK- .■ -.7.-.-..- ■ -v
-_____ p,___ wonder yiiy
to
Ashed about the rationale behind .gree, stating that far from becoming trade unions organise workers, to
V, -rejecting’the' recommendations of - sick because of its huge wage burd- exert pressure only to hike mlmmiip
-Mr, -'/iNadagouda said: ;en, the .beedi induct^ >
• are no. .
•-
SOCIAL ACTION VOL 34 0CT*pECtln^^M^|
'that the commercialisation of the rural economy in the Punjab togetK— ; |
,
with high wage rates and the increasing sex-ratio linked to the chan
ing occupational structure and the shift in cultivation from wheat ta
■ rice and vegetables and cotton, have in fact contributed to the growth
of female labour in agriculture.
__ '
■ • • 4^
Women Beedi Workers in Vellore: Pedagogy for
a People’s Organisation
In the paper on the perception of woman as earner, Karfri^Xt^M
discusses a persisting problem of role conflict in the specific cultural
.'
conditions and value system affecting primarily middle class women.
,
Karlekar examines the phenomenon of role conflict in terms of the
dilemmas it imposes on both women and society and the consequence^ .
that follow when patterns of socialisation and unequal relations
'1
1 '
J
between the spouses force women to give primacy to the domestic " 1
sphere and not to career and profession.
.MMH
Fonseca discusses the basic issues of UNCTAD VI in the con
text of the crisis of countries and systems that had overtaken the
|
global economy. The major theme of the Conference was develop- '
1
ment and recovery through a recognition of global interdependence.
'. |
The recession in the developed countries because of the deflation of
j
demand and the consequent
conseauent sharp
sham fall
r«ii in exports from
'
developing
countries had a severe impact on the international monetary and
financial system. The paper discusses the way in which the four Com
mittees at UNCTAD VI tried to resolve the problems related to com
modities, protectionism, the monetary and financial system and trade.
On the whole the response of the developed countries was disappoint
ing, and protectionism continues unabated in spite of pressures from
Third World countries for liberalisation of trade and aid.
Alfred de Souza
.
G-. Anuradha
' K.V. Eswara Prasad
Syed Akhtar
This paper presents an account of an action research programme
(ARP) for women workers in the beedi industry in Vellore. The first
part present a comprehensive survey of the structure of production
and the position of women workers in the beedi industry. The second
part is concerned with a process analysis of the action programme
which was based on the data of the survey.
SURVEY OF THE BEEDI INDUSTRY
The objective of the survey was to obtain baseline data which
would form the context for the action research programme. Women
workers were interviewed at the place of production, both individually
and in small groups, to elicit information on the stages involved in
beedi production; the position of the women in relation to the con
tractor; their wages, working and living conditions; and availability
of welfare facilities.
Structure of production
■r
Beedi production is carried out at various levels and each level
in turn consists of several stages. Usually factories employ only few
workers whereas a major proportion of beedis is produced outside
the factory in the workers’ homes.
The factory owner, who is the principal employer, supplies the
raw materials—tendu leaves, tobacco and yarn in large quantities to
middlemen (contractors) for a specified number of beedis. These
middlemen in turn distribute the raw materials to several workers
attached to them to roll a stipulated number of beedis in their homes.*
The authors, members of the Faculty, National Labour Institute, New
Delhi, are equally responsible for the content of the paper. This paper is a part
of a larger study financed and conducted by the National Labour Institute.
SOCIAL ACTION VOL 34 OCT-DECEMBER. 19»
S$3
BEEDI WORKERS IN VELLORB.
327
The wage for labelling 1000 beedis is 45 paise, but the’cost of
• When the rolled beedis are returned to the middlemen, they are
sent to the branch office of the principal employer. The branch offici' ?
HPgim and yarn required for labelling is borne by the worker. The cost’
in turn distributes the beedis alongwith labels to a different set of
45 paise for gum and yarn to label 3000 beedis implies that the
home workers for labelling. The'workers Te turn the labelled
'
Mgwage for 1000 beedis goes towards the cost of gum and yarn. It must
to the branch where they are stacked, cured and packed for despatchi ■age mentioned that the cost of any shortage in the number of beedis^
to the principal employer.
1 ■^labelled is deducted from the wages of the worker.
Hgy - '
At the branch the bundles are stacked in trays and cured, indiRolling
.
, -.vidually labelled and repacked in large cartons of 20 bundles. To
■ make 200 cartons (about one lakh beedis) and pack them in gunny
The workers bring the raw materials home and share the work
jV,-' bags a worker is paid Rs 9.60. These gunny bags are then sent to
with other members of the family, including children, and at times
with neighbours. This is necessary because beedi rolling involve* tiSSM < the factory from where they are marketed.
several stages all of which are time consuming, and it is not possible .Affifi
for one worker alone to perform all the stages of beedi rolling. The
leaves have to be cleaned, washed and dried. They are then cut. .
according to the size of a particular brand of beedis. The cleaning and
. L.?':
cutting of leaves is done by women and children. The wages for
9H
cleaning leazes for a thousand beedis is 15-20 paise whereas for
•■ ■■; 1
cutting it is 80 paise. The next stage, rolling of tobacco in leaves, ‘
'
involves all available hands—men, women and children. Next, the
, . ;’
edges of rolled beedis are folded either by those who rolled them or
•’ • j
by other workers for 80 paise per thousand. Finally the beedis are
tied in bundles of 12 or 24, depending on the "requirements of the contractor. The wage rate per 1000 beedis rolled is Rs 8.10 and the
work to produce this number is usually shared by 3 or 4 members of
a family.
Given the fact that each contractor has hundreds of home
workers employed by him, beedis pour in every day in large numbers.
Since physical counting of the beedis brought in by the women
workers is a laborious task for the employers, they have their own •
methods of counting. Each bundle should hold 12 or 24 beedis. The
contractor counts the bundles by stacking them in trays which are
designed to hold usually several thousand beedis. The beedis are then
sent either to the factory or to another branch from where they are
distributed to a different set of home workers for labelling.
Labelling
The women workers are given beedis in large quantities for
labelling. They are also provided with large sheets of labels which
have to be cut into thin strips and pasted on each beedi. The women
usually share this work of labelling, as also beedi rolling, with other
members of the family or subcontract the work at the rate of 15 paise
plus gum and yarn per 1000 beedis.
UK Workers’ problems
The production process and the way in which the beedi industry
is organised is such that there is scope at every stage for exploitation
of the workers. This in turn gives rise to a variety of problems, some
of which are’discussed below.
Problems related to wages comprise shortage of raw materials,
improper counting of bundles of beedis, incorrect entries in the pass
book, irregularity in the work and payment of bonus to workers
Shortage of raw materials. It is an accepted fact that 800 grams
of tendu leaves and 350 grams of tobacco are required to roll 1000
beedis, provided the leaves are not defective. Since bundles of tendu
leaves are usually given to the workers, poor quality or damaged
leaves in the bundles will necessarily mean shortage of leaf to roll
beedis. Similarly, shortage of tobacco may often occur due to sudden
gusts of wind which blow away tobacco from open trays. In either
case the worker is held responsible for the number of beedis short of
the quantity specified by the contractor and wages are cut accordingly.
For instance, if a worker is short by one bundle the wage cut varies
from 50-75 paise although the average cost of one bundle would be
only 30 paise if they were to buy the raw material on their own. By
and large workers usually fall short of leaves and tobacco and prefer
to buy raw material to make good any shortage rather than incur
large wage cuts.
Improper counting of beedi bundles. When stacking bundles in
trays for counting, the contractor takes unfair advantage on the pre
text that a large number of beedis need to be collected and counted
from many workers in a limited time. Usually more bundles are
stacked on a tray than it should hold. Naturally, in the final count
there is always a shortage of beedi bundles, but the women worker,
though present at the spot, is not permitted to do the stacking and
counting herself.
328
SOCIAL ACTION VOL 34 OCT-DECEMBER 1984
Improper entries in the passbook. In some factories each home
worker is allotted a number and provided with a passbook containing
’ the details of the number of beedis she has turned in and the wages
due to her. This book is checked by the inspector of excise. However,
wage cuts due to shortage or in other words actual wages paid to
each worker are never entered in the passbook. The details of shortage
of beedis of each worker are maintained separately by the contractor
and wages are cut accordingly. In other words, wage details entered
in the book necessarily mean that wage has been paid to the women..
Irregularity of work. The supply of raw material in a number
of branches is reported to be sufficient for only four days a week.
Furthermore, the quantum of work given to the worker depends on
the sweet will of the contractor. Also during the monsoon there is
o beedi production and often workers find themselves unemployed
'ithout any compensation. As a result, these women workers are put
to a lot of hardship.
Non-payment of bonus. There is no system of paying bonus to
workers. Some branches do pay a bonus—20 paise per day is deducted
from the wages and eventually Rs 30-40 is paid as bonus per year.
<
Indebtedness. The shortage of raw material, seasonality of work
and intermittent layoffs force the workers to seek loans at very high
rates of interest (40 per cent per month) from local money lenders:
The result of this situation is that most of the families are chronically
indebted.
Pledging of children. The occurrence of any religious or social
function means additional expenditure to the worker ranging from
Rs 500-Rs 2,000 or more. Workers often borrow from their employers
by pledging their children for want of any other security: the child is
forced to work for the employer for a very low wage (Rs 1.50) and for
long hours of work (10-12 hours per day) till the parent is able to
repay the loan. The employer justifies the abysmally low wage paid to
the child as payment towards interest on the loan but not towards the
^^tincipal. The child is bonded to the employer till the principal is
repaid.
Inadequacy of the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Welfare) Act of
1966. The Act’s definition of ‘establishment’ has been so twisted by
the employer that it ignores in toto the existence of the home workers.
As the women workers’ names are found nowhere in the records of
either the sub-contractor or the principal employer, neither of them
feels responsible for their welfare.
Non-recognition by Unions and the State Labour Departments.
Apparently, the local unions have not been concerned with the prob
lems of women workers because they are not members of any union.
<pMEN BEEDI WORKERS IN VELLORE
329
Union leaders argue that since, their husbands are already members
pf their unions, women workers are entitled to the benefit of union
membership. Such an argument unfortunately ignores the existence of
women workers who are otherwise destitute or with husbands not
necessarily employed in the beedi industry. The State Labour Depart
ment, on the other hand, appears to be too helpless to identify women
workers because of their sheer number and the absence of any records
with the employer. As a consequence, the women workers do not get
any identification card which would entitle them to medical benefits
from the Beedi Workers Welfare Fund dispensary.
To sum up, our survey of the various beedi production pockets in
Vellore, our discussions with women home workers, trade union lea
ders and other officials related to the industry revealed the following:
the weak bargaining position of the workers in general and of women
home workers in particular involved in the various stages of beedi
production;
(b)
non-recogr.ition by both the employer and the trade union organisa
tions of women as an important segment of the labour force and their
substantial contribution to the beedi industry;
(c)
total lack of organisation of any kind among the women workers to
fight for their rights;
(d)
complete dependence of the women on the industry in view of the fact
that there are no alternative sources of employment;
(e> incidence of chronic illiteracy among workers:
(f)
high incidence of excessive drinking by the men thereby adding to
the misery of women workers;
(g)
total apathy of the people who matter to the problems of these
women workers and to providing them with welfare assistance:
(h)
inability of the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Employment Conditions)
Act 196610 have any impact on the welfare of women workers in the
(a)
beedi industry.
There is no single solution to the plethora of problems the
women face either as home workers or as individuals. Certainly dis
bursement of loans on a selective basis is no answer. What is required
is to help them to help themselves. The first step in this process is to
facilitate an awareness of their shared problems and arrange a forum
where understanding and solidarity can develop. It was precisely this
that led us to promote an action progra nine for the women workers
in the beedi industry in Vellore.
ACTION PROGRAMME
Selection of participants
The preliminary survey outlined in the first part familiarised us
with the area and working conditions of women workers in the beedi
SOCIAL ACTION VOL 34 OCT-DECEMBER 19^
industry. After the survey we once again went to the selected areas—
Saidapet, Chowk Maidan Virudhampatti and Satvachari—to discuss
with the women workers in group meetings the idea of collective
action. The immediate impression of the women was that a group
had come from Delhi to provide them either loans or employment
However, it was made clear to them that there was no offer of
any special assistance but rather our endeavour was to bring women
workers from different areas of Vellore together to reflect on their
problems collectively. We also informed them that we would pay them
the minimum wages for five days to compensate for their absence
from work.
The response was not particularly overwhelming but enthusias
tic enough to proceed with the selection of participants. We selected
women workers from each area who were: from different sub-occupa
tions in beedi making such as cutting, rolling labelling, folding etc.;
willing to participate for all the five days: able to articulate community
problems; somewhat educated: and in the age group of 18-50. A total
of 44 participants were selected. Their level of education was so low
that only 10 had some formal education and a few others able to read
and write.
At this juncture in one predominantly Muslim locality the
women expressed reservation about their participation. The local
contractor had spread a rumour to the effect that women going to the
programme would be converted to Christianity and also be made to
eat pork. And in another locality, the workeis expressed the fear that
the contractor would not employ them after an absence of five days.
W
p vicifA/4
--- We
visited fkoon
these ...
women
again on the eve of the programme
which was to be held during March 18-22. A worker in each area
was nominated to take the responsibility of bringing the other workers
to the venue of the programme and naid
r
paid the bus fare for the group.
The venue for the programme was a
large marriage hall located in
the heart of Vellore town and away
from the beedi pockets. It was
easily accessible by local transport.
The programme, which began with 100 per cent attendance,
focused on problem identification, organisational form, dynamics of
collective action, issues of leadership, interface and action plan.
Problem identification
The participants were subdivided into five groups, each consist
ing of women from different localities and from all sub-occupations.
The task before them was to reflect on their problems in a brain
storming session without any structure. Every group had at least two
educated women so that they could list problems posed by all group
I
beedi workers in vellore
331
members on flip charts. As soon as the small group work was com
plete, one representative from each group presented a report at a
general session. These presentations were followed by discussions in
which participants were invited to make comments based on their
experience.
From the discussions that followed a number of common
problems emerged which fall under four broad categories:
Employment: (a) non-implementation of revised minimum wages; (b)
improper disbursement of wages; (c) abysmally low wages for labelling;
(d) inadequate supply of raw materials; (e) purchase of gum and yarn for
labelling-by themselves; (f: improper counting of beedis', (g) big wage
cuts for shortage of beedis: (h) irregularity of employment and illegal
layoffs; and (i) seasonality of work.
Health: (a) high incidence of T.B., asthma, easnophelia, nervous disorder
etc.; (b) no access to beedi workers dispensary for women workers; and
(c) inadequate medical attention in government hospitals.
Socio-economic: (a) dowry; (b) alcoholism and gambling among males;
(c) destitution; (d) child labour; (e) pledging of children for loans;
(f) underemployment of educated youth in beedi industry: (g) high inci
dence of indebtedness; (h) exorbitant rates of interest on Ioans (40 per
cent per month); and (i) no alternative sources of employment and
income
Government related: (a) exploitation of women by panchayat members
regarding allotment of land etc.; (b) competition in fair price shops; (c)
dissatisfactory functioning of mid-day meal and nutrition schemes; (d)
lack of night schools for children; (e) lack of facilities for adult educa
tion; and (f) no cooperative society for women.
To heighten the participants’ critical awareness of their pro
blems we intervened to focus on two statements made during the
presentation. For instance, they had said: 'For generations together
we have been working in the beedi industry, yet we are not happy.’
Another statement was: Howsoever good the work we do, we do
not seem to be getting anywhere.’ These statements were repeated so
that the women could reflect on why they began to examine these
problems only now and not earlier.
From what one woman said, it was apparent that they were
becoming aware of changes in the relations of production in the beedi
industry and related these changes to the persistance of their weak
bargaining position vis-a-vis the employer. She further explained that
during the 1950s the production system was characterised by a feudal
relationship between employer and worker. There was no strict check
on the amount of raw material supplied to the worker nor on the
beedis produced. The wage rates were very low. Yet the women had
not complained about the working of the system.
jJ2
SOCIAL ACTION VOL 34 OCT-DECEMBER |g<^
In 1959, workers went on strike and a wage increase Waj
demanded from Rs 1.50 to Rs 1.75. The strike was successful in that
the employer agreed to the hike in wages but not before compe]|jn '
the workers to agree to a system of checking the quantum of raw
materials applied to them for a pre-determined number of beedis t0 he
rolled. Thus began the downward slide in the bargaining power of
the workers. Now they were compelled to produce a certain number
of beedis for a given quantity of raw material, and any shortage
either due to defective leaves or lack of tobacco, meant a wage cut.
Furthermore, with the Beedi and Cigar Workers Act, 1966,
several large factories wound up and a new type of production pattern
in beedi manufacture emerged with the accent on the middleman or
contractor.
The contractor collected the raw materials in large
quantities from the employer and in turn distributed them in smaller
quantities to the home workers. The beedis rolled were later given to
another set of workers for labelling.
The contractors by and large supply less raw material neces
sary for the number of beedis to be rolled. Thus either due to
defective leaves or shortage of tobacco the workers generally fall
short of the target and have to accept a wage cut. Added to this i\
the devious means the contractor uses in counting beedis and giving
them for labelling. All these mean wage cuts for workers and profit
for the contractor. The contractor also gets a commission from the
employer for arranging his requirement of rolled and labelled beedis.
Thus from the commission of employers and wage cuts the contractor
is doubly assured of his earnings. Employers can easily afford the
commission they pay to the contractors, but for women workers any
loss of earnings means enormous suffering. If they protest they risk
losing their jobs because of the availability of other women workers
and the fact that they are unorganised.
In the process of sharing and analysis the participants realised
that employers (contractor/branch/factory owner) from whom they
expected at least fair wages and medical facilities were systematically
exploiting them. They then turned their attention to government
agencies and politicians, and once again their experience was not
encouraging. They now found themselves in a situation of extreme
helplessness where they thought that we, as organisers of the pro
gramme, could be relied upon for assistance. For instance they said:
We are happy that we have given you all our problems.
We feel relieved for having unburdend ourselves.
Nobody has come forward thus far to ask us about our problems. We are
pleased that you have given us a hearing. This has given us confidence.
WOMEN BEEDI WORKERS IN VELLORE
"
333
We will be still more pleased if you could get us a raise in wages.
We feel that you would do something good to us.
These statements are indicative of their dependency, which
they transferred from employer to government and now.to us. To
discourage this dependency on us, we made clear that not much could
be expected from us. At this stage they became hostile towards us
demanding an explanation as to why we came there at all if we could
do nothing for them. In return we clarified our role once again by
saying, ‘We are here to help you to get together so that you can
.reflect as a group on your problems.’
The situation was dramatic: on the one hand, they expressed
their disbelief in external agencies which promised them the moon
and did not give them even a morsel, while on the other we were
reiterating our inability to do much for them and yet they were
unwilling to believe us. To help them come to terms with reality we
asked them what they would do after we went away if they were to
depend on us to solve their problems? Their response was:
‘Even if you go away we are confident that you are with us’; and ‘We are
certain that the forty of us can bring together four thousand women if
you wain us to do so. We will unite and fight for our rights.’
The last statement reflected once again their dependency on us
and to counter it we replied that the issue now was not what we
wanted but rather what they did. They said that it was their desire
to organise themselves for their betterment. We pointed out that it
was not so easy to unite and stay together in their situation of exploita
tion. They might like to probe into the sources of exploitation before
thinking of ways to achieve unity. We made this suggestion because
we perceived that their talk of unity was more a reaction to our
-assertion of their dependency on us than a well reasoned response to
their situation.
Sources of problems
The discussion on the sources of their problems led the women
to identify two major sources; Among the external sources were the
establishment, politicians, and government agencies; scarcity of
alternative sources of employment: excess supply of labour and
limited employment opportunity in the beedi industry and hence the
weak bargaining position of the workers in general and of women
workers in particular. Lack of unity among the workers was the
internal source.- This categorisation helped the women realise that
they had little or no control over the external sources, whereas the
social action vol 34 oct-december 1934
internal sources were a part of their problem over which they could
exercise some control.
Need for collective action
The issue of unity therefore came up once again but with a
difference this time. The difference was that the women were .con
scious of the difficulties involved in organising themselves for collective
action. They believed that any attempt on their part to organise
themselves would be scuttled by their employers and they would lose
their jobs. Employers could disrupt any organised movement of the
women because even the police were in league with them. . Given this
situation, the women felt totally helpless, and even the idea of
unionising themselves did not appear to be a viable alternative.
Having sensed the women’s helplessness, we enquired whether
they could think of some other approach to their problems in case
organisation for action was not a viable method. This led to a listing
of issues which their organisation limited as its role might be, could
take up. Brainstorming in small groups, they felt that their organisa
tion should:
think in terms of alternative occupations in order to improve their
economic position:
seek the aid of government in case they went on strike against employers;
demand from the government fair price shops, medical facilities, night
schools for children, housing and aid for destitutes;
seek aid from government so that they could run a women’s cooperative:
arrange for loans with low rates of interest for the purchase of raw
materials;
procure raw materials;
demand government stipulated wages from the employer;
demand wages for weekly holidays;
ask for recording of shortages in the number of beedis and proportionate
wage cuts in the passbook;
fight against social evils such as dowry, alcohol abuse, wife-beating etc,:
remain united irrespective of caste, creed or colony of its members.
In the course of the discussion the women were helped to understand
how wide the scope of their organised activities could be though they
had initially attributed a very limited role to it. At the same time we
WOMEN BEEDI WORKERS IN VELLORE
335
noticed that most of the issues they had mentioned were basically
demands and the organisation was perceived as something separate
from themselves. This meant transference of their dependency from
us to the organisation. In order to help them see this point we asked
them whether there could be an organisation without people. This
question further made them reflect on the issue of membership and
their participation in organised activities. It gradually dawned on
them that they had been rather unwilling to take on individual re
sponsibility and see organisation as a medium of collective action.
By now it was apparent that the women had undergone a
definite change in their thinking. They realised that they could no
longer rely on external agencies for their betterment and perceived
the necessity of collective action by themselves.
Dynamics of collective action
Till now the discussion had focused on the issue of unity in
the context of forming an effective organisation for collective action.
In order to illustrate the dynamics of collects e action we conducted
an exercise which aimed at making the women aware of the benefits
• of unity and the costs of conflict within the group.
For the exercise, the women were divided into two groups and
each group was given a set of dummy arrows to shoot against each
other in ten rounds. A round consisted of shooting any number of
arrows by each group against the other. The difference in the number
of arrows shot between the groups was to be paid in a cash equivalent
to the group which shot the higher number of arrows. If the number
of arrows shot was the same, both groups paid Re 1 each to the
trainer. On the other hand, if both the groups decided not to shoot
arrows against each other the trainer had to pay Re 1 to each group.
Each group had a leader. There were observers on both sides from
whom two women were asked to act as spies by the trainer. The spies’
task was to instigate the members of either group to shoot more
arrows. After rounds 3, 7, and 5 the leaders of both groups were
given a chance to discuss among themselves a common strategy to
shoot arrows against each other.
In the process of the exercise, the trust between the two groups
gradually decreased and distrust was accentuated by the presence of
spies who played a double game. Despite three meetings between
leaders, prior to the beginning of 4th, 8th and 10th rounds a common
strategy to gain larger payoffs generated only more distrust between
them. Leaders and their respective group members were more keen
to outwit each other rather than to think in terms of a strategy for
both groups to maximise gains from the trainer. At the end of ten
rounds when the total loss and gain of both groups was calculated it
was found that the trainers had gained the most.
’ •
The analysis of the failure of the women to maximise their
j payoffs showed that each group was concerned about its own welfare
rather than that of the total community. It led us to rivalry among
the women despite the option of not fighting and winning money from
the trainers.
The women identified trainers with employers or contractors
and spies with their henchmen. When they understood this, it dawned
on them that whatever happened in the exercise was akin to their real
life situation. They now clearly saw how employers and the middlemen
could divide them and prevent them from getting organised. For them
unity now acquired a new meaning. It meant interpersonal and
trusted solidarity and concern about the welfare of a wider
community.
tissue of leadership
The women saw the possibility that employers could have their
henchmen among them to create distrust, buy up their leaders and
create fractions among them. In this context, when the question of
leadership was discussed, the issue was whether a leader should be
someone from among them or an outsider. Some were in favour of
an outside leader because she could be easily punished and thrown
out if she was bought off by an employer. However, the rest of the
women argued that they would definitely have more faith in one of
their own group than in an outsider. They saw the need of electing
a leader who was educated, capable, trustworthy, honest, sympathetic
and able to treat everyone equally.
To summarise, we have thus far outlined the processes involved
in helping the participants to
think critically about their problems and their causes;
^1
realise the futility of their dependency on external agencies for solving
their problems:
perceive the strength of collective action as compared to individual
action;
experience the dynamics of conflict and collaboration in collective action;
understand the advantages of having a leader from among themselves;
spell out the qualities of the kind of leader they wanted.
In other words from a situation of extreme helplessness, the women
gradually moved towards confidence in themselves and belief in the
strength of collective action.
Interface
This was the time when the participants were ready to have
an interface with experts to enquire about their legal rights regarding
payment of wages, workers,-compensation, women’s rights, inheri
tance, rights with'regard to merital discord, and with officials to en
quire about loan facilities, welfare measures of the government, etc.
A leading advocate, a former member of the district legal aid com
mittee, the Industrial Development Officer of the Bank of India, the "
lead Bank in the district, and the District Social Welfare Officer were
invited to meet the women.
At the meeting with the Industrial Development Officer of
• the Indian Bank, he focused on the following issues:
lending schemes for individuals and cooperatives with or without guaran
tees;
low rates of interest charged compared to the exorbitant rates of interest
charged by money-lenders;
special schemes for educated and unemployed youth;
loan schemes under the Prime Minister's 20-Point Programme;
schemes under Tamil Nadu Economic Development Corporation for
Backward Classes;'
advantages of loans from the bank on a cooperative basis.
The Officer spoke at length about the bank having lent money
to individual beedi workers in Guddiyatam and handloom weavers
of Ranipet, Tamil Nadu. The participants were generally receptive
the talk and raised a number of pertinent questions. However, the
reaction of some participants was dramatic. One of them, for in
stance, said to the Officer:
We people who live few miles of your bank have never heard of your
schemes till now whereas your bank seems to be helping workers like us
elsewhere and in other places. How came your bank, situated so close by
and having been established years ago has never cared for us? Did it have
to take some one from Delhi to make you come and talk to us? What
have you been doing all these years? These friends (referring to us)
have come all the way from New Delhi to make you pay us a visit?
The second session in the interface was with the advocate who
was to speak to the women on issues relating to women’s legal rights.
His talk focused on:
The district legal aid committees and its functions, especially legal assis
tance to the poor:
social action vol 34 oct-december 1984
338
different Acts, according to Hindu and Muslim law, which have been
introduced for the protection of women and their implications fOr
women’s rights;
Acts introduced by the Parliament for protection of workers such as the
Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Workers’ Compensation, etc.
His talk was illustrated with examples drawn from every day experi
ence of the women. At the same time, he also stressed the point that
group action would strengthen their demands rather than sporadic
individual attempts for legal assistance. This session was greatly
appreciated by the participants.
The last session in the interface consisted of an address by the
District Social Welfare Officer who appeared to be very eager to know
women beedi workers, especially since she had no contact with them
so far. Her presentation to the women covered:
Schemes for women, including the very poor and destitute, regarding
alternative sources of employment;
Educational aid for females with various levels of formal schooling;
Schemes for starting women’s cooperatives for various purposes;
Loans for cooperatives;
Schemes for training in tailoring, typing and shorthand;
Special schemes under the Prime Minister’s 20-Point Programme;
The assistance that she could give them in her official capacity.
The District Social Welfare Officer stressed the importance of
organised group action and full support in any effort to form coopera
tives to produce of various consumer items, including beedis, In this
context she also mentioned the role of the Tamil Nadu Women Eco
nomic Industrial Development Corporation in marketing the products
of women’s cooperatives.
Action plan
To plan collective and concrete action the women who came
from different areas of Vellore thought of organising immediately
meetings in their localities with the idea of setting up their own organ
isation. A representative would be selected from each area and
these representatives in turn would meet and decide the issues to take
up first. They thought that they would consider in the beginning
non-controversial issues so as not to invite the wrath of the employer.
Some of these issues were:
education for illiterate women:
social evils like dowry and drunkenness;
assistance from the District Social Welfare Officer for alternative sources
of employment and income.
WOMEN BEEDI WORKERS IN VELLORE
339
The representatives would meet once a month to review pro
gress of their collective action.
Conclusion
•
This survey and action research programme to enable women
beedi workers to organise themselves has been a limited effort.
Though no attempt is made here to generalise this experience, certain
aspects have a wider relevance.
The situation of the women workers and their response reveal
their weak bargaining position not only as women workers but as
workers participating in the putting-out system which, by dividing the
labour force in terms of domestic units, makes it difficult for women
workers to come together for organised action on their common in
terests.
Second, existing organisations like trade unions, which are male
dominated, do not feel any responsibility for the conditions of women
workers who continue to be exploited without any legal protection.
Third, welfare programmes for women, even when they are implement
ed, do not benefit the women for whom they are designed. Finally,
notwithstanding the fact that these women perform crucial functions
in the production of beedis and their earnings were necessary for the
survival of the household, their status in the family, the market and
society remams low.
In the context of the exploitative mechanisms of the market,
the role of collective action becomes important. True enough, such
collective action can be organised through an external agency but
there is no substitute for a people’s organisation in which the women
themselves can decide on the kind of action that needs to be taken to
improve their work and life situation. It must be recognised that
women in low income groups whose survival depends on their daily
earnings are unable to bear the opportunity costs of spending much
time in setting up their own organisation. The support of an external
agency will continue to be required by the’ women workers and it will
be important for such an agency not to force the pace but rather to
enable the women to take collective action when they are ready for it.
PRAYAG MEHTA
E. ' ..Ld thereis a deficit of 300
Fireworkers have to buy raw
|
k-iike tendu leaves, tobacco,
I
the missing material in
f
roll and deliver the re1^. number, 1,500 bidis. Somerwomen workers employ
f ,.7^ t0 fold leaves, at the rate
I
a day. The women’s net
t • -/’is therefore, about Rs 4 on
I '^rking day which is 10 to 12
I* ~ long. Their weekly earning
I &rom Rs 12 to 16.
r- *'“How do you manage with such
wages ?”
Spontaneously came the res“We Are Made T© Mortgage Our || J/
“We mortgage children.”
t Severe whispers in the group.
Children"
J
3|So looked around to gauge
significance of the statement.
I Tam, a middle aged woman stood
I -p arid said : “1 have mortgaged my
Interviews With Women Bidi Workers Of Vellore | Jnen war old girl, and eight year
i ;-j boy to a Sheth three years ago
I f-t a loan of Rs 200. Two years
' liter, my husband was mortgaged
I
the same Sheth for a loan of
! Rs 200. My two children and their
: father roll 4,000 bidis a day. They
»ork all the time for the master.
' Their total wage should be at least
: ?.s 20 a day. However, the Sheth
j Us been paying them each Rs 2.50
a day, out of which he deducts half
r the money every day. My husband
also gets the same wage as the
[ children. The Sheth does not give
been enrolled as members. A group make and process bidis. Bidis aa
Ihern any food. They come home to
of about 50 women had travelled to sold under different brand naiw
[ Mt. They work for him all the time
Madras to participate in the first such as Goat, 100 Mark, LRU I
. and have to report daily to the
anniversary celebration. I met this 75 Jaffar Bidt, 100 Mark Bidi, 11 i
I Sheth at 8 p.m.”
group of women workers and had a Bidi, Lakshmi Bidi. The 100 Maa ?
spirited talk with them. The very Bidi is probably the largest mane :f We were startled to hear the
I story. In response to our query:
fact that they had travelled from facturer.
■Vellore, leaving their work behind,
Many of them have been wort I’ "How is it possible ?” there was a
showed that they were active mem ing for more than 15 to 20 yw* [mild commotion in the group.
bers of the Union. The following is without any break. The question!* ■ E'eryone began speaking to every
a brief summary of discussions held leave, sickness benefit or bonus * one else. They were surprised that
not arise. Their work is not regu^ :»e did not know about such a wide
with them.
The women reside in different Some of them get work only thrs spread and common practice. They
colonies of Vellore. Most women days a week. Nobody gets woo .said: “All of us are forced to mortour children. What else can we
and many men work for the bidi more than four days a wees.
week. ThWhen we mortgage other items
industry there. There are some fac work depends on supply
s-FHIy of
z. ra* ■
-j. rt;tothe Sheth, we lose control over
tories but most women work at materials, and income depends
ytose
items, like our utensils and
home. Bidi manufacturing is done the number of bidis rolled 0
Working Women’s Forum—an through various operations, as if laoenea.
Jcssellery.
labelled. They
tightly conuv»control!’
i ney are iignuy
-y We
■ - don
—’t*• have these
....... any
organisation of working women,
.
-.Art ^or-- We have only children. When
or Jcontracted
based on division of work. Only ,by the employers
has been working in Tamil Nadu one operation is carried out at who may refuse to give them wo’ Oe
them, we
we lose
lose control
, mortgage
odgase them,
since 1978. It has now been rena
ov,er them, as we lose control over
one place. Some of the women are on any day of the week.
gave
med National Union of Working engaged in rolling bidis, others in
Each brand has its own mark* cjher
r items.” . The
*“»■ women then *
“•Women (NUWW). TheNUWW has
uiiicr instances of mortgaged
labelling them, some others in place. Workers have to go to t* I “a, other
ch'ld labour.
recently launched a unit at Vellore,
labour.
putting bidis in bundles and a few respective marketplaces to obt»* ■
where 500 women bidi workers have others in packaging them. Practically work and their wages. General;. , An old sickly woman stood up.
This survey was done for National Labour every one in the family, from a five when employers supply the mated ^he is Kannamma. She said: “I took
year old child to the oldest, helps to for 1,500 bidis, the material is®' I
Institute, New Delhi.
14
manUS! Dumber twenty two, 1984
a loan of Rs 500 for the funeral of Sheth put his fingers in the eyes of
my husband, four years ago. He was my daughter. He always keeps a
a driver. He was killed in a road stick in his hand and beats our
accident. In exchange I gave my 10 children.” The next one said : “I
year old boy, 17 year old boy and brought back my daughter from
10 year old girl. Since then, they the Sheth because he used to beat
have been rolling bidis for the Sheth. her and mistreat her. I then mort
They roll 4,000 bidis a day. Their gaged her to a new Sheth for Rs 450
daily wage should be at least Rs 20 and paid this amount to the earlier
a day. However, the three children Sheth. The new employer behaved
together have been getting Rs 12 well for a month or so, thereafter
a oay. The Sheth has been deduct he also started beating the child.”
ing Rs 8 every day since then.” She Another mother added: “I took my
was in tears while saying : “I have child to the Christian Medical Hos
lost my children. I have not been pital. Doctors told me that she has
able to pay Rs 500 as yet.” TB. She is 17 years old. I cannot
Another woman stood up. She is do anything. She has to go and
Saroja. She said: “Our grandchild work for the Sheth. The doctors
ren are also mortgaged. We are have refused to treat her because
like bonded labour. We are slaves. we are not able to give her rest,
We just give birth to children and food and medicine.”
then leave them to work for the
“What brought you to the
moneylenders. We can ask no ques union, what did you get ?” There
tions. We have to follow them, was a chorus of voices. “The union
like slaves.
Husband, children, will help us to get loans from the
grandchildren all work in this way. bank. We can then purchase raw
All are slaves.”
materials.” They were aware of
The employed working mothers the Kerala Dinesh Bidi Workers
were in real agony. It was writ Cooperative.
When questioned,
large on their faces. In voices they said: “Workers of that coopera
choked with emotion, they described tive get bonus, leave and Rs 12 a
how mercilessly their children are day as regular wage. We would
beaten by the moneylender em very much like to join such a coope
ployers. Most of the children are rative.”
very young when mortgaged. It is
“How will you get your children
difficult for them to work all the back from the Sheth ?”
time. Sometimes they do not go.
They had no answer. They
The Sheth then beats them severely.
Their fingers are injured by caning. looked at us, probably for an
A woman added: “Children are answer.
beaten by employers when they
don’t go to work for them. At Visit To Vellore Bidi Areas
times, we also beat our children
Vellore is 130 kms southwest of
and drive them to go and work for
Madras. As one enters the town
the Sheth.” She. broke down while
ship, widespread bidi manufacturing
narrating this tale of woe and
becomes visibly clear. There are
cruelty.
big boards displaying different
brands of bidis. In hotels and
Dying In Bondage
other such places, bidi calendars
“You have already paid much greet you. Workers can be seen
more than the loan you took years sitting in front of their small hut
ments or shops rolling or labelling
ago.”
“Yes”, the women replied, “We bidis.
have paid much more to the Sheth
We visited three important areas
but when we ask for our children where women are engaged in bidi
back, he demands Rs 500 or Rs 200, manufacturing. Virudhapatti is a
that is, the principal amount of the famous bidi rnandi of Vellore.
loan originally taken. We never Women and children are engaged
have so much money with us. here in rolling bidis for various brand
Therefore we cannot get
our names. We talked to about 30
children back- They continue to women including some children in
be mortgaged with the Sheth.”
a small group meeting. Saidapet
Another mother added: “The main road is another important
15
The employer or contractor is free
area where women are engaged in Workers Pay For Wastage to reject the material. In that case,
rolling bidis since she was seven
labelling bidis. Women in Viruyears old. The employer has fixed her
During discussions with bidi he may not give them further bidis
dhapatti area specialise in roll
to label. The women have this fear
wage at Rs 4 a day, of which he de
rollers at Virudhapatti, the women
ing bidis and women at Saidapet
ducts Rs 2 daily, in lieu of the loan.
gave precise information about their all the time. They have to employ
specialise in labelling bidis. We
She takes home Rs 2. However, this
income. They have to pay 90 paise to some children for assistance in odd
met another small group of 30 someone to cut leaves for 1,000 bidis. jobs. They pay each child 15 paise
arrangement has been existing only
women including some children They have to purchase thread them per 10,000 bidis labelled.
for the last three years. For the first
here. The Vellore unit of the selves. Out of the tobacco supplied,
three years, she carried home only
National Union of Working Women one fourth to half a kilo flies away
Re 1 a day. Shiv Kumar is Jyoti’s
Child Labour
had quickly convened a meeting of or is wasted. They have to purchase
brother. He is now 13 years old. A
Several children were present in
women bidi workers at their branch this at Rs 7 a kilo. Out of 1,000 the group meetings. They carried
loan of Rs 200 was taken on him
office. Ahout 60
more women given by the employee, there is
six
years ago from the same money
their kits with them and were very
including some children participated
lender employer. He has also been
usually a deficit of 150 to 200 leaves. •swiftly either rolling or labelling
in this meeting. Thus, we met more They have to buy new leaves at bidis. They were working as effici
working for the last six years. The
than 100 women in these three
rates of payment are the same for
ently as their mothers. It was re
Rs 5 a kilo.
him as for his sister.
areas.
Two members of a family to ported that all children above five
In Virudhapatti, both women and gether make 2,000 bidis a day. They years of age work in this colony.
The two children work at the
children continued to roll bidis while are paid Rs 7 per 1,000 bidis. They The children can roll 800 to 1,000
place of the employer for some time
talking to us. Their fingers were all get work only for a few days in- the bidis a day or can label 6,000 bidis
and the rest of the time they work
the time busy rolling the tendu leaf week. They have material only for
at home. They carry the material
a day.
and converting it into a bidi. One
with them wherever they go. How
10,000 bidis a wrek. Their weekly
Some of the children were going
could see that they were doing their gross earning is therefore Rs 70 a to school, primarily to get the mid
ever, they have strict orders to
job with great skill. At the same week. On an average, they have to day meal. They would go before the
report to the employer every evening
time, some of them were also talking spend Rs 12 a week in replacement meal, get the meal, come back and
at 8 p.m. with the rolled bidis. Their
quite actively. The children, if any of wasted or poor quality material then continue their work. The work
brand is Babu Bidi. They reported
We told the women bidi workers not so bad in our time.” Two young
thing, were rolling bidis more effi and toward forced cuts which the ing mothers described case after case
that five persons work in the room about the bidi workers’ welfare girls reported that their husbands
ciently, their fingers working almost employers impose while paying them of how they were forced to mortgage
at the employer’s place. Their fund. They had not heard about had paid back the loan and freed
automatically.
At Saidapet also, for bidis rolled. Their net earning, their children to the Sheths. Three j mother also is a bidi worker who this programme. They have not them from the moneylenders. The
women continued labelling bidis therefore, is Rs 58 a week, that is, such children, who have been mort
rolls bidis at home. She was also availed of any such welfare benefit. women further said : “In our days,
while they were talking to us. Here about Rs 20 a person a week. Their gaged in lieu of small debts, were
present at the meeting. She has no Tuberculosis, respiratory and other there was no such poverty and
also, the children were engaged in daily income comes to Rs 3 a present in the meeting. They , had
idea as to how she would pay back diseases are quite common among parents did not have to mortgage
doing the same task. The swiftness person.
the entire amount.
them. They go to the Christian their children.”
come home to eat as it was
of their fingers in cutting slips of
Medica,! Hospital to “get some in11.30 a.m. Even during lunch time,
"Only Listen,
jection.” There also, doctors do not
paper, labelling, putting gum, tying
Living In Fear
they carried their kits and were en
like
to treat them.
bidi with a thread, and in carrying
No
Questions"
Thanks are due to Mrs Java ArunAt the Saidapet main road gaged in rolling bidis. These children
out other operations, was quite con
achalam, president. National Union of
When asked whether they them
colony, women are engaged in label were Tamizh Venden, a 14 year
An old woman stood up and
Working Women, Mrs Nandani Azad
spicuous. It was interesting to note
old,
Shiv
Kumar,
a
16
year
old
boy,
selves
were bonded or mortgaged
said : “I have mortgaged my child
and
other active office bearers of the
that women worked in groups at ling bidis. Practically every woman and Shanti, a 16 year old girl.
when they were children, most" of
for Rs 100. My entire body is stiff.
NUWW, who enabled me to talk to
some central place in their housing in this area is employed in labelling Tamizh Venden has been mortgaged
the Tamil speaking women workers.
bidis. They work for 100 Mark bidi for the last four years in exchange I lhave no rest, no help. The con them said : “No. Conditions were
colonies.
of Bhadshah Bai. Women work in
tractors are always after us. They
Most of the women had formerly small groups by getting together at for Rs 400. The other two children I withdraw material and we have no
been working on various jobs relat some place in front of their huts in have been also mortgaged for I work. My daily earning is less than
ing to bidi making. Some of them the colony. Every morning they go Rs 200 each for the last two years.
No VPP
Rs 2. How can I exist on such
had some land in nearby villages, to the mandis and bring bidis for
Shiv Kumar said that his mother
income 7”
Many readers write asking us to send them copies by VPP. This works
which was taken away for develop labelling. The supply depends on took a loan of Rs 200 two years
At
the
meeting
and
discussions
out very very expensive and is a cumbersome procedure. If you want to
ing a new township. Most other the sweet will of the employer or ago. He can earn Rs 10 a day. But
st Madras and later at Vellore, order one or more copies, please send the price by money order or
women belonged to families of land
he is getting only Rs 3 a day. He
contractor.
women talked freely about their cheque, and we will then send you copies by ordinary bookpost.
less agricultural labourers. They
The women here gave the follow works 10 hours a day, six days a
relations with their employers. “The
were driven to town in search of
ing information about their earning week. Saturday is off, without any
rule is—just listen and do as asked
work.
from labelling bidis. They have to wage. He is illiterate. He has no
•o do. Take whatever material is
Help Us Be More Efficient
In the colonies visited, most of spend on gum at Rs 2.50 a kilo, and idea as to how the money can be
Siven. Ask no question.” Any ques
the families, particularly women and
tion about the quality and quantity
1. When sending your subscription, please write your full address
on thread 50 paise for 10,000 bidis. paid back. He has been contichildren, were engaged in 'bidi manu A strip of the brand name has to be nuously working with the money of material supplied, payments made in block letters, with the pin code number. This is especially necessary if
facture. Most of the males were purchased. They are paid a wage of lender employer for the last two
rer birfis rolled or labelled is a very
doing odd manual jobs. Some of 45 paise per 1,000 bidis labelled. years. No account has been kept of rerious disqualification which results you are sending a money order.
2. When you write a letter to us, please write your full address, even
them were engaged in pulling rick They can label about 8,000 bidis a the loan or of the labour he has jn immediate dismissal from work.
I
if you are a regular correspondent. This helps us reply to you promptly.
shaws, others sometimes worked as day. Of course, two to three women been doing for the moneylender.
Jyoti, a 15 year old girl, was j me contractors just refuse to supply
agricultural labourers. The males have to work together. Therefore,
3.
When renewing your subscription, please mention your old subs
raw material, without which the
mortgaged for a loan of" Rs 300 j *°men are helpless. “We have to cription number. This number appears on the envelope of every copy sent
earned Rs 5 to 6 per day, whenever the earnings come to Rs 5 a day.
they got work. The work was
about
six
years
ago.
Since
then
sh
e
I
"
’
ten
to
them,
do
what
they
say
and
to
you.
However, they may not get work
quite irregular and they earned there
has been working with the money I l“'y do not listen to us.” This is
4. If you can, please do send a stamped, self addressed envelope or
fore only on three or four days of every day. On an average, they get lender employer. She has beef I
the women described their inland letter form. This helps Manushi cut down overhead costs.
work only three to four days a week.
’'orking situation.
the week.
M ANUSH1 j
16
I
I
I
DUMBER TWENTY TWO, 1984
17
RENANA JHABWALA
Neither A Complete Success
Nor A Total Failure
Report Of A SEWA Campaign To Organise
Bidi Workers
I first met Anasuya when she
joined SEWA as an organiser. She
was 20 years old. She belongs to a
community of bidi workers and was
the first girl in her family to go to
Most reports sent to us tend to mention only the positive outcome of
college. I didn’t see much of her at
first because her job was to mobilise various struggles. We found this report, by one of the full time workers of
savings for the SEWA bank and I SEWA, Ahmedabad, particularly useful because it gives an idea of the
was the SEWA research expert. We actual cig zag process which most organising efforts go through and the
collaborated in a campaign to orga
persistence required to make very very small gains.
nise bidi workers. It was an average
SEWA campaign, not completely
successful, nor a total failure. Many
other SEWA campaigns were going
women 21 percent are sole sup
on at the same time but I have deli of the survey questionnaire, Ana
porters of their families. The rest
berately left them out to concentrate suya takes the early morning bus to
contribute
substantially to the
on telling the story of “How the Patan where she is welcomed by
family income. Children help to dry
bidi workers got their identity Zohra Bibi and her numerous rela
tives. “The women were happy to the bidi leaves and roll the bidis. The
cards.”
see me’’, Anasuya reports later. houses are full of tobacco dust and
The story begins when Anasuya “They offered me water and then sat most of the women have respiratory
brings a 40 year old, pan chewing down to roll bidis as they answered diseases. Most houses are pucca but
woman to Ela Bhatt (Elaben), the questions. Sometimes they offer in dilapidated condition. Although
SEWA’s general secretary. She in ed me tea or sherbet. One woman most women do not wear burkahs
troduces the woman as Zohra Bibi, even invited me to her son’s wedd they are not allowed to leave their
a bidi worker from Patan. Patan is ing. But one sleazy Mehmood Bhai mohallas. Most women are illiterate.
a small town, 200 km away from kept following me around. If I
The survey over, Anasuya calls a
Ahmedabad and famous for its asked a woman a question he
meeting of the bidi workers. 1 take
weaving and bidi making.
wouldn’t let her speak but would the morning bus to Patan and am
“There are thousands of us bidi insist on answering for her.”
surprised to find over 200 of these
workers there”, Zohra Bibi tells us.
Later we found out that Meh usually sequestered women gathered
“We have no other work and are
mood Bhai is a member of Majoer under a banyan tree.
very poor.”
“At first my husband forbade
Mahajan and a spy for the contrac
“Can’t we organise them?”, tors. The Majoor Mahajan, or Tex me to attend meetings. But after he
Anasuya asks eagerly, “My brothers
tile Labour Organisation is a trade met Anasuya, he saw she is a good
have given me permission to go to
union
with branches all over and simple girl and knew there
Patan.”
would be no harm in the meeting”>
Gujarat.
“She can stay in my house”,
The results of the survey show Karima Bibi explains to me.
adds Zohra Bibi.
“I had to go to each woman’s
that most of the bidi workers in
“Maybe we can start with a sur
Patan are Muslim women. All are house to convince her,” Anasuya
vey of the bidi workers' socioecono homeworkers. Most work for a says. “Habib Bhai, who owns a
mic conditions”, Elaben agrees.
contractor, a few directly for bidi garage and is much respected by the
So Anasuya and 1 design a sur traders. The women are supplied Muslims, was very helpful to me. He
vey form with simple questions tobacco and tendu leates in their told the women that bidi workers
about the bidi worker’s family back houses and paid four to five rupees should go to the meeting and form
ground, her earnings and working for a thousand bidis—about half of a union. With his support, I could
conditions. Armed with 200 copies
the legal minimum wage. Of the persuade many women to come.”
18
MANUSHI
Anasuya begins the meeting by
^plaining
SEWA’s work with
women in the unorganised sector.
■phen I talk about the benefits of
forming a union. The women talk
ebout their problems.
“I work 10 hours a day and earn
only five rupees”, Hava Bibi says.
"My husband has TB and we have
four children.”
"The contractor gives us less to
bacco and we have to make up the
deficit from our own earnings”,
complains Karima Bibi.
“The government has opened a
clinic for bidi workers but the
doctor refuses^ to treat us,” says
little Khatun. “I had high fever and
my mother took me to the clinic
which is right in front of our house.
But the doctor said we were not
bidi workers because we didn't have
identity cards. My mother showed
my hands, all stained with tobacco,
but he still wouldn’t believe us. So
we had to go to a private doctor,
who charged Rs 25.”
“The same happened to me”, one
woman says. Others nod their
heads.
“Shall we take up this problem
right away?” 1 ask, “All in favour
raise your hands.” All hands go up.
“Let us form a committee and
go to the clinic”, I suggest. The
women nominate Zohra Bibi, Hava
Bibi and Karima Bibi, Anasuya and
me, and we proceed to the clinic.
A board outside a small stone
building informs us that this is the
Bidi Workers’ Welfare Centre (under
Bidi and Cigar Workers Welfare
Act). One room is the bidi workers’
clinic, the rest are offices. We go in
and a short, thin, partly bald man
looks up nervously. The nameplate
on his desk says ‘N. Swaminathan,
welfare officer.’ Mr Swaminathan
offers chairs to Anasuya and me and
gestures for the Muslim women to
squat on the floor. Instead, we share
the two chairs among the five of us,
each balancing on half a buttock.
The welfare officer tells us that
the centre is funded from the bidi
workers’ welfare fund, which is
collected from a tax on bidi. The
clinic is supposed to treat bidi
Workers free. It is also supposed to
8iye scholarships to bidi workers’
children and subsidies for them to
ouild houses. But all this is only for
number twenty two, 19S4
bidi workers who have identity
cards.
“Nobody in Patan has identity
cards”, exclaims Zohra Bibi, “Our
maliks (owners) will never give us
such cards !”
“Rules are rules”, says Swami
nathan, ending the conversation.
As we go out we see the doctor
asleep on a charpai in his empty
clinic.
Out in the street, I suggest we go
and talk to the malik. “You go.
He’ll get angry if he sees us”, says
Karima Bibi.
“We are your representatives.
Without you we have no standing,”
Anasuya insists.
There is a moment of indecision,
then Hava Bibi says : “I’ll go. I’m
not afraid of that blood sucker.”
So we all decide to go to the biggest
malik, Amritlal Thakker.
Thakker has two shops in the .
main bazar. One shop sells plastic
goods and the other is stocked with
A worker making bidis
boxes of bldis and chewing tobacco.
There is a big green and yellow sign
on the awning “Smoke Amrit Bidi.
They are No. 1”, with a painting of
a smiling Amritlal. We see Amrit
Bhai sitting at his strongbox. He is
about fifty, wearing a white kurta
and dhoti, and has an unshaven
stubble of beard.
“What do you want ?” he asks
me suspiciously. Then he sees Hava
Bibi climbing into his shop. “Down,
down, you”, he shouts. Hava Bibi
scuttles down.
In response to my explanations
about the bidi clinic he says : “1 am
only a trader, not an employer. I
know nothing about identity cards.”
He refuses to talk any more.
We return to the banyan tree
where the bidi women are patiently
waiting for us. A few men bidi
workers have joined them. “The
owners don't want to give us identity
cards because that will establish an
employer-employee relationship and
then they will have to pay minimum
wages”, the men tell us.
I describe what happened and
ask what we should do next. “We
should go on strike”, shouts one of
the men. The women are silent.
One or two shake their heads.
“Can’t the government do any
thing?” asks a woman timidly.
Finally the women decide to present
a memorandum to the labour com
missioner.
Anasuya and I return to Ahmedabad. We are followed by a fran
tic letter from Hava Bibi. “My
contractor has stopped giving me
work. He says if you want work go
to SEWA—.” Ana=uya takes the
next bus to Patan. “Hava Bibi is
not getting work”, Anasuya reports
on her return the next day. “Her
daughter is ill and her husband has
TB. She has no food in her house.
She doesn't even have anything to
pawn. I went to see the contractor,
Bhure Khan, to persuade him to
take Hava Bibi back. But he only
shouted at me, ‘Go back to Ahmedabad. You are spoiling our (Muslim)
women with your loose ways 1’ ”
The other women too are un
willing to help. The atmosphere
seems to have changed. “1 tried to
call a meeting of "the bidi women
but no one came. When 1 went to
their houses they turned their faces
away from me”, Anasuya says.
20
Karima Bibi, who has accompa
nied Anasuya, explains: “Everybody
is afraid. The contractors are mak
ing an example of Hava Bibi.”
What next ? Of course, SEWA’s
lawyer files a case for reinstatement
in the labour court. But it will be
years before the case is even heard,
let alone
decided.
Meanwhile,
what will Hava Bibi and her family
eat ?
Haya Bibi is no stranger to
adversity. Nor does she give up so
easily. “If I could get a loan, I
could do a little business in threading
beads”, she writes from Patan. A
nationalised bank is out of the
question since Hava Bibi can offer
no security, and anyway it would
be too long before her loan gets
sanctioned. Finally, Mahila SEWA
Cooperative Bank agrees to give
Ha\a Bibi a loan of Rs 300.
Meanwhile, Elaben presents a
memorandum signed by 100 women
to the labour commissioner. “...We
request you to instruct the bidi
traders to issue us identity cards
immediately...”
’‘These are all homeworkers,
they are not proper employees, ’ the
labour commissioner says doubt
fully.
“But the Bidi and Cigar Act
specifically defines homeworkers as
employees”, Elaben replies.
“They are all housewives doin.
some leisure work. If we press the
owners, they will stop giving theta
work and these poor families wig
have less income”, says the labour
commissioner and refuses to take
any action.
Elaben takes a delegation Of
women from Patan to Sanat Mehta,
the state labour minister. Heissympathetic to the cause of bidi workers.
i ernp'oyees> we won’t bargain with
I them.”
( .• “If they leave then we leave
too”. says Elaben.
' Amritlal stands up. We stand
! op, Swaminathan scuttles over and
; whispers something to Amritlal. He
‘ glares but sits down again.
We begin with a string of com
plaints : The maliks pay below
’ jninimum wages. They don’t give
“I started my career organising
identity cards. They dismiss workers
bidi workers into a union in my
ffho have been with them for 30
native Saurashtra”, he recalls wist
years. They don’t deal with workers
fully. “Those days women were al
directly but employ contractors.
ways behind parda and very ex
The maliks retaliate : The women
ploited.” Suddenly he starts sing
iteal tobacco. Their bidis are subing. “I roll bidis all day, behind my
rtandard.
They are always late with
veil, for only eight paise, Oh sister.”
their work.
He phones the labour commis
I.K. Patel steers the discussion
sioner and says : “Send an inspector
to the question of identity cards. “I
to Pataif immediately. Arrange a
have only 10 employees”, says
meeting with the owners and come
Amritlal.
to some agreement.”
“You are a liar, you have over
Two days later the labour com 100”, shouts Hava Bibi indignantly.
missioner phones Elaben. He has
Amritlal stands up, outraged,
fixed the meeting, but he insists that
and has to be pacified by Patel and
since Majoor Mahajan already has
Swaminathan.
a union we should collaborate with
. “We are not opposed to the cards
their representative.
The women are not happy with but these workers are not cons
this development “Oh no, that man; tant”, says Bhala Bhai, another
owner. “One day a mother comes,
is always drunk”, says Karima Bibi.
next day the daughter, then the
“He is in the pocket of the
daughter-in-law. In whose name
owners”, adds Zohra Bibi. Never
can we make a card ?”
theless, we agree to ‘collaborate’ j
“On the contrary, you keep
with him.
changing the names of workers on
We go to the meeting at the the rolls so that no one can claim
Patan Bidi Welfare Centre. Mat she is,permanent”, retorts Elaben.
tresses are arranged in the room
However, the maliks agree to
with bolsters against the walls. The
identity cards ‘in principle.’ So it is
deputy chief labour inspector, Mt
agreed that SEWA will give a list of
I.K. Patel, is already leaning against
a bolster. But he shifts uncomfor , workers to the labour office, who
tably from time to time as his trou will verify it with the maliks. Every
sers are too tight. Swaminathao one has a cup of tea and the meet
ing breaks up. We begin an inten
runs to and fro nervously. Elaben,
sive list making campaign, but. the
Hava Bibi, Zohra Bibi, Karima
women are being intimidated. “The
Bibi, Anasuya and 1 arrange our
contractor
sends messages to my
selves along one wall. Half an hour
house every night. If I give my
latpr, five maliks come in together,
name
to
SEWA
he'll stop giving me
wearing starched white kurtas and
dhotis. They sit as far from us as work”, says a woman.
possible. Last, the Majoor Mahajan ' “Bhure Khan shouts abuse after
nte when I go out to make the list”,
representative,
Govardhan Bhai,
staggers in and goes and sits with says Zohra Bibi. “He has also
spread rumours that I am a loose
the maliks.
“Shall we begin ?” I.K. Patel wotnan.”
We manage to make a list of
asks.
“First these women must g° only 400 women, although there are
°ver 2,000 bidi workers in Patanout”, says Amritlal Thakker, glar We submit it to the labour office
ing at the three Bibis. “They are our hut hear nothing from them for
manushi
Number twenty two, 1984
three weeks. Then the labour com
missioner tells us that the maliks
deny that any woman on the list is
their employee.
The workers’ enthusiasm is con
siderably dampened now. Even the
men who had wanted to go on strike
say “Don’t disturb a sleeping giant.”
“The women are no longer ready
to make a union. Each woman says
she will join only after others have
joined”, says Hava Bibi bitterly.
“They are all afraid of the maliks.”
Anasuya stops going to Patan.
Elaben writes to the bidi welfare
commissioner who is based in Raja
sthan, asking him to waive the iden
tity card rule. There is no reply.
Two years pass. SEWA has
written 11 letters to the welfare
commissioner without a single reply.
Hava Bibi has found work with
another contractor. Anasuya has
learnt shorthand and typing and has
taken over SEWA’s secretarial
work.
should issue identity cards. Can we
suggest an alternative ?
“Why can’i the welfare office
issue identity cards ? We will help
in identifying the workers”, Elaben
offers.
“I can’t take that responsibi
lity alone. The state labour depart
ment must cooperate with me”, says
Mr Sharma.
The labour commissioner agrees
to cooperate in issuing cards. It is
decided that the cards will be co
signed by a welfare officer and a
labour officer. But the chief labour
inspector stalls. “It will be my res
ponsibility”, he grumbles, “If a
wrong name gets in, someone might
make a fuss which will affect my
promotions.” He manages to delay
implementation for another six
months, but finally we get a letter
asking us to accompany two officers
to Patan.
We write to Hava Bibi and
Zohra Bibi and they come to
Makins bidis at home
One day a question is raised in
parliament as to why the bidi wel
fare fund has not been spent. The
central labour minister writes an
angry letter to the welfare commis
sioner. The welfare commissioner,
Mr Sharma, finally replies to our
11 letters. He is coming to Ahmedabad, can we meet him ? He is ready
to waive the rule that the owner
Ahmedabad. “We need a full time
SEWA organiser in Patan now”,
Elaben tells them. “Find an educa
ted girl in one of your families.”
Zohra Bibi brings her niece, a
fiery 19 year old, educated up to
tenth class and the daughter of a
policeman. She has the same name
as her aunt so we call her “little’
Zohra. Chaperoned by Hava Bibi,
‘-’^nxv P'r’i
tek0 8ultaW® B
acUon- lah°W
«<GUOJ1.
jjy.
>Ko<j,s;Ai1>iwta-p ^91gjaj?igCc.th»r...a roan , , jig
; WEDNESDAY MAY 5 1993 i
(A Government of Karnataka Enterprise)
BRIEF TENDER NOTIFICATION
H
NO. AS D3/22/93-94
(1.0) Sealed lenders in triplicate duly superscribed as indicate/ ^:/.
in para 2.0 for the supply, supervision of installation and comrri'."'
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invited from reputed manufacturers who have supplied electrcxj.l^^
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be submitted In TWO parts viz., Part-I containing .technuj^^^w
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•
tender for "SUPPLY, SUPERVISION OF INSTALLATION
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/
(i) If not accompanied by EMD. (II) If sent telegraphically. (llE^-*.'.-."
incomplete and not conforming to the requirements called
,
the documents, (iv) if received after due date/tlrhe either In peraaKJ.f;
of through post. (6.0) Further details can be had from:
EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (MACHINERY, STORES Alv"'.'
CORPORATK
PURCHASE),
KARNATAKA
POWER
----------LIMITED, JOG FALLS 577 435, SHIMOGA DIST.
KERALA STATE F
NoTDBZ/E & C/B3-94
!
Quotat
j
|
Sealed competitive quotations ‘'
7^^ Sys!om" (Emergency ant. ".
Undar Ground Power Houso et f/tx?
i
ors/suppliers
so as to •roach
this or?
off .• ,.; •.
. „, - ■
mu w 1 uus
can be had from this office cW
Conditions:
I
1. Detailed spocificabon and
commercial terms and d
2. The Bupphcf should remit;
etc© the order is placed r
_ ,
for Rs. 15/-.
|
"A
■
beedi worker in Kuni/"■-% gal found that instead of
JL ^.receiving wages at’ the
end of a whole week’s work, she
had to pay her employer one rupee
; 17/C p out of her own pocket.
SsHSi&
Sounds incredible?'But such
' , ■ </ happenings are not at all implaut//sible given the system prevailing
in the production of beedis — the
- Poor man’s puff.
It is estimated that 200 million
beedis are rolled out each day in
: ?•'! the country by about 45 lakh pairs
of hands. Next to agriculture,’ beedi
Sy'-/ rolling provides the maximum
amount of employment to the rural
masses — to anywhere between
three to five lakh people in
V.:
Karnataka — 90 per cent of whom.
KS!'. arc women and children.
BjflSjgj'
LABOUR / The law promises beedi wo
contractors who control the industr
laws are being enforced, bv
. wonders K
;
This labour intensive industry is
a highly profitable one — 80 per
cent of men and 40 per cent of
women in the country consume tobacco in form or another. But making a beedi docs not seem to bc.as
pleasant a task as smoking it;
While the tobacco used in beedis
’> ./
is grown in Karnataka and Gujarat,
.
. the tendu leaf in which it is rolled . ■
is a forest produce of Madhya Pradesh, Maharahstra and Orissa. The
eblended tobacco (the formula of .
y?.,;
which is a trade secret), the tendu ;
<;'
leaves and yam are supplied by the ’
.
manufacturer through a network of ’
contractors and sub-contractors to /
jsj
home-based workers.
’
?;/;•
Generally, 850 g of tendu leaves 5
MBS
EgS
KEEfi
mS
and 240 g of tobacco are required »!
'/J ■ to roll 1,000 beedis.
p
The worker first cleans the j)
leaves and . cuts them to size. The ®
?.,;<!
leaves are then soaked in water to <J
"j
make them malleable. A small
d
amount of tobacco is placed on the S
’.y?
leaf which is then rolled deftly, H
broad at one end and narrow at the ®
r.jj
other. The edges are pushed in us- H
:■]
ing a small stick and the yam is ■
tied around. Rchan, who sways H
rhythmically as he rolls the beedis H
‘.’q
in a slum in Lingarajapuram, says H
he works from six in the morning , R
to ten at night Ito produce. 1,000 ”
O beedis.
, Rehan has a mentally ill wife,.
'•‘;1 six children who do not go to
1school, and. a, thatched hut that is
8® ' falling, apart, but he is not "aware
■ '.. Il that he is entitled to help from welki’ l fare officials,
„_._, - -
The contractor specifies an “av'. f’jj. erage” number of beedis that are
® L/ to be produced from a given quan;-■? V tity of leaves. “This figure,” says,
yi Mr Alampalli Venkataram of
m i Bharatiya.Mazdoor Sangh, “is has-'I cd on the number that an expert
S i] leaf-cutn is '.able to produce, per cent may be chrirft_,. as wastM
which/Anot be achieved by, most age. These rejected bc*di, ar0 also
1 v nonw rakers."
’retained by the contrnc(or
not
p' Hvhen the worker falls returned to the workCr. As g resuit,
sj/ /: is number, either because workers receive 30 to 40 pCr cent
' h expert or because some ’e3S O’lin 0,e stipulated wages and
’//
■ les arc
a had quality; ‘n some cases, they nu,y nove to
I” ,0 buy tendu leaves pay from their own pocket.
f
ps that no more than 2 at home, had’to
^S^Mys that no more than 2
« long
'>'
’
5
arduous struggle in the courts to
have their very status ns employees
recognised, without which no
benefits would apply to them.
Manufacturers claimed that home
based workers were “independent
contractors" and they themselves
were not employers at all but
merely marketing organisations.
It was only in 1976 that the Su
preme
the home-basployee Court
status upheld
and conferred
on h.m
ployee status and conferred on him
Why do the best of
„
development projects
An analysis points to P°
execution. Pag® H
rm..... ........ ...
•
..
■ -t ■
An artist couple
Younggirls roltihg beedls: a 1000 beedi} will give them Just Rs 18-20
“They exploit the wife by mak
the benefits of the beedi act and about124 lakh cards are estimated
several other acts relating to pay-. to have been issued so far for a ing her bam and look after the
ment of wages, maternity benefit, workforce of 45 lakh. Often, the house,” he says.
industrial disputes, workmen’s passbook is issued, in the husThough there are over 2 lakh
compensation, provident fund, etc. band's, name, who does only the women workers, in the State, not a
In this, beedi workers are luckier transporting, while it is the wife single woman was given maternity
benefit in 1985. A study by P II
than other home-based workers.
who Works at home.
Reddy and P J Bhattachaijee has
But statutory protection has not. “The husbands are mostly'vaga- , revcalcu
womcn wuo
revealed that women
who lmvc
have
meant that the benefits have also bonds,.' says Mr V J K Nair of WOrkcd regularly for 160 days im1976 that the Su- ■ flowed to them. Employers con-:. thetCentre for Indian Trade Union mediately preceding the expected
icld the home-bas- tinue to avoid issuing passbooks.- (CEEUTvhich has organised more day of delivery are entitled to 84
‘r’s. claim to em- and identity cards which alone es-; than 20,000 beedi workers, most days' leave with wages as matemI conferred on him tablish their employee status. Only’ of them in Dakshina Kannada.
ity benefit.
s in the courts to
tatus as employees
thout which no
npply to them.
'aimed that homevere “independent
I they themselves
oyers at all but
; organisations..
f
reacts to
t
communal nots. j
Review of an
i-
ongoing
exhibition.
}
Page IV
L
S3 A false optimism
’ j characterises
■j the portrayal of
. the proletariat
fl in Kannada
H drama.
J Page IV
/
for pension under the new scheme.
"Hut." says Mr Venkatram of
BMS. "while the scheme is a boon
to the older workers, it is a curse
to those who arc younger as they
will lose more than what they gain
from it."
Mr Nair of CITU feels that the
situation could be remedied if the
contract system in vogue is abol
ished and raw materials arc distri
buted to workers directly by the
manufacturers.
A committee was set up during
the tenure of Mr S K Kantha as
Labour Minister to look into this
question but things got stalled after
the fall of the Janata Government
in the state. '
The contract system and the fact
that the manufacturer has no plant
or machinery enable him to shift
his area of operations as soon as
workers' organisations grow strong
enough to demand their rights.
“Manufacturers also deny work
as a means of disorganising
workers," says Mr Nair. “Three
years ago, manufacturers were
claiming tha| there was no work
because of the short supply of
tendu leaves, resulting from the
state takeover of tendu leaf dis
tribution in Madhya Pradesh. But
they were giving work elsewhere,
where there was not much unioni
sation. If guarantee wages, assured
to the worker when the employer
fails to provide the raw material,
were demanded, work to cover the
guaranteed wages was given but
was not enough to survive on,”
he states.
Governments too succumb to
employers’ threats to shift the in
dustry to other States if wages are
not kept low. Besides, they have
failed to fix uniform wages. As a
result, the standard of living of
beedi workers has remained low.
Though there is a belief that
beedi workers arc prone to tuber
culosis, welfare officials for beedi
workers state that working in the
industry has no occupational haz
ard. It is only th? general insanitary
conditions in which beedi workers
live, their undernourishment and
lack of exposure to sunlight which
brings on the disease, they state.
Though studies have shown that
workers in tobacco processing fac
tories arc prone to nausea, giddi
ness, lack of appetite, cough, chest
pain, etc., because of the high
levels of tobacco dust, home-based
workers may not be' as prone to
lisuch disorders.
Navroz Contractor
To provide better housing,
health, educational and recreational
But contractors manipulate rec facilities to beedi workers with a
fund
created from a ccss on to
ords so that a deliberate break in
service is caused and many womcn bacco, the Beedi Workers’ Welfare
Fund Act and Beedi Workers'
become ineligible.
It has been agreed in Karnataka Welfare Ccss Act were passed in
to pay 16.33 per cent of annual 1976.
comings as extra wages in lieu of
This cess as well as the excise
one day of earned leave for even' duty on tobacco were later shifted
20 days of work, nine festival holi to branded bcedis and as this has
days and 8.33 per cent bonus, but resulted in the production of spuriit is doubtful how many
contractors actually pay these
amounts to workers.
Continucd.
Beedi workers are also elipible
nises beedi workers many benefits, most of which do not reach them because of the
ol the industry. The Centre has now set up a special task force to look into how the
g ^ftirced, but when will life actually become better for the beedi worker,
. wonders KATHYAYINI CHAMARAJ in a May Day piece
A profile of Bhupe
winner of this year
Dadasaheb Phalkc
Page nr
■ j An artist couple
-J reacts to
Children like
Subbainma, wk
noadage by Uiei
hough successive
I communal riots.
|CCAN&L HERALD
SATURDAY, APRIL 29,1995
Beedi-workers -- 90 per cent of whom are women — are on the warpath. This week they launched sn.: Jiatlon In four states a--’ it
a
| suddessln Dakshlna Kannada. The beedi workers deserve public sympathy because they are one of the most exploited sections f'
L who
■ i can eam barely Rs. SOO a month even if they work about 14 hours a day — unscrupulous beedi brand owners do not keep thelrX.
cords
’ anc’ company contractors often deprive them of their legitimate dues through devious means. Also, the workers are susceptive to^^rf]2 diseases; KL ’AV ZINGADE writes on the plight of these workers on the occasion of May Day, which commemorates the Chicago workers’
/ truggle
The bsedi industry wrought serious
socio-economic changes on Dakshina
Kannada. There is as yet no definitive
assessment of the pros and cons of these
X / changes, writes NARAYANA A.
for an 8-hour workday that began a century ago on May l,/^886
PTT^HE working conditions of onous, tiring and. injurious to
| beedi workers are far from
JL safe. They stay cooped up at ‘heir health. The beedi workers
work on all days of the week and
their small workplaces for 12 to 14 can only go on leave with loss of
hours, sometimes even 16 hours a Pay. The wages are paid weekly.
day, with short breaks in between.
The beedi workers' struggle for
They are constantly exposed to the decent wages and proper working
pungent smell of tendu leaves and
conditions has a long History. Fol
tobacco but are presumably accus- lowing struggles in the past, the
touted to it However, there are far Central and State .Governments
greater hazards confronting them. have been forced to start welfare
They are susceptible to diseases schemes for them but most of
like cancer, TB, scabies and as these schemes have all/but re
thma, especially after they are 40.
mained on paper. The benefits of
Who should bear the medical ex the Beedi Workers' Welfare Fund
penses of workers affected by started by the Central Govern
these conditions? There have been ment are not reaching .’eligible
; no examples of beedi company beedi workers. ’Also, the State Gov
owners or the government making ernment-has
___ ______
’faffed to, keep its
arrangements to help the affected Promise of constructing houses for
Lz.'jf workea’fte few exceptions, like beedi .workers — .in fact; not a
the opening of a community single house has been constructed
health centre in Mysore, are of 1 in Dakshlna Kannada'so far.’ Insuch marginal use that they can- deed. tHeiqhly thing that appears
not be said to have helped the ma- . to be guaranteed to these workers
Mm jorityrfbeedl workers.
is disease'apd deprivation ; ’.'
■ Ov£^ per cent of beedi . Paradqricaffy, . the
workers are women and they are . workers’ problems seem to be in■■paid W8« on.a piece-rate basis.
beedi indusEWMAji awnge healthy worker can
-are' rising.’^The
roll tip to 1,000 to 1,200 beedies if workers; are ’.not'. getting eyen a •
C^Hshe wata.over 14 hours a day.
tfto
revenue.that is
The W..Including DA, paid for • ““toK
beedLtadustry
■ 1.000 fetes is a paltry Rs 29. In own.e”-^whl?-fetogh
other®™, a worker can earn
gafcbout ij .800 per month if she
M worksj1
and a good part of
oon
T T.THATEVER the inequit- ££. J
\f\]des and health hazards £ ’- x, ’ II* of'beedi-making, the
industry.hasbrou^t about:far-x ’L ~
.■ —’J
reaching ’ ■
socioeconomic * ? ”
. ChandrahasKotekar
changes in the’Dakshlna KannThe gains are debatable
ad£\lt^pne^di^ctfiyliere^l
■
■. ■■ ■
more.Um’-IO?per,xtentfqf the.
:
.totai‘w^toh:L'm^k in -’- ;'.'win1: mbre’’ 'and more-poor
the frotfage’.industry, of'.beedi . ' families, especially women, taki
fe
' ing to beedi making .after’ the
.’ Among’the beedl;WOrkerS in ' sixties ’the ptrrriiasing'powAr of
the districL’there are.three who, :?the rural poor in the district imare entirely dependent oh beedi. ' proved. It gave thorn a’sense of
making for.thelr.liydihqdd and . economic security as the industhose who'rail up beedis to eam '> try provided fffitf with?a'regusometffi^'bn^eAslde.,Pqr.'.to’il-.]ar source’of income. Over the
first cat^o^'Ittf-TOrk^.behdi>-.;.years, ■ it jbeSme^-flto'r.main
n^j^'isito.titooccupation,~;source of income for some film-
unscrupulo]‘“TniMftemen^
beedi company to Mangala^,
•-■I
the nWA.Scme of the workers ' who.r“?':,iecdies
/-^■may'eWftore if they are very ■ have
8004-‘®se ’or
Long working hours to eam a pittance tells on the beedi workers' health
BBHbst Kr&work. In these days generosity^to' toergtse'j^Wafe,
■■■ ■u.twoti^ ft jg the dire need ; ChandrahasKotekar of
has that forces these
' work that.is monot- •■>
^EDRESIOEHnAt-
jers.f.h.s. area
I layout, B.D.A.
•/ ■ ; •
-j^give tUtnj'i
”‘
’
health, education
’$But ^contractors’ manipulate roc-:
to ^5
to1
< - servicels caused and many women •teca>,toBe&dt
mW m fe'hv mak-
nS^Khe ' wds so that a.deliberatTbreak in
;house,” Ke-sav-iV’,■"
--------------------------- SMfflig
Whenever you take a puff
_ fessional .courses. However,-'the ,
lower primary child is entitled
merely to a uniform costing Rs 50.; •— Greater incentives need to be given
ous beedis, there is a cry to shift .to the lower primary, children*to •..
the duty back to tobacco.
.p
revem their
men uxuppmg
prevent
dropping out-of.
There are several complaints that school ^ aiso to decrease the in;
the administration of the welfare cidence of child labour. fund has been ineffective. This also ' —
■
,Though grants are avaijable±for...
seems to be borne out by the factt building of worksheds by workers'.;''
that there was an unutilised amount
co-operatives, these are' hatdl^fof about Rs 28 crore in the con utilised in Karnataka whereas good,I
solidated fund at the end of 1991. use
'
is made of this facility in Ke;'• |
While receipts for the year were rala
1
which has a number of,co-;; I
about Rs 12 crore, expenditure was r
operatives.
1
only about Rs 8 crore.
c
The
success story of the Keralai- I
Mr B.S.V. Murthy, Regional
Dinesh
Beedi Workers’ Central I
Welfare and Cess Commissioner,
attributes this limited expenditure Cooperative Society in Kannur;” ■
to the difficulties involved in ident Kerala, is now a legend in the his- ••
ifying beedi workers, since the tory of co-operatives. This’co-op4/,
smaller contractors fail to give erative which makes high profits..;
them identity cards, without which despite paying the highest wages;:
they are not entitled to benefits in the country — Rs 31.90 per day;'
from the welfare fund. To over apart from all other statutory, bene-..
-i '■■’-yi'
come this, local authorities have fits.
The CITU too favours the forG
been asked to conduct surveys and
register the beedi workers in their mation of similar co-operatives at;
areas. The welfare
all stages vof tor..bacco processing.':.
commissioner and
officials and doc
A special task
and retention of
tors in welfare cli
manufacturers ■
.
force has been
nics
are
also
only for procuring
authorised to issue
• and marketing of ’
set
up
by
the
identity cards.
produce. But Mr
Centre to monitor Nair says that
The bulk of the
■ there has not been
money is spent on
implementation
much progress in'
health. A 30-bed
Karnataka in'the
hospital and 22
of laws relating
formation ofr.comedical units in
because .
to beedi workers. operatives
areas with a large
it has been'diffi
number of beedi
cult . to get the'
Judging by the
workers have been
women to organ-.
set
up
in
past, the task
ise themselves.
Karnataka to treat
Though
a
workers and their
force needs to be
scheme for the
families free of
promotion of; co
extraordinary
cost. TB detection
operatives
has
camps, reimburse
Indeed to make
been
on . the
ment of costs for
Centre's A anvil
various kinds of
itself heard.
since 1984, 'it is
treatment,
pay
■ yet to take con
ment of subsis
tence allowance during illness, ma crete shape. ■
.
ternity allowance and group insur
The National Commission on
ance are some of the other Women in the Informal Sector rec
schemes.
ommends, in addition to the for
While money is spent on treat mation of co-operatives, the setting
ment of diseases, not much appears up of tripartite boards with1 repre
to be spent on providing drinking sentatives of workers, employers ■
water or improving sanitation in and the Government for better im-;_
existing
surroundings,
which piementation
_ ,___________________
and monitoring
a:of all'.
would go a long way in preventing . laws related to beedi workers.
diseases.
'
----- JB that.the
The CITU BBBM.
also demands
As many as 1,425 houses have Government should issue’tendu
been built in Mysore district under leaves and tobacco only to manu
the housing schemes. But Mr Nair facturers who maintain proper rec
of CITU states that not many beedi ords of employment and produc
'
workers are able to make use of tion.
the interest-free, house building
The Welfare Commissioner,
loans and subsidies because most states that most
these issues are ’
of them do not possess sites in the going to be looked into by’ a
first place.
'
special task force that has been sqtAs many as 6,781 scholarships up by the Centre. Judging by what
have been awarded in 1992 to chil has happened in the past, it will
dren studying from the fifth stan be an extraordinary task indeetCto
dard onwards to the level of pro- get its recommendations accepted.
Continuedfrom Page I
%
cution ofprogrammes for basic services
ning programmes in
■1 have to take in all
The programme will
self-governments in
ive use of infrastructg and focus on
them to implement
mid-level staff of medium and
small towns concerned with local
development and management.
Secretaries, decision-makers at
State level, and presidents and
councillors at local level will also
be addressed to foster appropriate
project The key attitudes to urgent issues crucial in
rainii.^^J support- the urban environment.
strengtnen function
Training will therefore be on
management, mu- many levels and according to
Mongers
of
1HS,
, physical and envi- Harry
tning, health, urban Netherlands, who will co-ordinate
lion and economic 1HSP 2 in Karnataka: “We hope
to reach functionaries on a per
sonal and professional level and
.port of State-level enhance their managerial skills to
encics the training make the urban situation more sus
each executive and tainable.”
saty-one years after it was conceived, the Amarja medium
Ration project in Gulbarga’s Aland taluk is yet to become a
reality, writes VENKATESH NAIDU
•jjita
choke
and then move their manufactur the raw. materials supplied by the ' of all beedi workers, maintenance.
ing activities to another region, company and collect the beedies of their employment records at
jed from Page 1
sometimes even to a neighbouring from them. The company owners’ their employer's office and prohib-'
tors appointed by beedi State. With this, they often man ploy worked, and now the
itlon of shifting of manufacturing
ies
are /
often age to suppress the agitation and ■ contractors have a vice-like grip
activities from one region-to an
ulous, and there are any carry on their profiteering as on the workers. With the
other.
of cases of such usual. They are fully exploiting contractors doing the dirty work
tors cheating innocent the lack of a foolproof mechanism for the owners, the workers lost all
workers of leave, matem- to regulate the beedi industry and contact with their real employers. ,
ofits and bonus.
make it follow labour laws.
The popularity of beedis hasj • The beedi brand owners are in no
ated earlier, a beedi worker
Considering-that the workers prompted some entrepreneurs to) mood to concede these demands
.-n only Rs 900 a month if are hardly organised, company start the production of small, •which they say'will ruin the InIls beedis from early morn- owners and contractors resort to cheap brands of beedis. There are’ dustry. Speaking to this reporter,
all kinds of unscrupulous labour also others who produce fake( the owner of Prakash Beedis, practices. The companies do not beedis of famous brands. Needless Shankar Prabhu,' claimed that
the wage is worse than a maintain the appointment and ser to say, the workers who make workers are actually getting Rs
H ce. But what is more galling vice records of most workers, and
these beedis are cheated of almost. 40.25 per 1,000 beedies If one takes
; the workers are sometimes as a precaution against getting
all the benefits that they are en their basic wage and other bene
ven paid this lowly sum in caught on this score, they do not
fits Into consideration. In case the
titled to.
- an unscrupulous contractor even issue wage slips which could
It was the Communists who took. workers’ demand for a wage of Rs.
cheat them by rejecting a few amount to evidence of employ
the initiative to organise the beedij 50 per 1,000 beedies is conceded,
made beedis from kattus ment. While some workers have
. then they would have to be paid
workers in both Karnataka and
ties) made by the workers on been issued with logbooks, most neighbouring Kerala. In the 1960s, Rs. 75 per 1,000 beedies, which was
"impossible."
. . . '
pretext that they are substan- do not have them.
____.beedi
_______________
________
the
workers’ struggle
intenThe beedi company owner also
, gathers and takes them away
The beedi workers' struggle be- sified in Karnataka, and the
brazenly defended shifting of
then surreptiousiy gets wages gan well before Independence. The
' union
’
- - the
CPM’s trade
wing,
bonus for them under a ficti- beedi industry was in its infancy
manufacturing activities .; away
Centre of Indian Trade Unions j
; name (benami). The in Mangalore then and there were
from any place where there was a
(CITU), later took over the leader- • ,
racier pockets the hard-earn- big workshops in which a largestrike. He said there was intense;
ship of the struggle. CITU leaders' ‘
money of the poor girls and number of workers rolled beedies
competition within the industry*''■
allege that the vested interests in
aen without any qualms. How- ■under one roof. Unlike now, the
and most of the demand for beedis
the industry launched a virulent
, the contractor too sometimes workers then were mostly men. As
.manufactured here was from oth
campaign against the struggle,
. i money when the company re- the beedi Industry gradually be
er states.
: •
*
spreading rumours about its
Shankar Prabhu claimed that
■i some of the the beedi kattus came highly profitable and prices
leaders and questioning the! . Ute.
.
companies keep service rec-.
.plied by him.
also rose in the meanwhile, the Communists' left-wing policies. !
ords and so on but was unwilling.'
adly for the workers, it is the workers started demanding a sal
Overcoming a long series' of .to make the' Industry responsible.
: tractor who has the power to 1 ary hike. As the owners refused to
setbacks, the CITU has been con- ,
for the actions of its contractors.
,ide *^her a woman worker
□uld i^Wn maternity benefits concede the demand, the workers slstently exposing'the dirty role
But the whole point here is that
took to the path of agitation.
played by the contractors, and the
the beedi companies operate,
not. Thus'the workers are conThe agitation took such a seri greed of the managements.
through contractors and there" is '
aitly at his mercy.
ous turn that the managements
j: is estimated that there are 6
' no direct link between the beedi ‘
wore forced to concede a wage
kh to 7 lakh beedi workers hi the hike. But they were cunning. They
workers and the company man- "
ate. While about 3 lakh of them struck at the root of the workers’
Pushed to the wall by exploits- , agements they work for. Accorde in Dakshlna Kannada alone,
tlon
as
well
as
inflation,
the
beedi
'.-'Ing to a large a number of beedi
organisation by gradually closing
le rest are scattered in places like down the large workshops and workers are on the warpath at workers this reporter spoke to, the
. ysore, Tumkur, Kolar and shifting the manufacturing activit present A big section'of them- owners may maintain the service
:dag. Though the total workforce ies to private homes. Women, who have been on strike since April 25, records and issue wage slips to a
. the Industry is big, it is not had till then been working in the They plan to stage dhamas at the ; small number of workers but the.
•dperiy organised largely be- fields or doing only their domestic headquarters of different districts overwhelming majority remain i
- ;:
.'iso the beedi companies have chores, started rolling beedis, and taluks till April .29. If the. unoffical workers.
Centralised the manufacture.of
Interestingly,
the
which is ironically a male addic dharnas fail, they also plan to go ■
>eedis. Even in Dakshlna Kann- tion that they disapprove - of. to Bangalore and stage a dharna Chandraprabha Urs • parliament
' tary committee consisting of-41;;
ida, which has one of the oldest Women took to beedi rolling in a before the Vidhana Sondha The beedi workers are demand- . MPs, too took this aspect into con--’
aadc union traditions in the state, big way because it enabled them
The committee recom-:
hardly 30,000, that is 10 per cent to earn some money for their fam Ing, among other things, a basic sideration.
'’J
of the total workforce, is organised ilies. Money ultimately overcame piece-work wage of Rs 50 for 1,000 mended a state-wise survey -of
in Trade unions, according to one their distaste of beedis and later beedies, a uniform wage rate areas where beedi workers.are
.
unofficial estimate.
the fear of tobacco-related dis throughout the country, DA at the concentrated.
The parliamentary committee
rate of five palse per every in
eases.
The contractors came into the crease of point over 1,300 of the also recommended that "each and
consumer price index, implemen every worker, whether a-'ghar.
the beedi companies
The company owners resort to .picture when
----------------------—
khata’ or beedi factory worker,devious means to put down beedi started mostly employing women tation of the recommendations of should be given an identity card.
workers’ protests. The moment ', workers Instead of men. The the Chandraprabha Urs Parlia at the earliest so that he or she is
■ they find signs of an agitation any- contractors' Job Is to employ mentary Committee and cornpul- no longer deprived of the benehts
wvu.™
wuraers
mosuy. .’ sory issue of wage slips. They have
kwhere, they first reduce the piece- women
workers
mostly.
provide them with 11130 sought a nation-wide survey of various government schemes.'
~-v-k iftven to worker^ta the are^—unofficia
unoffleilly,
’’
Management view
On the warpath
Devious means
1 - - .
......eMWWywm.ui
a. ^^^nuKes-tviarK-eting'of^yod
Am 1999
REPORT ON THE BEEDI INDUSTRY
IN SOUTH INDIA
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS A BEEDI?
“Beedis”, also known as the “poor man’s cigarettes”, are slim, hand-rolled
unfiltered cigarettes which resemble marijuana joints. They consist of tobacco rolled
in tendu leaves, which are less permeable to air than paper, requiring the smoker to
inhale more deeply than a regular cigarette.1
WHY HAS THE BEEDI BECOME A CAUSE FOR CONCERN?
According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), a beedi releases 3-5
times more tar and nicotine than a regular cigarette, despite containing less tobacco.
Beedi smoke also contains more deadly chemicals such as ammonia and carbon
monoxide than regular cigarette smoke. It is found to be loaded with cancer-causing,
chromosome-damaging, genetic poisons, far more than are found in a regular
cigarette.12
In the U.S., these beedis appeal to teenagers in particular as they come
flavoured vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint and cola.3 These “dessert cum smokes”
are cheap and easily available (even over the Internet) to minors.
It seems as if, smoking a beedi has become the latest fad. Says one journalist “
They’re sweet. They’re cheap. They’re small and worst of all, they’re trendy.”4 These
beedis are essentially exported from India. Although beedi sales in the U.S. are
estimated at S980,000 as compared to the billions spent on cigarettes, they are gaining
1 Internet document.
2 Infra., note 7.
3 Internet document.
4 Sally Squires, “The Scourge of Beedis on the Young”, <http://ash.org/august99/08-18-99-I.html >
popularity because of their low cost? In India, a beedi is as cheap as Rs. 0.15? There
is also the prevalent misconception that the beedi is a safe alternative to the cigarette.
They can even be bought in health stores, as these beedis are considered the “natural”
form of tobacco.
It is rumoured that in China, beedis are laced with opium.5
67 “In some provinces
of China, puffs from lighted beedis are give to infants and toddlers to stop them from
crying.”8
However, what is also a major cause for concern is the work environment in
which these beedis are produced. Research works have revealed that this product is
produced in toxic conditions and even those who have never smoked a beedi, but are
involved in the production process, are damaged by the mutagenic and carcinogenic
compounds in the air.9 The dust mutates the skin of these workers and damages their
chromosomes. They get sick and die at alarming rates just from making the beedis.10
Another cause for concern is that the beedi industry employs child labour.
A study was carried out in South India, in two major beedi-producing areas
namely South Kannara and the North Arcot district around Vellore. A large number of
beedi workers as well as their employers were consulted. This report is an account of
the said study regarding the beedi industry.
5 “All Smoke, No Fire, insists bidi manufacturer”, TIMES OF INDIA, February 17, 2000.
6 Approximately Rs. 43 is the equivalent of a dollar.
7 <http://www.drgreene.com/990517.html>
8 Ibid.
9 International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1992 in supra., note 7.
10 Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 1994 in_supra., note 7.
2
CHAPTER 1
THE PRODUCTION PROCESS11
The tendu leaves, which are the wrapper leaves, grow wild, particularly in the
forests of Gujarat, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. Once a year, normally in the month of
May, the beedi manufacturers gather for an auction of the tendu leaves. The highest
bidder gets access to the forest for that amount of time as is required to harvest the
beedi leaves. This stage is labour intensive, as all the leaves are hand-plucked.
The tobacco is mainly grown in the Raichur area...
The leaves are then piled up and wet. They are then stocked and dried and then
put into large bags and sent to the factory. The tobacco is grown and harvested
separately (usually in a different are) and also sent to the factory. Once in the factory,
the manufacturers send the leaves and the tobacco either directly to the beedi-rollers
or to the contractors through whom they operate.
These contractors, distribute the tendu leaves and the tobacco to the beedi
rollers and on completion, take the finished product back to the factory. On every
1000 beedis, these contractors earn a commission of between Rs. 1 and Rs. 3.12 On an
average, every beedi-roller rolls 1000 beedis a day, and each contractor has a
minimum of 20 workers under him.
The beedi-rolling process itself runs thus. The tendu leaf is cut in a rectangle
and held in the left hand, while the tobacco is spread evenly over it. The leaf is then
rolled into a cone. The lower end is then closed by bending the leaf inward. To
facilitate this process, the index finger is closely fitted with a sharp, metallic nail that
is heated and clamped onto it, burning the finger everytime. However, the workers say
they are “used to their fingers getting burnt”. Sometimes, a long metallic object is
used and sometimes, the workers do not use anything at all, but merely use their
fingers for this step. The uncut and tapering end is tied with a piece of thread.13
" All information in this section has been obtained from a beedi manufacturer who wishes to remain
anonymous.
12 Figures obtained from contractors interviewed.
13 Anonymous, “Comparative Study of the Beedi Industry in the Private and Co- operative Sectors”,
Ph.D. dissertation, May 1993.
The finished beedis are tied in bundles of 25. Rolling 1000 beedis takes a
minimum of 6 - 8 hours a day, sometimes even 10 - 12 hours. In villages where
beedi-rolling is the only occupation of the workers (for example in the villages of the
North Arcot district), beedi-rollers roll almost 2000 beedis a day, working an average
12 hours each day.
At the end of the day, the beedi-rollers take the finished products to the
contractor whom in turn sorts out the “good” quality beedis from the others, and
arrange the bundles in open wooden troughs and dry them.
The beedis are then arranged in large baskets, each containing approximately
150,000 such bundles,14 (see photograph) and delivers the goods to the factory, where
he is paid his commission as well as supplied with more raw material. The contractors
usually visit the factory once or twice in a week, and only rarely, more often.
The last stage of the production process is the further drying of the beedis in
large ovens, and then labelling the products.
Beedi-rolling is done both in the houses of the workers and in co-operatives.
Many workers interviewed preferred working from home as they then saved on the
cost as well as on the time spent in travelling to the work place. In the South Kannara
region, the workers were mainly women who rolled beedis in order to supplement
their husbands’ income. In such cases, workers could work at home in addition to
looking after household chores and child rearing.
No machinery is employed in the production of beedis. The industry is
therefore entirely dependent on labour, thus providing employment to scores of
labourers (employment figures are provided in the next chapter).
(
(
/
Figure obtained from interview with a contractor.
CHAPTER 2
EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES
As has already been mentioned, the beedi industry is labour intensive. Every
stage of the beedi production is executed with the use of manual labour. Indeed, the
industry provides employment to many lakhs of workers. In the South Kannara
region, the industry provides employment to over 10 lakh labourers. In the
Tirunalvelli region in Andhra Pradesh, 14 lakh labourers are involved in the
production of beedis.l:iThis industry is one of the largest employment generating
industries in the country.
While some workers merely work in this industry in order to supplement
income that is earned from other occupations, for many, the beedi industry provides
them their daily bread and butter.
One of the main causes of worry is that the beedi industry employs child
labour. For this reason, the U.S. has banned the import of products from Indian beedi
industry(ies)y.16 We talked to beedi workers in and around Vellore, as well as in
Jelligude (hardly 8 kilometres from Mangalore). While they all admitted that their
children too were involved in beedi production, they said that the children merely
“helped” them. Most of the children go to school, or have obtained an education upto
the 8th grade.
Under such situations, the employer cannot be accused of having employed
“child labour”, as it is the parents and not the children who are on the pay rolls.
Moreover, this “helping” by the children occurs in the private sphere of the “home”,
and cannot be interfered with.
Infact, one beedi manufacturer even said “I will not risk employing child labour, as I
don’t know when I’ll have an inspector watching my factory in order to catch me for
that very reason. Besides, the fine imposed for employing child labour is Rs. 20,000 a
child. We make sure even the Taiwan is above the age of 16 I also view the situation
as one where I feed another mouth. I may stop employing these children in my
Figures obtained from interview with a beedi manufacturer.
factor}', but that does not mean they won’t be compelled to find work elsewhere. It is
most often parental pressure which forces these children to work in order to provide
for the sustenance of their families.
However, in the more remote villages like Hoskote, child labour is freely
employed. There is, one point to be noted in this respect, which is that while the child
is on the employer’s pay roll, he/she does not receive the wages. The wages only go to
the parent
The wages of beedi-rollers for branded beedis is between Rs. 40 and Rs. 55
foe every 1000 beedis rolled. Some workers are only involved in cutting the tendu
leaves. Such workers earn Rs. 10 - Rs. 15 a day, generally for having rolled 1
kilogram of tendu leaves.
Most often, the workers do not get in hand, the prescribed wages. They are
generally given enough raw material to roll 1000 beedis, but the quality of the tendu
leaves is poor, and the shortfall has to be made good by the workers themselves.
In Kaniyambadi, a village just outside the town of Vellore, the workers say
their wages on paper are Rs. 55 per 1000 beedis, but they receive only Rs. 40, or
sometimes even less, in hand. Rs. 7.50 is kept aside as part of the Provident Fund that
these workers are entitled to.
The workers are entitled to benefits such as a pension and their Provident
Fund. There are also special government hospitals set up around areas concerned with
beedi production. However, the villagers had the same thing to say about these
hospitals, and that is that the doctors in these hospitals are irregular. The medicines
they are given do not help. They also have to wait hours on end before they can meet
the doctor, and none of them has the time to waste waiting for the doctor to arrive.
There is a special provision for government holidays. On these days, the
workers need not roll beedis, but receive the wages for that day anyway.
The workers are allowed to take their Provident Fund as a lump sum at any
time. However, in such an event, the worker then forfeits his/her right to a pension.
Such workers do not give up rolling beedis, as the pension they receive is a mere Rs.
200 or 300 a month, hardly enough to sustain them. They prefer claiming their
Provident Fund as a lump sum and continuing rolling at the mercy of the contractor.
Supra., note 5.
When a worker continues to roll even after retirement age, the procedure is
thus. He is enrolled under the local contractor, and his holiday wages and the amount
that is put aside as part of the Provident Fund; all goes to the contractor. Therefore,
what the worker actually receives is a wage for the beedis rolled everyday minus what
is put into the contractor’s Provident Fund. It now becomes obvious how the
contractor stands to gain at every stage!
The workers accept the contractor’s position as an inherent part of their
occupation. The contractor himself admits that his position may at some level cause a
loss to the workers. However, according to him, this is his way of earning his
livelihood. It just so happened that he had the money to clinch the contract and now
the workers would have to accept his more powerful position.
Infact, when asked why they work for the beedi industry, the workers of North
Arcot district unanimously replied that there was no other industry in which
employment can be found as the beedi industry is the only industry there.
“The beedi industry in India employs many lakhs of workers”, says the
interviewed beedi manufacturer, “close it down and all these workers will be left
unemployed. Moreover, they are now accustomed to their work and have developed a
skill for it. Given any other employment, they will find it hard to learn the trade.
Infact, the workers themselves will be outraged to hear any proposition of the industry
being forcibly closed down.”
CHAPTER 3
HEAL TH CONCERNS REGARDING WORKERS IN THE
BEEDI INDUSTRY
While it is a popular notion that tuberculosis is largely prevalent among beedi
workers, the truth is that while working in tobacco dust does make the worker
susceptible to the disease, tuberculosis strikes only when the worker does not eat
properly or is an alcoholic. This input came from the beedi workers themselves as
well as various doctors interviewed. | ,
Aft I This is true of any form of
labour involving working with dust, including construction, rolling of incense sticks
etc. Infact, of all the beedi workers interviewed, the researcher came across only one
worker who was infected with tuberculosis.
Doctors say that the notion of TB being widely prevalent among beedi
workers originated in times much earlier, when all beedi workers used to sit together
in the same room, which was airtight so moisture did not touch the dried leaves.
Under such conditions, if one worker were infected with TB, it would spread to all the
others in the room. However, nowadays the workers either work at home or in rooms
with circulation, and spreading of TB in the above-mentioned manner does not occur.
TB apart, the workers are however prone to asthma and various other dust
related allergies including the skin of their hands peeling off due to excessive work in
the dust. In addition, the workers develop bronchial diseases as the posture adopted
for beedi rolling exerts pressure on the lower part of the lung leading to such
diseases.17
They also develop chronic back problems due to the posture in which they sit
while working and eyesight is affected due to constant gazing at the beedis they are
rolling. Fingers also lose sensation and become numb after a prolonged period of
beedi rolling.
While the provision of a hospital in every beedi manufacturing area is part of
the benefits the workers are entitled to, all the workers say the hospitals are practically
1' From interviews with affected beedi workers and doctors.
redundant as none of the workers uses these hospitals. Irregularities of the doctors as
well as callousness of the doctors are reasons for the abandonment of these hospitals.
The workers prefer using private doctors, but end up spending a lot more money that
they would have had to if the doctors in the government hospitals were reliable.
Beedi smokers are exposed to more deadly diseases such as oral and lung
cancer, which beedi makers are not exposed to directly. But working in the beedi
industry may lead to being an addicted beedi smoker, which will then expose these
workers to different forms of cancer.
http://www.drgreene.com/99^)5^ 7.htm
Bidis are more dangerous than ciga...ric wisdom for the information age
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Bidis are more dangerous than cigarrettes.
: Dr. Greene, my daughter has started smoking a new kind of chocolate cigarette called a "bidi".
^-^.'’She assures me they are all natural and not harmful at all. She says they contain no drugs. Do you know
' about them? Are bidis safe? She also smokes vanilla and strawberry bidis.
Concerned Parent
San Francisco, California
Bidis are all the rage among teens. Dessert and smoking literally rolled into one! But this makes
me rage! People who are trying to make a fortune have succeeded in putting another one over on our
kids. Bidis are not new, and they are certainly not safe!
Soon after the Europeans discovered tobacco in the New World, Dutch and Portuguese traders decided
to introduce tobacco to India and the East so that they would have highly profitable goods to cany in
their ships in both directions.
Tobacco arrived in India in 1605.
For centuries now, the bidi, cheaply made from inferior ingredients, has been the cigarette of choice for
those in poverty in India. Called "the poor man's cigarette," the bidi is made from the flakes and dust of
dark tobacco leaves. Strong flavoring, such as vanilla, licorice, strawberry, cinnamon, or clove, is added
to mask the poor quality of the tobacco. This concoction is then hand-rolled in a green or brown leaf by
impoverished laborers in oppressive "factories." The unfiltered final product is a small, slim cigarette,
tied at both ends with a colorful thread.
I have not heard of bidis in the United States containing illegal drugs, though I have heard of
opium-lacecLbidis in China. In some provinces of China,jiuffs .from lighted cigarettes are given to
infants and toddlers to stop them from crying {Tobacco Control, 1993; 2:7-8).
Bidis have long been popular among the poor in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka,
Cambodia, and India who could not afford regular cigarettes. A single pack of bidis costs up to 40% of
their average daily income. Bidis are now more popular than regularcigarettes in India, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, and Nepal. Oral cancers have become the leading cause of cancer throughout this region, with
90% attributable to tobacco use (Tobacco or Health: A Global Status Report, World Health
1 of3
2/15/00 4:53 PM
Bidis are more dangerous than ciga...ric wisdom for the information age
http://www.drgreene.com/990517.htm
Organization, 1997).
India now produces more tobacco than does the United States and is a world leader in oral cancer. (India
and the United States taken together produce only a fraction of the amount that world-leader China
produces in conjunction with American tobacco companies).
Now bidis are arriving on the shelves of convenience stores and gas stations across the United States.
Touted as new, cool, safe, and natural, the bidis are priced right for the teen budget - only $2.00 for a
pack of 20.
Smoking bidis has been independently proven to cause:
• Cancer of the tongue {International Journal Cancer, 1989; 44(4):617-621)
• Cancer of the gums (British Journal of Cancer, 1989; 60:638-643)
. Cancer of the floor of the mouth (International Journal Cancer, 1989; 44(4):617-621)
• Other squamous cell oral cancers (Indian Journal of Cancer, 1997; 34:49-58)
I • Cancer of the larynx (International Journal of Cancer, 1990; 45:879-882)
. Cancer of the esophagus (International Journal of Cancer, 1991; 49:485-489)
. Lung cancer (Thorax, 1982; 37:343-347)
• High blood pressure (Journal of the Association ofPhysicians ofIndia, 1995;43:253-258)
L_. Coronary heart disease (Indian Heart Journal, 1989;41:62-65)
The sweet-smelling smoke of bidis is dangerous—more dangerous than cigarettes. I am angry that they
are being marketed to children.
Each bidi cigarette is loaded with cancer-causing, chromosome-damaging, genetic poisons, far more
than are found in a regular cigarette. "The safe alternative" also contains two to three times the tar and
nicotine of regular cigarettes. In a chilling experiment, smoke from regular cigarettes and bidis was
given to Swiss albino mice. Bidi smoke reliably caused cancer in doses small enough that the regular
cigarette smokejeft the mice apparently healthy (Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology,
1988;114:647-649).
And our children naively inhale this toxic smoke, without even the benefit of a filter.
But our teens do not care about this. Their sense of invulnerability prevents them from fully appreciating
the long-term risks. So, if you have preteen or school-aged children, start talking to them now about
bidis. They are still at an age when knowledge of these consequences can prevent them from being
duped later on.
•
Teens might care, though, that when smoked during adolescence, bidis hasten the closure of the growth
plates in the long bones—stopping them from ever reaching their full height. Those who smoke as few as
two bidis daily for as little as 2.5 years have been proven to end up significantly shorter than their peers
(Journal ofEpidemiology and Community Health, 1980; 34:295-298).
Because of their sense of justice, teens might care about the poor working conditions of the
impoverished factory laborers rolling their bidis. This "natural" product is produced in toxic conditions.
Even those who never smoke a bidi are damaged by thejnutagenicand carcinogenic compounds in the
air (InfernationarArchives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1992; 64:101-104). The dust
mutates their skin and damages their chromosomes (Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology,
1994; 120:485-489). They get sick and die at an alarming rate just from making the bidis (Mutation
Research, 1995; 334:139-144).
Teens might also care that shrewd marketers are playing them for fools. The fiendish, sweet-smelling
smoke wafting through teen hangouts is the scent of profit for savvy businesspeople.
The Associated Press reported on May 10, 1999, that 58% of students in four San Francisco High
Schools have already tried bidis. This is alarming! Let's get the word out.
2 of 3
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.Alan Greene, M.D., F.A.A.P.
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The Daily Star: Features
http://www.dailystamews.com/199807/04/n8070409.htrr
The positive responses during the first two phases (1987-91) created
opportunity to expand the programme in 12 more districts of Bangladesh. At
present 20 local NGOs are implementing VFFP in four VFFP regions i.e.
Dinajpur, Rajshahi Bogra, Jessore. VFFP NGO partners, with financial and
technical assistance from VFFP, try to establish village based private nurseries,
which are privately owned and commercially run. These nurseries consider
local demand in planning their seedling production and out of their
entrepreneurial interest, motivate fellow villagers to plant trees. VFFP has
established four Regional Service Centres in its working areas to render tree
related services to any organisation or individual.
The potential niches for tree plantation are homestead and crop land. Planting
tree in homestead is a traditional practice. But planting trees in homestead has
its spatial limit. What about planting trees in crop land? One may be taken
aback. But cropland tree-planting does not mean sacrificing crops for tree. It
means planting trees in combination with crops. Will it not negatively affect
crop yield? VFFP research proved that if proper management practices like
branch pruning, root pruning etc. are followed then shade effect, competition
for soil nutrient can be minimised.
VFFP research findings reveal that crop loss under the canopy of sissoo,
mahogany, goda neem is 4 per cent-25 per cent (Quddus, 1997). Let's take an
example, if you plant three different species of trees such as, sissoo, mahagony,
and goda neem, in one acare land, with 8mx8m spacing, which accommodates
54 trees, you will get return of Tk. 11000, 13000 and 1100 respectively for
each tree after 20 years, 25 years and 10 years with your regular crop. Against
the above extra financial benefit, the crop loss due to the presence of the tree in
the crop field is for sissoo - 91 taka for 20 years, mahagony - 300 taka for 25
years and for gaoda neem - 58 taka for 10 years. So, you could easily count the
loss and benefit of crop land tree planting.
Now the choice is yours. Many farmers in different geographical locations in
Bangladesh are practising the tree-crop cultivation. The implication of the
programme is more pronounced across the western parts of the country. Crop
land plantation could be one potential area for larger intervention for solution
of ever increasing demand for fuel wood, timber and problems of decreasing
soil fertility.
The writer is a development worker
[Top][Home][Onirban Online]
Bidi sells Good in LA
Lisa Tsering writes from Los Angeles
PRABHJIT Singh Bajwa, owner of New India Sweets and Spices here, is
amused. "Why do you want to write about bidis?" he asks.
His store, in a predominantly African-American neighbourhood of Los
Angeles, has been selling the hand-rolled leaf cigarettes, called bidis in the
subcontinent, for years. But these days, business is growing.
5 of 6
2/15/00 4:45 PM
The Daily Star: Features
http://www.dailystarnews.com/199807/04/n8070409.htrr
A study released recently shows a disturbing trend in the popularity of bidis in
the minority and youth communities. According to Ebonne Smith, project
coordinator for the Booker T. Washington Community Centre in San
Francisco, 58 per cent of students surveyed at four San Francisco high schools
admitted to trying bidis at least once. Of them 40 per cent had been smoking
them for over a year.
"In the lower income areas, they're much more popular and easier to buy,"
Smith told the California newspaper India-West. "In upscale neighbourhoods,
the merchants haven't even heard of them."
Bidis, considered in India to be the "poor man's smoke," cost around Rs. 5 a
pack (about 13 cents) in India while here they cost $1.25 (Rs. 52).
Smith, with a research team of seven local teens, compiled the data for the
Tobacco Free project, an organisation funded by the city's department of public
health.
The most popular brand was found to be Mangalore Ganesh 501 Pinks, with a
market share of 82 per cent. Although the plain variety is the most popular,
flavoured varieties including mango, clove, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry
are gaining popularity as well, Smith said. She released her findings in a formal
complaint registered with the Federal Trade Commission.
Over a span of ten months, the team surveyed young bidi smokers, the majority
of whom were between 17 and 18 years old. Latinos - immigrants from South
America - were found most likely to smoke bidis (36.9 per cent), followed by
blacks (27.7 per cent). Despite being under the legal age of 18 years, 24 per
cent of youths surveyed said they had no trouble purchasing them.
The ease with which they're available, combined with a price tag as low as
$ 1.25 per pack compared with an average $2.50 per pack of cigarettes, has
been key to their popularity, she said.
Smith's study found that 45 per cent of bidi smokers surveyed were female.
Although it's not uncommon to find working class women smoking bidis in
India, it's not a widespread habit there, she said.
Also notable was the range of popular misconceptions about bidis. Alarmingly,
nearly half of the respondents (49 per cent) believed that bidis wouldn't give
them cancer, evemthough the San Francisco Department of Public Health
asserts that each bidi contains seven to eight per cent nicotine, compared to one
to two per cent as found in American cigarettes.
- India Abroad News Service
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73
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i
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.-.•■_. rr
Bidi industry ioins swadeshi club, to oppose MNCs
®
A *
,
■■*'- •
•
“
' ’
...----- ——•-----------------------------years, .a'member "of the federa— ??,There is.'already a very low
that the entire bidi industry,
""The federation ""i t*on
i“Why ^should " the 'excise on-micro'cigarette seg”
'
] country pay royalty to a foreign mentand the price gap between
which currently has a annual
tjemanOeCI that the ■ | company which is already being bidi and noh-filter micro 'cigaIN ANOTHER case of domestic turnover of Rs 5,000 crore and ,
industry opposing the entry of employs around 56 lakh work- <
entire bidi industry i allowed to enter our local mar- rettes has already been’ jnar|
■ multinational brands, the Indian ers, should be protected by the
.
. ,
' . i ket They are selling their prod- ‘rowed down in last three years
-■ bidi manufacturers have alsoi government -The bidi industry , Which Currently has a J ucts in our country and they ’hurting' the bidi industry, -he
joined the ’swadeshi club’ and is a ..traditional industry of the
annual turnover of Rs
want us to pay them royalty.”
. 'said adding that the bidi market
strongly opposed the govern country which will be badly hit ,- nnn nnm anrl omnlnvc ' M°reover> ITC is asking the is shrinking day-by-day. ' -'
The’government should ■ inment’s move to allow multina by the entry of these multina- 'j,UUU Crore ano employs permission to pay royalty for a
tional cigarette’brands to enter■ tional brands,” said a federation ! around 56 lakh workers, \ period of 20 years. “It jwquld be .’crease' the excise ‘on low end
into the country. . . ,®
’ representative.
■
, [ _u_, iti-i
ikwl very unfortunate if the govern- 'cigarettes to’keep1 a substantial
ment
a permission gap between bidi and cigarettes
All India Bidi Industry FedThe federation is of the view ! should be protected
. eration, an apex body of the bidi that the entry of multinational | ; the government. - . .j after relaxing its dwin guidelines to protect", the’’bidi' industry.
■
-. .
.- . ■
“ 'to a company winch,is'under \_Cigarette’ manufacturers';, ”are
has recently conveyed to the the bidi industry in long term.
The federation has ‘also bp- thecloudsforexciseibvasion ?” ..selling small cigarettes at a‘very
government that the entry of “The cigarette companies earn posed the payment of royalty to he added. ’••>.. ,
-low margins to attract the "bidi
multinational cigarette brands very handsome profits on .their the foreign companies for introThe federation has askeA the ’smokers . and as .the) difference
should be discouraged as.it is premium brands and this profit during theirbrands in the conn-' '■ government.to take, a pragmatic ’oncost’ of manufarturing far
. not in the national interest The ' will be. used .to .subsidise their try. Referring to the ETC’s pro- -'view of the situation,and. to..not' ‘bidisahd^ small 'cigarettes.is hot
• demand of the federation has low end brands of small ciga- -posal for asking the govern- give -permission to such pro-much, it is not possible for bidi
also been supported by the rettes to make a dent into the ment’s approval to pay five per posals which are not in the na- manufacturers to. kSep their
members of Parliament (MPs).
bidi market,” he said.
cent royalty to BAT for 20 tional interest
■
prices low, he added.
• ■ • .
^_£ctM<TT?og3£>e>2,
fl
Ashu Kumar
L
NEW DELHI 30 AUGUST :
naaortz?:
waesaodL
edsnaztn uodo sar^tssjoas
aeaciFa e&a^ asSe^MS.
aea eroddono rawsaaorsaod
doQxtra^carbj d aotndo td^
sadra.
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ud
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40 eda e Sod 4r?ad dearth
3d2oGatodod edtd SoQdSo.
Oi edosd d,5ad 3i d’QoiiSo
tnod^do qS’USdO dcSrosSodd
ed:B3aO dJssfcdoSe.
aods ua deaffWO 3.aead
adodnaA
dearth
«rt
aaAdoa^daod coartja dr^d M3A* ssaztra * tsdftoddci
ecteoa uaijidcUd dorodSoicio
de3naaSc±> adod djaccado
djsoado^jdOod
wdoosda, 3&d Ldr aQsae djj3,dwd
dji«?o trad Sdi^rxddduaAd.
S,do 3rtd:tra^ta desado3s
« a>3,dOd aod: 40
do^nad. 3a& d.radwo 3Ss3
dndOro^A 1^33^ tjcu scad.
uad cazo3ac3,4 dd3cdo d.sac
sa&
dra>di»
SSsadS
39dd{43^
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trod.d: 3cadrt<?rt dratnart 3cSci
eO, acbnaa aa«Sa daodaAd
aod: 3ja?edisoa3o.
end
laa* U3,s5 3S rt>dnaot>do
d^dasd d,qSdo sa« dnacco3o
cod: eddo adaxddb. jfY /’
All smoke, no
I fire, insists bidi
manufacturer
WASHINGTON: An Indian bidi
manufacturer has rebutted charges
by US customs department That the
industry employs child labour, a se
nior official in the Indian embassy
here has said.
c
The manufacturer, from whom a 5
large consignment of bidis was impounded by the department recent
ly, made the rebuttal in its reply to fs]
the charges, minister (economic) in
«
the embassy, Ajay Malhotra, told ]+•
reporters on Tbesday.
The department has promised to
study the matter before releasing
the seized consignment, Malhotra
| said. Bidi sales in the US are esti- VI mated at $980,000 against billions
1 spent on cigarettes?However, bidis
are gaining popularity among stuj
dents because of their low cost, -pn
http://ash.org/august99/08-18-99-1 .html
The Scourge of Bidis on the Young [08/18/99]
Everything for People Concerned About Smoking & Nonsmokers' Rights
FIRST on the Internet for Smoking News and Documents
Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization
Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
Info About ASH | ash.OTg | To Join ASH
The Scourge of Bidis on the Young [08/18-1]
Excerpts from Imported Cigarettes Draw Teens, Criticism Appealing Flavors, Packaging Belie
Bidis' High Levels of Nicotine and Other Substances
By Sally Squires, Washington Post [08/17/99]
They're sweet. They're cheap. They're small and worst of all, they're trendy. Bidis, tiny flavored
cigarettes from India, are luring a new generation of young smokers to tobacco and raising alarms
among public health officials and anti-smoking groups.
In a new study scheduled to be published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Massachusetts
state public health researchers will report high rates of bidi use among urban youth there, a pattern of use
that experts say likely reflects use elsewhere also.
While the study's results are embargoed until publication, Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner
Howard Koh said the findings point to a serious new threat to anti-smoking efforts among youth in
grades seven to 12. "The study found that the prevalence of bidi use was disturbingly high," Koh said.
"This is catching hold."
Bidis are slim, hand-rolled cigarettes that have been sold in the United States for more than 20 years.
These unfiltered cigarettes resemble marijuana-joints, but instead of paper, they are wrapped in tendu
leaves, which are less permeable to air and require the smoker to inhale more deeply. Pronounced
beedies, these appealing cigarettes are packaged in a variety of colorful boxes or come wrapped in small
cone-shaped paper packages. They cost between $1.50 to $3.50 per pack and are sold in tobacco shops
and so-called "head shops." Even some health food stores have jumped into the market, selling bundles
of bidis tied with string as a so-called "natural" form of tobacco.
Numerous studies show that bidis deliver greater amounts of nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide than
standard cigarettes. The most recent analysis, released last week by thej^ationaHnsfi^tute on DrugAbuse
(NIDA), found that 11 out of 12 brands of bidis analyzed contained higher concentrations of nicotine''
than the unfiltered cigarette American Spirit. The tests, which were conducted for NIDA by Murty
Pharmaceuticals of Lexington, Ky., also found that the average nicotine concentration of bidis was about
28 percent higher than that found in American Spirit.
"Studies in the U.S. and in India have found that bidis have three times more carbon monoxide and
about five times the amount of tar compared to filtered cigarettes," said epidemiologist Samira Asma at
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Smoking and Health. "They also contain
more phenol, ammonia, nitrosamines and hydrogen cyanide."
Teens who smoke bidis often mistakenly consider them to be a safer alternative to cigarettes. "Kids seem
to have the impression that bidis are not as addictive and that they are safer than commercial cigarettes,"
said Wallace Pickworth, a clinical pharmacologist at NIDA. "That is part of their appeal."
The taste of bidis also seems to draw many young smokers. In India, bidis contain plain tobacco with no
flavoring. In the United States, however, they are sold in candy-store flavors such as cinammon, mango,
1 of2
2/15/00 4:54 PM
The Scourge of Bidis on the Young [08/18/99]
http://ash.org/august99/08-l 8-99-1 .html
orange, chocolate, watermelon, raspberry, vanilla and menthol.
"They are flavored so that some of the noxious elements are muted or blunted," said Edward A. Jacobs,
chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on substance abuse. "They are potentially quite
harmful and quite alluring because of the flavors."
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) last week asked the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade
Commission to crack down on youth access to bidis. "This disturbing trend is further evidence that
immediate action is needed to protect our kids from the lies and deception of the tobacco industry both
in the U.S. and overseas," Harken said.
click here to return to ASH's Home Web Page: http://ash.org
click here for more information about Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
click here to learn the many benefits of joining ASH on-line, over the Internet
Presented as a public service by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH),
2013 H Street, N.W., Wash., DC 20006, USA, (202) 659-4310.
ASH is a 31-year-old national legal-action antismoking and nonsmokers' rights organization
which is entirely supported by tax-deductible contributions.
Please credit ASH, and include ASH's web address: http://ash.org
2 of 2
2/15/00 4:54 PM
Working together to reduce alcohol, tobacco, and other drug problems in our communities
Statement to the Media
Fact Sheet
STATEMENT TO THE MEDIA:
TRENDY, DANGEROUS "BIDIS" GAINING POPULARITY AMONG YOUTH;
TOBACCO-FREE KIDS AND SENATOR HARKIN REACT
Tiny smokes pack three to five-times the nicotine punch as cigarettes—
, '■ Washington, DC (August 13. 1999) - Buying bidis doesn't get much easier than on
the Internet With just a credit card and a computer, a carton of bidis can be bought
for under $40 - with no proof of age.
Bidis (also spelled "beedies") are small, flavored, filterless cigarettes made in India
that contain more tar and nicotine than regular cigarettes - but less actual tobacco.
They consist of shredded tobacco rolled in dried tendu leaves (a broad-leafed plant
native to India) and are secured with string. In addition to Strawberry, Cherry and
Cinnamon, teens can have their choice of "exotic flavors" - as termed by the Darshan
brand - like Black Liquorice, Mandarin Orange and Mango. Many think also that bidis
resemble marijuana.
While bidis have been imported into the United States for at least 20 years, they
seem to have become popular among young people only recently.
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) in a letter yesterday to the Food and Drug Administration
asked the organization to expand its youth access efforts to control the sale of bidis
to minors and to engage in compliance checks of retailers that sell bidis.
In addition, Harkin sent a letter to the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission
questioning him on several issues related to bidis including the sale of the product on
the Internet and tire enforcement of existing regulations.
"We strongly believe that these companies are creating flavored bidis to entice
children." said CAMPAIGN FOR TOBACCO-FREE KIDS President Bill Novelli. "It's
not the first time a tobacco company has done this."
In 1993, candy flavoring was added to Skoal Long Cut smokeless tobacco. In
industry documents, a former United States Tobacco sales representative said,
"Cherry Skoal is for somebody who likes the taste of candy, if you know what I
mean."
In addition to being sold on the Internet to underage buyers, bidis may also be easier
for kids to purchase in convenience and tobacco stores. A recent study conducted in
San Francisco found that bjdis were sold to nrinors without age identification twice as
often as regular cigarettes.
According to federal product definitions, bidis are considered cigarettes and should
be subject to all existing laws and regulations regarding tobacco products. "This
meanrpacks of bidis must display the Surgeon General's Warning," said Novelli.
Most importantly this means thant is illegal for retailers to sell bidis to anyone
under 18. More must be done to stop the sale of bidis to kids," said Novelli. "We
welcome the efforts of Senator Harkin to address the growing problem of bidis."
The San Franciso research project also found that almost 7 out of 10 packs had no
health-warning label. "This strongly suggests that bidis have not been rigorously
subjected to the relevant health regulations," said Novelli.
Novelli emphasized that bidis are not a "safe" alternative to cigarettes, "The research
available on bidis shows that their users run the risk of developing oral and lung
cancers, just like that of cigarette smokers," said Novelli.
Unlike most cigarettes smoked by kids, bidis are unfiltered and may. in fact, have
more deleterious health effects. Accordiiig~lothe Centers for Disease Control, an
unfiltered bidi releases three to five times more tar and nicotine than a regular
cigarette, despite containing less tobacco.
It is difficult to determine the exact number of bidis that are imported into the United
States every year, but it appears to be increasing dramatically. Between 1994 and
1995, when bidis were reclassified from "cigar" to "cigarette," the value amount of
cigarette imports from India increased by more than 500 percent, suggesting that
bidis makeupthe bulkof imported. Indian cigarettes. Since then, the value amount of
cigarette imports from India has continued to rise dramatically, increasing by more
jiSn~400~pefcenf between 1995 and 1998.
Despite a 1991 Indian Supreme Court ruling that child labor in their tobacco industry
should be prohibited, more than 325,000 children work in the bidi industry. According
to the Human Rights Watch, children as young as ten roll.1,500 to 2,000 bidis each
day, six and a half days a week, Bidi rollers suffer from lung disease from, inhaling
tobacco dust and have high rates of tuberculosis, asthma, and other lung disorders.
BIDI FACT SHEET:
Bidis (also spelled "beedies") are small, flavored, filterless Indian cigarettes that have
seemingly been gaining popularity among America's teenagers They consist of
shredded tobacco rolled in dried tendu leaves (a broad-leafed plant native to India)
and secured with string. They are produced in a variety of flavors, including
chocolate, vanilla, cherry, licorice, menthol, and mango.
Prevalence
There are currently no national statistics on the prevalence of bidi use in the United
States. In India, where bidis are known as the "poor man's cigarette," more than 50.0
billion bidis arc produced and consumed each year.
It is difficult to determine the exact number of bidis that are imported into the United
States every year, but it appears to be increasing dramatically. Between 1994 and
1995, when bidis were reclassified from "cigar" to "cigarette," the value amount of
cigarette imports from India increased by more than 500 percent, suggesting that
bidis make up the bulk of imported Indian cigarettes. Since then, the value amount of
cigarette imports from India has continued to rise dramatically, increasing by more
than 400 percent between 1995 and 1998.
Health Effects of bidis
Bidis are not a "safe" alternative to cigarettes. Available scientific research indicates
that bidi smokers run the risk of developing oral cancers, lung cancers, and other
health problems - just like cigarette smokers.
Unlike most cigarettes smoked by kids, bidis are unfiltered and may have more
deleterious health effects. According to the CDC, an unfiltered bidi releases three to
five times more tar and nicotine than a regular cigarette, despite containing less
tobacco. Bidi smoke also contains more deadly chemicals such as ammonia and
carbon monoxide than regular cigarette smoke.
Appeal of Flavored Tobacco Products
While bidis have been imported into the US for at least 20 years, they seem to have
only recently become popular among young people. Tobacco industry documents
have long suggested that flavored tobacco products might appeal specifically to
young teenagers. In fact, cherry flavoring was added to one spit (smokeless)
tobacco starter product in 1993. As one former US Tobacco sales representative
described it, "Cherry Skoal is for somebody who likes the taste of candy." As early
as 1972, a grown & Williamson document on the project "Youth cigarette - new
concepts" listed cola,, apple, and sweet flavor cigarettes as suggestions and stated,
"It's a well-known fact that teenagers like sweet products,"
Flavorings may therefore account for some of the recent popularity of bidis. Bidis
may also be easier for underage smokers to buy. A recent study conducted in San
Francisco found that bidis were sold to minors without age identification twice as
often as regular cigarettes. In addition, bidis are regularly sold on the internet.
Regulation
According to the tobacco product definitions of the Federal Trade Commission, the
Food & Ding Administration, and the Master Settlement Agreement, bidis fall under
the definition of cigarettes. Therefore:
Cl, Packs of bidis must display the Surgeon General's Warning
It is illegal for retailers to sell bidis to individuals under the age of 18
Bidis must be taxed at the same rate as cigarettes, and must bear tax
■ stamps where required
The San Francisco research project found that 41 percent of the bidis purchased had
no tax stamp, and almost 7 out of 10 packs had no health waming.label. This
strongly suggests that bidis have not been rigorously subjected to the relevant health
and customs regulations.
Child Labor
Despite a 1991 Supreme Court (India) ruling that child labor in tobacco should be
prohibited, more than 325,000 children labor in the bidi industry in India. Older
children (over ten) roll 1,500 to 2.000 bidis each day, six and a half days a week. For
their labor, they may earn as little as four rupees a day. In comparison, the
government-set minimum wage for bidi rolling js 30.9 rupees per _1000 bidis_rolled.
Bidi rolling is[class!fied by the (India) Child Labor Prohibition and Regulation Act as
hazardous because the working position produces chronic back pain, interferes with
normal growth patterns, and causes physical deformation. Bidi rollers also suffer
lung disease from constantly inhaling tobacco dust. They have high rates of
tuberculosis, asthma, and oth’er lung disorders.
Human Rights Watch, "The Small Hands of Slavery: Bonded Child Labor in India"
1996 In 1995. the exchange rupee/dqllar exchange rate was approximately 34 rupees
to the dollar. Minimum wage for bidi rolling was approximately 89 cents per 1000
bidis rolle-1
The Scourge of Bidis on the Young [08/18-1]
By Sally Squires, Washington Post [08-17/99]
They're sweet. They're cheap. They're small and worst of all, they're trendy. Bidis, tiny flavored
cigarettes from India, are luring a new generauon of young smokers to tobacco and raising alarms
among public health officials and anti-smoking groups.
In a new study scheduled to be published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,
Massachusetts state public health researchers will report high rates of bidi use among urban youth
there, a pattern of use that experts say likely reflects use elsewhere also.
While the study's results are embargoed until publication, Massachusetts Public Health
Commissioner Howard Koh said the findings point to a serious new threat to anti-smoking efforts
among youth in grades seven to 12. "The study found that the prevalence of bidi use was
disturbingly high," Kbh said. "ThisTs catching hold.”
Bidis are slim, hand-rolled cigarettes that have been sold in the United States for more than 20
years. These unfiltered cigarettes resemble marijuana joints, but instead of paper, they are
wrapped in tendu leaves, which are less permeable to air and require the smoker to inhale'more
deeply. Pronounced beedies, these appealing cigarettes are packaged in a variety of colorful
boxes or come wrapped in small cone-shaped paper packages. They cost between $1.50 to
$3,5.0 per pack and are. sold. in. tobacco shops and so-called "head shops." Even some health
food stores have jumped into the market, selling bundles of bidis tied with string as a so-called
"natural", form of tobacco.
Numerous studies show that bidis deliver greater amounts of nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide
than standard cigarettes. The most recent analysis, released last week by the National Institute on
Drug Abuse (NIDA), found that 11 out of 12 brands of bidis analyzed contained higher
concentrations of nicotine than the unfiltered cigarette American Spirit. The tests, which were
conducted for NIDA by Miirty Pharmaceuticals of Lexington, Ky., also found that the average
nicotine concentration of bidis was about 28 percent higher than that found in American Spirit.
"Studies in the U.S. anil in India have found that bidis have three times more carbon monoxide
and about five times the amount of tar compared to filtered cigarettes," said epidemiologist Samira
Asma at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Smoking and Health. "They
also contain more phenol, ammonia, nitrosamines and hydrogen cyanide."
Teens who smoke bidis often mistakenly consider them to be a safer alternative to cigarettes.
"Kids seem to have the impression that bidis are not as addictive and that they are safer than
commercial cigarettes," said Wallace Pickworth, a clinical pharmacologist at NIDA. "That is part
of their appeal."
;
The taste of bidis also seems to draw many young smokers. In India, bidis contain plain tobacco
with no flavoring. In the United States, however, they are sold in candy-store flavors such as
cinammon, mango, orange, chocolate, watermelon, raspberry, vanilla and menthol.
"They are flavored so that some of the noxious elements are muted or blunted," said Edward A.
Jacobs, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on substance abuse. "They are
potentially quite harmful and quite alluring because of the flavors."
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowu) last week asked the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal
Trade Commission to crack down on youth access to bidis. "This disturbing trend is further
evidence that inunediate action is needed to protect our kids from the lies and deception of the
tobacco industry both in the U.S. and overseas," Harken said.
IL: Co. Board Revokes No-Smoking Ordinance [08/18-4]
Excerpts from COUNTY REVOKES SMOKING BAN AFTER NURSING HOME
DISPUTE
Steve Stanek, Chicago Tribune [08/18/99]
The McHenry County Board on Tuesday revoked its no-smoking ordinance and amended its
building-use ordinance to al.ow residents al the county-run Valley Hi Nursing Home outside
Woodstock to smoke.
The ordinances effectively banned smoking by the nursing home's 117 residents, but state nursing
home regulators blocked nursing home officials from enforcing the ban, arguing that a resident's
desire to smoke takes precedence over local ordinances that ban smoking in public places.
With the County Board's action. the county now follows the state's Illinois CleanJndoor Act,
which allows^smoking in designated areas of public buildings.
Smoking at Valley Hi has been a touchy issue since last April, after a divided County Board voted
to join a lawsuit against the ,ate to recover part of a $9.6 billion settlement with the nation's
tobacco companies.
WHY IS THE CITY COUNt IL ASKING FOR
AN INVESTIGATION OF BIDIS?
And...What Are Bidis Anyway?
Berkeley, CA (Monday, November I, 1999) - Bidis are hand rolled cigarettes
from India, which come in candy flavors like chocolate, strawberry, mango and
licorice. These skinny, unfiltered cigarettes are wrapped in a eucalyptus-type leaf
(Tendu) and tied with two small threads. Youth in cities across America and here in
Berkeley have had much greater access to bidis in recent months and this has
public health officials and die Berkeley City Council worried.
Bidis (pronounced beedies) contain about three times as much nicotine carbon
monoxide and five times as much tar as smoke from regular, filtered cigarettes,
according to a new study by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. This
same report stales that "like all tobacco products bidis are mutagenic and
carcinogenic. Bidi smokers risk coronary heart disease, cancers of the oral cavity,
pharynx, larynx, lune, esophagus, stomach and liver. Perinatal mortality is also
associated[with biJi use during pregnancy.”
On Octobei 12.1 090. the Berkeley City Council took the bold step of
recommending that the City Attorney research whether an outright ban on the sale
of bidis can be imposed in Berkeley. They also adopted the recommendations of
Community Health Commission, which asked that the City staff to:
1.Encourage the federal legislative effort to investigate bidis.
2.Support Berkeley Police Department "sting" operations to determine if
merchants are selling tobacco to minors.
3.Share this information and concerns with the Berkeley Unified School
D'istric:.
4.Require the posting of information about the tobacco content of bidis. (This
item hila also been referred to the City Attorney)
Senator Dick Durbin (D-LL) and Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) are urging
the FTC to investigate possible deceptive advertising and tax evasion by bidi
importers and want -h urances thatbidjs have warning labels. The San Francisco
Tobacco Free Project has asked the US Custom's Department to investigate
whether biJis arc maJe with "forced or indentured child labor." Children in India
work ten hours a day. six days a week and earn 30 cents per day to roll these
poisonous pioducis.
The City of Berkeley 1'obacco Prevention program sent a letter to all tobacco
merchants it. Berkeley notified them that bidis contain tobacco and therefore cannot
be sold to minors. 'I he Berkeley Unified School District and the City's Tobacco
Prevention Program .. e both letting teens know that there is no such thing as a
"natural” cigarette, including bidis. Winstons or American Spirits.
The lost cmidren of Vellore
There isn't .my dime t.i distinguish Mettuparai from the other villages of
Tamil Na.m s \ cllor, tn north Arcot district. It has the same quiet, the
same peacefulnes.> mid, yes, the same look of deprivation.
But, at the main entry point, you will find something unique. Prominently
displayed is a warning which, translated from the native Tamil, roughly
reads: 'Anyone y !.o takes our children for bonded labour will be
severely; ..allied.'
More than a decade ago, Mettuparai was one of the several villages
which was actively engaged in beedi rolling. The industry was the
villagers's mainstay. And the worst casualties, obviously, were the
children. They were mortgaged to work long hours by cash-bereft
parents who had no option but do that - for, such was the poverty that
plagued the locale.
But now, Mettuparai does not have even a single bonded child worker.
And for this transformation, the villagers have the Indian Council for
Child Welfare to thank.
In 1985, the ICCW had selected 16 villages in the district for
'adoption' under its Child Labour Relief Project. Mettuparai was one of
those.
"Last year, we released 17 children from bonded labour here," says
ICCW's honoury secretary (Vellore chapter) Tihilagavathy Ramaiah,
"When we started work 11 years ago, people used to pledge their
children at the slightest difficulty. But not anymore."
It took years of patient counselling, door-to-door surveys and direct
person-to-person appeals to parents and agents alike to yield this
promising result.
Researcher Dr R Vidyasagar holds that the north Arcot district is home
to some of the most extensive bondage of child beedi rollers in the
country. Of the 150,000 beedi workers in the district, an estimated
30,000 to 45,000 are bonded child labourers.
The local administration also claims to have made a mark in efforts to
erase the menace. Under the 1995-launched Child Labour Abolition
Support Scheme, mothers of bonded children have been motivated to
come together and form small self-help groups.
"'They are given loans to buy cows," says District Collector
Davidar,"They also receive revolving funds to encourage their savings."
The scheme has also undertaken group housing for families engaged in
beedi work. In Perumugai village, for instance, 63 houses have been
built for such families. Since July 1996, ajton-formal education school
— with 29 students — has also been functioning there.
But unfortunately, the Children continue to roll beedis at home.1'"There
is not much we can do about it," says Davidar "But at least we nave
got them out of the contractor-mortgage nexus."
Though the children are encouraged to pursue further education, many
parents press them to work. The logic is simple: what guarantee is there
that the child will get employment if he earns a bachelor or masters
degree?
Ramaiah says though her organisation has been instrumental in freeing
many children from bondage, preventing them from working at home is
a_different matter altogether. Of the 800 children attending ICCW's 13
night schools, 350 work at home.
The Working Women's Forum, a nationally renowned union of women
worker^ in the informal sector, has also been making inroads into this
area — they have launched night schools for children and credit
schemes for mothers. The WWF project covers 160 areas in Vellore.
"Our project began in December 1983," says the credit-in charge Shiv,
"There are 38,172 women enrolled in tire scheme, but only 16,500 are
credit members."
A 1997-survery undertaken by the WWF identified 134 bonded child
laborers in its area of operation in Tamil Nadu. As the credit scheme
has its financial limitations, liberating all the labourers look a mammoth
task.
Seventeen-year-old Vasantha's plight is a case in point. Mortgaged by
her mother Rani when she was 12 for Rs 2,000, the girl has been
rolling beedi ever since. For 14 hours every day. Thanks to the
exorbitant rates of interest prevalent in such dealings, the initial amount
has mounted to Rs 10,000 now.
"How can I ever get such a large amount," Rain asks, "The credit
society will give me a maximum loan of Rs 3,000. Where will I get the
remaining money?"
Child workers are mostly engaged in rolling beedi, sorting and sticking
bn labels. Though rates vary at different units, the children generally get
Rs 2 for every 1,000 beedis they roll or label. On an average day, a
child would roll around 2,000 beedis.
Which means he earns all of Rs 4 for 14 hours of labour!
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
SOLAPUR, Oct 1: More than a hundred bidi factories all over the State have given a bandh call
from October 2 and have decided to close their shops to protest against the hike in the minimum
wages of the bidi workers., They are against "the one-sided decision of the State Government to
hike wages without taking them into confidence".
The State Government decision to increase the minimum wages from Rs. 27 » 69 per thousand
bidis to Rs. 39.40 has annoyed them to the point of a revolt The cases lodged against the factory
owners for not implementing the directives of the Government has further added salt to their
injuries.
Talking to The Indian Express here on Thursday, the Solapur Bidi Industry Association
president Govind Tiwadi said that after a meeting of all the bidi factory owners in the State they
had to unwilling force the indefinite shutter down. He said that more than 3 lakh bidi workers
would suffer by the bandh call giving full stop to the production of 30 crore bidis daily.
He said that _Rs_Lcrores turnover of the bidi industry will get affected due to the bandh and added
that the State Government will be responsible for the outcome of the bandh and about 31 lakh
bidi rollers, packers and related persons have to bore the brunt of state government's false policy.
Meanwhile, when the bidi factory owners are all set for the bandh the bidi workers are divided
over the issue whether they should demand the wage hike or not. The centre of trade union state
vice-president and the CPM MLA Narsayya Adam is of the view that the minimum wages
decision taken by the government is favourable for the both workers and bidi manufacturers.
A ncwly-ormed union by the Vishnu Karampuri under the Shiv Sena banner is favouring the bidi
owners and has demanded the old wages pattern and is against want any wage hike. Even he has
alleged that the CITU is taking the bidi workers for a ride in Solapur.
Kerala court ban on cigarettes ignites industry anger
D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram
The Rs 12 billion tobacco industry js up in arms against the anti-smoking
drive launched by the police in the wake of the Kerala High Court ban on
smoking in public places.
The beedi (leaf-rolled raw cigarette) workers and petty shop owners
affected by the ban have already hit the street as the sales have plummeted
in urban areas since the implementation of the ban from July 12.
8
While the major beedi manufacturers are planning to move the Supreme
Court against the ban, the beedi workers and shop-owners are preparing
fora state-wide agitation. Various beedi and tobacco workers' unions '
affiliated to the Centre for Indian Trade Unions are scheduled to meet at
Kannur in north Kerala on July 31 to chalk out a plan for the proposed
statewide agitation.
The Kerala Dinesh Beedi and the Sadhoo Beedi, two leading beedi
manufacturing industries, are in touch with legal experts to file a review
petition in the Supreme Court against the High Court directive.
Chief Minister E K Naynar has already hinted government's support to the
move. He said that it would not be possible for the government to
rehabilitate the beedi workers, who are likely to be rendered unemployed
by the ban.
The tobacco industry in the state provides direct employment to over
100,000 people. The number of retail traders, including cigarette vendors
depending on tobacco for livelihood is estimated to be over 150,000. The
total income generation to small traders from tobacco sales is to the tune of
Rs 900 million to Rs.950 million a.day, according to the Kerala Cigarette
and.Tobacco Dealers Association. ,
The bulk of the beedi workers in the state are concentrated in the
cooperative sector. The Kerala Dinesh Beedi, which is the major
cooperative venture, has 22 primary societies and as many as 301
worksheds employing 45,000 persons.
The Tobacco Dealers' Association said that the ban bringing all open
places within its ambit has hurt the industry the most. The definition of
"publicplaces" includes hospitals, restaurants, bars, shops, industrial
establishments, cinema houses, parks, bus stops, bus stations, railway
stations, trains, buses and other public vehicles, highways, stadiums and
other places where people gather.
TEepoTice are forced to apprehend as many people as possible as they
are supposed to file a report before the High Court a month after the
implementing the ban. The actual number of smokers held by the police
throughout the state is not available. However, the unofficial estimates put
the number of those caught by the_pplice jn_the past one week at more
than 4,000.
The smokers have learnt to resist the temptation for a puff on the street as
the police action against smoking in public places has given it the
complexion-ofa criminal offence. A smoker caught by the police would
have to face an imprisonment of one month or pay a fine up to Rs 500 or
both as cases are filed on the basis of Section 290 of the Indian Penal
Code,which relates to public nuisance.
The police chase against the smokers has hit the petty shopowners who
survive mainly on sales of these products. The sales of beedi and cigarettes
have recorded a 30 to 50 per cent fall in urban areas since the imposition
of the.ban, according to trade sources.
Sadasivan Nair, a shop-owner at Thiruvananthapuram said that the sales
of cigars and beedis in his shop had drastically come down following the
anti-smoking drive. He said that his turnover had plummeted from Rs
6,000 a day prior to the ban to Rs 2,000 at present.
He said most of his customers were employees and workers who puffed a
smoke after'a tea or soft drink. After the ban, such customers have
vanished.
Shiv Kumar, a beedi distributor in the city said that the sharp drop in sales
had eroded his income. "It was our breadwinner and we will be driven to
starvation if the ban continues,” he added.
9
The ban has come at a time when the beedi industry was struggling hard
for survival due to steep competition from small-size cigarettes and the
anti-tobacco agitation.
Barring a small minority, the ban has been welcomed widely. Even many of
the smokers have praised the court order which they hoped, would help
them wriggle out of the grip of nicotine.
Women have found the ban most relieving. Subha Unnikrishnan, a lecturer
in a private college at Thiruvananthapuram, hoped the move would help
end the practice of smoking in trains and buses.
She said that the court order would help the society to recognise that
passive smoking was a serious health hazard.
The ban on smoking was imposed by a division bench of the high court on
a public interest litigation filed by Monamma Kokkad of the Bishop
Choolapparambil College in Kottayam and Amruthayil Ramaksrishnan of
Ramanattukara Vaidyanangadi in Kozhikode.
Tobacco Industry
Breather for Choked Lungs
Driven by taxmen and derided by health lobbies, cigarette-makers head
northeast for survival
When tobacco giant ITC announced a Rs 525-crore investment plan for
cigarette production in Assam, the reason seemed logical. After all, the
market leader, reeling under the dual impact of dwindling sales and increased
pressure from the who and World Bank on tobacco-related health issues, was
desperately seeking a platform to escape the excise dragnet and gain
marketshare with a low-priced product. But ironically enough, the thought
process is not confined to the precincts of Virginia House - the Calcutta
headquarters of itc - but other cigarette majors like Godfrey Phillips India (gpi)
and the Indonesian giant Gudang Garam Tabak. All have pushed in
applications for manufacturing cigarettes in the northeastern tax haven, little
realising that India's annual demand is 100 billion sticks while applications
total 180 billion.
The proposed relocation may not cure all ills. Tobacco majors will do
well to remember the failed Sikkim experiment.
Insiders claim the Rs 27,276-crore tobacco industry - of which cigarette
accounts for Rs 10,500 crore - is passing through its worst-ever phase
because of steep excise duties, state luxury taxes and increased curbs on
consumption of cigarette and chewing of tobacco. A whopping 55 per cent
excise duty is factored in while fixing the base retail price of a stick. Tobacco
accounts for 12 per cent of the total excise revenue. Estimates suggest
tobacco contributed Rs 6,537 crore to the excise kitty in 1998-99, about 87
per cent oTwluch came from cigarettes. This pressure, industry insiders
admit, is forcing companies to rethink strategies for what many say could be
a completely changed scenario in the subcontinent's tobacco business.
10
Almost all major players are working on a dual strategy of diversification and
modernisation to sustain bottomlines and develop refined products. At ITC,
sources claim that planners are chalking out strategy for the tobacco division
and stem the decline of sales, mainly in the price-sensitive mini segment. ITC
insiders admit there are plans for exports, especially of the oriental type of
tobacco, the demand for which is rising globally. ITC plans to modernise its
green leaf tobacco processing division and has pledged an estimated Rs 350
crore, half the sum it reserved for development of brands over the next five
years.
GPI chief Ram Poddar wants the government to spell out its tobacco
policy. He feels the pressure is crushing on those who can't diversify.
"itc's diversification strategy has been based upon sound business priorities
which will enhance shareholder value in India. The issue is not whether
pressure from anti-tobacco lobbies is increasing but whether there's a
complete understanding of various aspects of the tobacco business," remarks
Kurush Grant, executive vice-president (marketing), ITC. Recently, while
addressing the company's annual general meeting, chairman Y.C. Deveshwar
expressed concerns over increasing excise duties, consumption restrictions
and continued smuggling of international brands that registered an outflow of
foreign exchange worth Rs 500 crore. "Besides, the punitive taxation regime both at the central and state levels - has made consumption unaffordable to
the majority of tobacco consumers," rued Deveshwar in his address.
ITC chairman Deveshwar holds the punitive tax regime responsible for
putting cigarettes beyond most consumers' reach
itc's worries are understandable. The restrictive environment and high taxes
have heavily eroded the bottomlines of most players in the market. Figures for
April-August '99 show that itc's sales dropped to an all-time low of 26,296
million sticks (22 per cent lower than the 28,565 million sticks sold in the
corresponding period of the previous year) in the mini segment. Worse, the
Hyderabad-based Vazir Sultan Tobacco (vst) recorded a 25 per cent drop,
while gpi recorded a 3.9 per cent drop in the same segment. These three
make up 95 per cent of the total domestic sales.
"This is worrisome because the decline is continuing since March this year.
Also, there's no sign of a revival," says C.K. Sharma, vice-president
(corporate affairs and marketing), vst. "We need to respond to these
pressures to check the falling sales margin," Sharma adds. Agrees Ram
Poddar, gpi head and chairman of the Tobacco Institute of India (tii): "The
government needs to clearly spell out its policies for the tobacco industry.
Otherwise, there's little ray of hope. Companies with surplus funds will
diversify. We are into tea, sportsgear and continue to increase such
investments. But that's not the answer. This way, the government will kill the
tobacco industry. And what about those who don't have surplus funds?"
Concurs tobacco analyst and chief executive of the Rs 400-crore Dharampal
Premchand (makers of Baba zarda), Raj Sujan: "The industry is poised for a
major shake-up. If companies can maintain their northeastern streak, you will
see mini cigarettes being phased out and there will be a dominance of
king-size filters." Sujan, who earlier headed vst and was a director with ITC,
says the diversification was only for enhancing brand appeal (for example, the
ITC and gpi sportsgear) and offering a cornucopia of tobacco blend choices to
consumers. "They are not diversifying because of pressure from the World
Bank or who. Rather, because such earnings will augment their
modernisation. The consumer must be offered products that are constantly
upgraded if the industry has to counter the health lobby," says Sujan.
Sources told Outlook that not just cigarette-makers but almost everyone
linked to the industry feel the pressure. Recently, a delegation of the Tobacco
11
Board and die ministry of agriculture wrote a petition to senior officials of the
finance ministry highlighting the woes of tobacco farmers burdened with
surplus crop. "The finance ministry officials were told that it was not easy
telling farmers to stop cultivation because of dwindling demands and excess
crops. And that die government needs to first work out a comprehensive
programme for the farmers. After all, it's not just a handful of farmers, an
estimated 26 million people are involved in the industry," Poddar adds.
Besides cigarettes, other segments feeling the pressure are the bidi and
chewing tobacco sectors. Sample this: die Kannur-based Kerala Dinesh Bidi
Workers' Central Co-operative Society has started trial runs at its coconut
ice-cream and pickle manufacturing units as the first step towards
diversification. Sources say die move is aimed at shifting the large workforce
from the bidi industry reeling under competition to altemative.sources of
employment.
In the chewing tobacco segment, the Kotharis of Paan Parag are into
ball-point pens, mineral water and greeting cards, while the Dharampal
Premchand group has planned a Rs 100-crore investment in foods, which is
over and above its foray into salt, curry powder and rice under the Catch
brand. The Malpani group is into tea and edible oil, while the Dhariwals of the
Manikchand group are into oxy-acetylene cylinders, electric switches, mineral
water and packaging. "Those interested in modernising will have to diversify to
make ends meet. Even bidis and chewing tobacco must be upgraded as their
largest market is the subcontinent," says Sujan.
Sources say few Indian companies are looking into the process of developing
tobacco pouches on the lines of the ones produced by the multinational
Swedish Match (which has taken over Wimco). Like loose khaini (chewing
tobacco), the packed tobacco is retained between the inner lip and one's
teeth and the packet thrown out once the juice is sucked in. Some others are
negotiating for licences to manufacture nicotene gum. "If you notice, both
products counter the smoke factor and avoid the spitting menace many
associate with chewing tobacco," the sources say.
But is diversification for continued modernisation the only answer? Analysts
are divided. One dominant section maintains shifting operations to thenortheast is not the remedy. The tii recently told the finance ministry that
such operations would result in huge differentials in excise duties and
jeopardise lhe ministry’s estimated Rs 6,537-crore revenue collections.
Besides, the government notification means tensions for small-time
cigarette-makers who don't have the money to set up shop in the northeast.
"Once manufacturing units shift, we as contract manufacturers for companies
like ITC will find ourselves with no orders to fulfill," says a representation from
the Bhopal-based Reliable Cigarette and Tobacco Industries Pvt Ltd. tii cited
the case of Sikkim which had lured cigarette-makers pledging similar benefits
but suffered once New Delhi imposed excise duties. "History will inevitably
repeat itself. This will be particularly devastating at a time when cigarette
volumes for this fiscal to date are already depressed," the institute says. But
is anyone listening?
12
Socio-demographic characteristics
Population
1990
1995
2025
Total
850,638,000
935,744,000
1,392,086,000
Adult (15+)
542,391,000
606,250,000
1,071,802,000
% Urban
25.5
26.8
45.2
% Rural
74.5
73.2
54.8
Health Status
Life expectancy at birth, 1990-95 : 60.4 (males), 60.4 (females)
Infant mortality rate in 1990-95 : 82 per 1,000 live births
Socio-Economic Situation
GNP per capita (USS), 1991 : 330, Real GDP per capita (PPPS), 1991 : 1,150
Average distribution of labour force by sector, 1990 - 92 : Agriculture 62%; Industry 11%; Services 27%
Adult literacy rate (%), 1992 : Total 50; Male 64; Female 35
Tobacco production, trade and industry
Agriculture In 1993,417,700 hectares were harvested for tobacco, down from 436,600 hectares in 1985.
About 0.2% of all arable land is used for tobacco growing.
Production and Trade In 1992, 578,800 tonnes (7.0% of world total unmanufactured tobacco) was
produced in India, making it the world's third largest tobacco-growing country. In 1992, India produced
about
767,436 million manufactured cigarettes and bidis, accounting for 13.5% of the world total. About 2,100
million
cigarettes were exported. Only 30 million manufactured cigarettes were imported. In 1990, India's earnings
from
tobacco exports totalled USS 127.7 million, compared with USS 122.2 million in 1985. Import costs of
cigarettes
rose tenfold in the same period to USS 3.0 million.
Industry In 1993, 3.4 million people were estimated to be engaged full-time in tobacco manufacturing. This
accounts for 11.7% of all manufacturing work. Almost 0.9 million people (full-time equivalent) work in
growing
13
and curing tobacco.
Tobacco consumption
Annual consumption of manufactured cigarettes declined between 1984 and 1992 from around 90 billion to
about 85 billion. In 1992, 6.1% of world total unmanufactured tobacco and 1.5 % of world total
manufactured
cigarettes were consumed in India. Only about 20% of the total tobacco consumed in India (by weight) is in
the form of cigarettes. Bidis account for about 40% of tobacco consumption (about 675,000 million bidis),
with
the rest divided among chewing tobacco, pan masala, snuff, hookah, hookli, chutta dhumti, and other
tobacco
mixtures featuring ingredients such as areca nut. Chuttas and dhumtis are also smoked in reverse fashion,
with
the lighted end inside the mouth. Consumption patterns of tobacco show major differences across regions.
Consumption of Manufactured Cigarettes
Annual average per adult (15+)
Cigarettes
Bidis
Total
1970-72
170
840
1,010
1980-82
180
1,130
1,310
1990-92
150
1,220
'
1,370
Tar/Nicotine/Filters In 1990, tar levels of cigarettes ranged from 18.0 - 28.0 mg, and nicotine levels from
0.9
- 1.8 mg. Tar levels of bidis are much higher at 45-50 mg. In 1990, 51% of the cigarettes sold were filter
tipped,
however, there is little difference in nicotine yields of filter and non-filter cigarettes manufactured in India.
Prevalence
Adequate national data on tobacco prevalence of tobacco is not currently available. However, based on
estimated per capita consumption figures, it appears that bidi smoking has risen substantially during.the last
three decades. Cigarette smoking increased up to the 1970s, remained stationary or declined somewhat
during
14
the 1980s. Other forms of tobacco use have declined considerably over the years.
Tobacco use among population sub-groups It is estimated that 65% of all men use some form of
tobacco, (about 35% smoking, 22% smokeless tobacco, 8% both). Prevalence rates for women differed
widely,
from 15% in Bhavnagar to 67% in Andhra Pradesh. However, overall prevalence of bidi and cigarette
smoking
among women is about 3%. The use of smokeless tobacco is similar among women and men. About onethird
of women use at least one form of tobacco. Differences in tobacco use also vary among other groups; Sikhs
do not use tobacco at all, and Parsis use very little, while tobacco use is permissible among Hindus,
Moslems
and Christians. Smoking rates tend to be higher in rural areas than urban areas. Smoking is a status symbol
among urban educated youths, but most appear to be unaware of the hazards of smoking.
Mortality from Tobacco Use
Tobacco is responsible for a significant amount of morbidity and mortality among middle-aged adults.
India
has one of the highest rates of oral cancer in the world, and the rates are still increasing. Tobacco-related
cancers account for about half of all cancers among men and one-fourth among women. Oral cancer
accounts
for one-third of tire total cancer cases, with 90% of the patients being tobacco chewers. Clinical
observations
uTsome areas have revealed that over 60% of heart disease patients under 40 years of age are tobacco users;
over half of the patients aged 41-60 are also smokers.
Tobacco Control Measures
Control on Tobacco Products Tobacco advertising has been banned in state-controlled electronic
media, but continues without restriction in newspapers, magazines, on posters, billboards, and in the video
cassettes of Indian films. A proposal for a total ban on advertising and sponsorship of all tobacco products
is
under consideration by the Indian Government.
Health warnings are required on cigarette packets since the "Cigarette Act" of 1975. Ute government has
appointed a full-time coordinator of tobacco control activities. However, also in 1975 the government
dropped
restrictions on package size and contents for cigarettes, cigars and 22 other products, and initiated a
Tobacco
Development Board for promoting tobacco by offering direct subsidies and a price support system to
fanners.
Taxes are levied on tobacco products, at varying rates and with varying degrees of effectiveness. Between
1987 and 1992, excise duty on many Indian cigarettes increased between 64% - 112%. Cigarette taxes
represent
about 75% of the retail price. Taxes are much lower on packaged chewing tobacco and are rarely collected
an .
bidis and unpackaged tobacco products. Regulatory control and the application of retail taxes on these
products is extremely difficult as there is a large sector which operates outside of official control. For
example,
15
the bidi industry is highly decentralized and many manufacturers are unlicensed. Much of bidi
manufacturing
is one in cottage industry. Often whole families, including women and children, are engaged in bidi
production.
High taxes on manufactured cigarettes and low taxes on bidis and other tobacco products are encouraging
substitution of bidis and other products for manufactured cigarettes.
Protection for non-smokers In 1990, through an executive order, the government implemented a
prohibition on smoking in all health care establishments, government offices, educational institutions,
air-conditioned railway cars, chaircars, buses, and domestic passenger flights.
Health education There is no organization currently working at the national level for tobacco control.
Several non-governmental organisations and committed individuals at the local levels are also involved, but
to
date, no perceptible attitudinal changes among tobacco consumers have been found.
September 17, 1999 / 48(36);796-799
Bidi Use Among Urban Youth —
Massachusetts, March-April 1999
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Bidis are small,
brown, hand-rolled cigarettes primarily made in India and other southeast Asian countries (1)
consisting of tobacco wrapped in a tendu or tembumi leaf (Diospyros melanoxylon). In the
United States, bidis are purchased for $1.50-54.00 for one package of 20 and are available in
different flavors (e.g., cherry, chocolate, and mango). Anecdotal reports indicate that bidi use was
first observed during the mid-1990s and seems to be widespread among youth and racial/ethnic
minority adolescents. This report summarizes preliminary data collected from a convenience
sample of adolescents surveyed during March and early April 1999 in Massachusetts on the
prevalence of bidi use among urban youth; these data indicate that of 642 youth surveyed, 40%
had smoked bidis at least once during their lifetimes and 16% were current bidi smokers.
The Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program conducted a pilot study to assess adolescents'
knowledge and use of bidis. A convenience sample included a school- and community-based
survey of youth from a large metropolitan area in Massachusetts. Peer leaders from a local
tobacco-use prevention program and their adult advisors were granted access to three middle
schools and seven high schools through professional networks (e.g., contact with the principal,
health teacher, and nurse). Participants were given a set of standardized instructions and informed
consent was obtained. Students surveyed in school were from health, science (e.g., biology,
chemistry, and computer science), language (e.g., English or English as a second language), and
history classes. After completing the surveys, participants were briefed about the intent of the
survey. Peer leaders also assessed youth who attended local schools in several community
neighborhoods. Data gathered in the community were from areas frequented by students (i.e.,
neighborhood stores, after-school programs, and bus and subway stations).
Community respondents were compared with school respondents. A greater proportion of
community respondents reported heavy and past-month bidi use than school respondents.
Community respondents also were more likely to be Hispanic and less likely to be white than
school respondents. Analyses conducted by grade and race/ethnicity on two results (cunent and
heavy bidi use) indicated no significant differences.
A total of 822 respondents participated in the study; 108 surveys with incomplete or inconsistent
responses were eliminated. Of those 642 participants whose self-reported grade was seven
through 12 (Table 1), 342 (55%) girls and 282 (45%) boys completed surveys (18 respondents
did not report sex); 341 (53%) were surveyed in schools and 299 (47%) were surveyed in the
community (two surveys were missing setting information); 232 (36%) were Hispanic, 220 (34%)
16
were black (non-Hispanic), 82 (13%) were white (non-Hispanic), and 108 (17%) were other.*
Current bidi users were defined as having "smoked more than one bidi in the last 30 days.”
Lifetime bidi smokers were defined as having "smoked a bidi, even just one or two puffs." Heavy
bidi smokers were defined as having "smoked more than 100 bidis in their lifetime." Data were
analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 7.5. Prevalence of bidi
use was compared by sex, race/ethnicity, grade, and overall (Table 1). Two hundred fifty-six (40%) of the respondents had ever smoked bidis, 100 (16%) were current
bidi users, and 50 (8%) were heavy bidi users. There were no significant differences in bidi use by
sex, grade, or race/ethnicity. Responses (n=280) to the question why bidis were smoked instead
of cigarettes included bidis tasted better (63 [23%]), were cheaper (49 [18%]), were safer (37
[13%]), and were easier to buy (33 [12%]). Other reasons included "just to try it" (20 [7%]), "to
improve my mood" (17 [6%]), "it makes me look cool" (16 [6%]), "my friends smoke them" (four
[1%]), "smoke them in place of cigarettes or marijuana" (four [1%]), "like the flavor" (three [1%]),
and other (34 [12%]).
Reported by: C Celebucki, PhD, DM Tumer-Bowker, PhD, G Connolly, DMD, HK Koh, MD,
Massachusetts Dept of Public Health; Tobacco Control Program, Boston, Massachusetts. Office
on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,
CDC.
Editorial Note:
When tested on a standard smoking machine, bidis produced higher levels of carbon monoxide,
nicotine, and tar than cigarettes (1-3); one study found that bidis produced approximately three
times the amount of carbon monoxide and nicotine and approximately five times the amount of tar
than cigarettes (4). Because of low combustibility of the tendu leaf wrapper, bidi smokers inhale
more often and more deeply, breathing in greater quantities of tar and other toxins than cigarette
smokers (2-6). Like all tobacco products, bidis are mutagenic and carcinogenic (6). Bidi smokers
risk coronary heart disease (7), cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx (1), lung (8,9),
esophagus, stomach, and liver (1). Perinatal mortality is also associated with bidi use during
pregnancy (10).
The findings in this report are subject to at least five limitations. First, the external validity of this
study may be limited by convenience sampling and may not represent the prevalence of bidi use
among all students in these schools and communities. More representative surveys are needed to
develop precise estimates of bidi use and to monitor trends over time. Second, participants
surveyed in the community may have been subject to selection bias; peer leaders may have been
more likely to approach those similar to them in age and race/ethnicity. Because most peer leaders
were racial/ethnic minorities aged less than 16 years, the convenience sample surveyed in the
community reflects these demographics. Third, the extent of underreporting and overreporting of
bidi use cannot be determined. Fourth, the number or characteristics of students who refused to
participate is not known. Finally, the sample was drawn from one large metropolitan area and may
not represent persons from other urban areas in Massachusetts or tire rest of the United States.
This investigation was the first in the United States to estimate tire prevalence of bidi smoking
among students in grades seven through 12. Preliminary findings from this study support the need
for additional research on bidis, particularly on smoking prevalence among youth from differing
geographic, educational, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The knowledge, attitudes, and
behavioral patterns of bidi smokers also must be assessed to understand this phenomenon and to
curtail use. Research should assess the psychosocial and contextual factors affecting bidi use, the
influence of peer pressure, how bidis are smoked (as an initiation to smoking or following cigarette
smoking), and whether bidis are smoked instead of cigarettes or to mask the use of other
substances.
Adolescents in this study reported their preference for the taste of bidis over cigarettes and thenbelief that bidis are less expensive, easier to buy, and safer than cigarettes..The findings on
prevalence, knowledge, and attitudes, especially if they are replicated in other communities, may
demonstrate the need for actions to curtail youth access to bidis similar to measures for limiting
access to cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Adolescents should be alerted to the high toxicity.of
bidis to dispel the notion that bidis are safer to smoke than cigarettes. Additional research is
17
needed to assess other factors affecting the use of novel tobacco products such as bidis, including
how restrictions on access and advertising are being enforced, how pricing affects use of these
products, the application of federal and state excise taxes, and appropriate labeling of these
products with the Surgeon General's health warnings regarding tobacco use.
Table 1
TABLE 1. Percentage of middle and high school students surveyed who reported bidi
use, by sex, race/ethnicity, and grade — Massachusetts, 1999
Lifetime*
Characteristic
Sex
Female
Male
No.
Current+
No. (%)
342 121 (35)
282 127 (45)
No.
Heavy&
(%)
No. (%)
43 (12) 18 (5)
54 (19) 32 (11)
Race/Ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic 82 32 (39)
9 (11) 5 (6)
Black, non-Hispanic 220 88 (40) 30 (14) 17 (8)
Hispanic
232 95 (41) 49 (21) 21 (9)
Other®
12 (11) 7 (6)
108 41 (38)
Grade
7
8
9
10
11
12
Overall
92 29 (31)
39 (34)
113
138 61 (44)
182 76 (42)
90 39 (43)
12 (44)
27
642
13 (14)
1 (1)
21 (19) 10 (9)
19 (14) H (8)
23 (13) 14 (8)
18 (20) 10 (11)
6 (22) 4 (15)
256 (40)
100
(16)
50 (8)
* Smoked at least once in lifetime (ever smoked, even one or two puffs).
+ Smoked one or more in the last 30 days.
& Smoked >=100 in lifetime.
@ When presented separately, numbers for other racial/ethnic groups were too small for mean
ingful analysis.
NEWS - Pamela D'Mello: Anti-tobacco
campaign
Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 15:07:53 +0100
18
CAMPAIGNERS ON TOBACCO CALL FOR FREEZE ON NON-NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION
>From The Asian Age http://www.asianage.com By Pamela D'Mello
Panaji- Taking the cue from nuke blasts and the language
of kilotonnes and moratoriums, pro-health campaigners have
demanded a "freeze on licences to produce more tobacco products
and a moratorium on investments in tire tobacco industry".
Goa-headquartered National Organisation for Tobacco
Eradication (NOTE India) told Prime Minister Vajpayee that
"unless we halt this non-nuclear trade of mass destruction, there
is no escape for our youth for being addicted".
Said NOTE India chairperson Dr Sharad G Vaidya: "558
kilotonnes of tobacco (1 kiloton of tobacco=1000 tonnes) is a
greater danger to the country than all the nuclear hazards and
perceived threats. Every additional ton of tobacco eventually
kills about 1.4 persons."
Dr Vaidya asked the government to start by withdrawing all
concessions to tobacco.
Tobacco causes incurable diseases, NOTE pointed out, blaming
it for about 40% of cancers, 25% of fatal heart attacks, 66% of
chronic obstructive lung diseases. Can a govenunent be a partner
in this "criminal activity", asked NOTE, in connection with World
No-Tobacco Day (May 31).
It added that the addiction that tobacco causes is more
severe than even heroin or alcohol and success rate of de
addiction is not more than 33% in the best of hands.
Yet, it said between 1991-92 and 1994-95, the number of
factories in manufacturing sector of all types of tobacco have
increased 22.7%, from 827 to 1015.
Highest growth - twenty-seven percent - had been reported
inthe Pan Masala or Gutkha (chewing-tobacco) sector with 69
factories up from 54. Productive investment in 6693 Bidi
factories has grown 28% to Rs. 306 crores from Rs. 239 crores.
India's Agriculture Ministry also has plans to increase
tobacco production 2'5% in the next decade, NOTE said.
In India, production for 1997 is forecast at 604,500 tonnes,
which is up seven percent from the revised crop estimate of 562,750
tonnes tn 1996, according to a special commodity report.
NOTE said the higher forecast crop in 1997 is the result of
higher plantings which, in turn, are die result of increased
export demand and higher domestic prices.
NOTE charged that three Acts of Parliament "directly
support" tobacco promotion in India — The Excise Act of 1944,
the Tobacco Board Act, 1975 with its amendments and the
Cigarette Act of 1975.
Other laws and rules like the Debt Relief Act, Finance Acts
from time to time, Indo-British Partnership Initiative (IBPI),
Foreign Direct Investment Board also "help promote tobacco".
India's government considers tobacco an agricultural product
and grants tobacco farmers all subsidies applicable to food
crops, when'(in fact tobacco should be treated as narcotic".
~"For example tobacco farmers pay only Rs. 60 per acre as
water charges for irrigation when the actual cost is a Rs. 8125
per acre... making the tobacco subsidies ran into about Rs. 2500
19
crore per year only for irrigation," said Dr Vaidya.
Health for All would be a mirage in the 21st century too,
let alone by the year 2000, unless the government puts a
moratorium on the investment in the tobacco, a freeze on issuing
new licences for more factories removes subsidies and scraps the
Tobacco Board Act, NOTE said.
Behind a Hot Smoke, Hard Labor:
Women Toil to Supply Bidi Cigarette
Behind a Hot Smoke, Hard Labor: Women Toil to Supply Bidi Cigarette
by MIRIAM JORDAN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
INDIA; Source: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, Tuesday,
8/17/99
AHMEDNAGAR, India — Surekha Suram sits on the floor of her one-room
shack, rolling a reddish-brown leaf filled with tobacco flakes and then
tying one end with a thread. On a good day she makes about l,000of these
minicigarettes, or bidis, earning about 80 cents.
Smoking bidis has become a hot fad among young American hipsters. Exports
to the U.S. of the cheap, fruit-flavored cigarettes (pronounced "beedees")
have doubled in the past year. Behind the trend is a global supply line
that starts half a world away,' in impoverished homes in rura I India where
underpaid women labor long hours to keep the goods flowii...
Since the turn of the century, when Indians began smoking hand-made
cigarettes in large numbers, illiterate women have eked out an existence
much as Ms. Suram does today. Nowadays, bidi-making employs about five
million Indian women, making it second only to farming. Il is often
carried out under exploitative conditions, and the cigarettes may pose
health risks for the rollers as well as the smokers.
The bidi, which is filled with locally grown, sun-cured toba \ . looks
something like a marijuana joint. It rarely carries a filter and
skinnier and shorter than a white stick cigarette. "It taste., belter" too,
says 19-year-old Salvador Rasco as he buys a couple of p..-k,.: \’e Ole
Tobacco Shop in Savannah, Ga. The only drawback, he says, is "you gotta
keep smoking them, or they go out on you," a result of the poo;
combustibility of the tendu leaf the tobacco is wrapped in.
Bidi manufacturers say they are performing a national servi. ' by providing
wbiiefor the women, "If they didn't do this, what other jot ■ dd these
women do?" asks Praful Patel, who employs 50,000 wome.
t oss eight states
and is a member of parliament. In terms of worker comic;just like
knitting," he says. "It's a fine-tuned, nice job."
Labor activists accuse manufacturers of keeping wages low an I t iming a
blind eye to exploitation. Since most rollers work at home, .. . tough to
enforce worker-protection laws or prevent child labot. "Bidi workers can't
sustain a struggle with employers-because they're living li.r
-mouth,"
says R.K.. Ratnakar, general-secretary of the AU_ludij.lL..
..and
Tobacco Workers Federation, of which Ms. Suram is a
. Labor-ministry
officials acknowledge many bidi rollers enlist their young 1 . mere,
though child labor is illegal.
20
Surekha Suram, who ekes out a living in rural India rolling bidi
cigarettes by hand from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., lines up at a warehouse to have
her output inspected by checkers.
Ms. Suram, 43 years old and a widow, says she started rolling bidis when
she was 13. Her two teenage daughters roll as well. Ms. Suram earns about
$18 a month. That is low for India, where the average monthly household
income is $40.
Her day begins at 5:30 a.m., when she fetches cooking and bathing water
from a well at the end of a squalid lane where she lives. She cooks a
breakfast of flatbread and vegetables, and tidies up her dank, windowless
one-room home, in which she eats, works and sleeps on a rope cot.
By 9 a.m., Ms. Suram is sitting on the ground indoors, rolling bidis. She
works until 11 p.m., completing a bidi every 25 seconds, except for an
hour when she walks to a warehouse nearby to drop off her bidis and pick
up her pay and more tobacco flakes, tendu leaves and thread for the next
day.
No Breaks
"I can't afford to take a break," she says, eyes focused on the large
metal tray on her lap where she works. "I have to fill my stomach and that
of my children."
Though there is no proof that rolling causes respiratory diseases, the
incidence of tuberculosis and bronchial asthma among bidi rollers is
higher than that among the general population, according to research by
the Factory Advisory Services and Labor Institute in Bombay, a unit of the
Labor Ministry. Ms. Suram and her colleagues in this western Indian town
complain of back strain and neckaches, and they cough from the dust they
inhale.
Bidis are a fixture in India, where eight are consumed for every
conventional cigarette. Annual sales are around $ 1.4 billion.’ Despite a
surge in demand from the U.S. and other Western markets during the past
two years, exports account for less than 1% of sales, according to the
bidi-industry federation of India.
Bidis in India aren't candy-flavored, and it isn't clear who first had the
idea to add flavors for Western markets. Sable Waghire & Co., an Indian
manufacturer that exports bidis in 18 flavors to the U.S., says it began
experimenting with flavoring about four years ago and decided to target
the overseas market after flavors flopped in India. Large U.S. importers,
such as Kretek International Inc., Moorpark, Calif., tout aromas from
strawberry and mandarin orange to vanilla and black licorice on their Web
sites.
The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says bidis
are more harmful than regular cigarettes because they contain at least
three times more tar and nicotine. Some U.S. lawmakers are concerned that
bidis are being sold illegally to minors.
In India, where bidis are deemed the poor man's cigarette, a bundle of 25
costs about eight cents. A pack of name-brand regular cigarettes sells
here for about $ 1. By contrast, in the U.S., a pack of 20 bidis costs at
least $2, while regular cigarettes can cost more than $3 a pack.
Sable Waghire pays its 60,000 women rollers, including Ms. Suram, about 80
cents per 1,000 bidis, according to co-owner Sanjay Sable. That wage is
stipulated by Maharashtra, a relatively prosperous state where he
operates.
It's twice as much as some competitors in states with lower minimum wages
or more lenient supervision, Mr. Sable says. He also contributes to
pension and welfare plans for his workers, a federal-government
21
requirement fulfilled by fewer than half of India's bidi employers,
according to the union.
'Offers Work'
Twice in the past three years, Mr. Sable and other manufacturers in
Maharashtra have closed their operations to protest a state order to raise
wages. The government backed down both times. "The bidi sector offers work
to such a large number of people," says S.K. Das, director general of the
Labor Ministry. "We have to make sure it keeps going."
For rollers, much of the trouble is caused by middlemen, who are
contracted by big firms to keep track of the far-flung labor pool. Bidi
rollers and human-rights groups say middlemen sometimes dodge the minimum
wage, paying as little as 30 cents a day. Another ploy is to undersupply
tobacco, leaves or thread and then make deductions for shortfalls in
production.
What's more, as much as one-fifth of a roller's daily production is
typically rejected as defective, with the value cut from the worker's
wages.
Ms. Suram and some colleagues recently took to the streets to protest the
poor quality of leaves they receive, to no avail. All told, women often
end up earning "half their entitlement," says a 1999 report prepared by
the International Labor Organization.
On a recent afternoon, the Sable Waghire warehouse where Ms. Suram and
other bidi workers take their output was crowded with about a thousand
women amid piles of leaves and gunny sacks of tobacco. Clad in bright
saris, they stood in long queues, trays in their arms, waiting to have
their day's work inspected by a barefoot bidi checker, who sat on a wooden
table against the wall. He quickly sifted through each woman's bundle,
chucking defective bidis - those with slightly tom or discolored leaves
— into a reject pile on the floor.
One disgruntled bidi roller, dressed in a pink sari with a ponytail
hanging to her waist, was shouting at a bidi checker. The previous day,
she had sent her daughter to deliver her production, and the checker had
rejected 10% and cut her pay. "I sent my daughter because I couldn't come,
and you tricked her," roars the woman, who gives her name as Nirmala. "My
bidis are good quality! I am an experienced bidi roller!"
Ms. Suram had a better day. After lining up to have her bidis inspected,
she breathed a sigh of relief: Not a single one was rejected. The bidi
checker jotted down her production on a card, which Ms. Suram carried to
another line. There she was given 80 cents in coins and tattered bills.
Smoking issue: AITUC's plea (fwd)
Smoking issue: AITUC's plea
by Our Special Correspondent
Source: Hindu Online, Thursday, 9/30/99
CHENNAI, SEPT. 29. The State unit of the CPI-affiliated AITUC has urged
the State Government to go slow on the issue of banning smoking in. public '
places, though it was a laudable move.
A meeting of the state and district level office- bearers of the AITUC
held in Chennai said the Government would do well to ponder the pros and
cons of a ban on smoking in public places as any such action would
particularly hit the beedi industry and the 20 lakh, workers, dependent on
>
<, o >
'
22
it for their livelihood.
The meeting, in which the AITUC's State President, Mr.S.C.Krishnan and its
General Secretary, Mr.S.S.Thyagarajan were among drose who participated,
in a resolution said any such ban on smoking should be implemented only
after providing alternate employment to the existing beedi industry
workers.
Already, efforts were being made by the tobacco MNCs' to take a lion's
share of the domestic cigarettes market, which would only impact the beedi
industry, the AITUC pointed out.
Condemning the alleged termination of 'Toadmen" who have been working
for the past 15 years with the Tamilnadu State Marketing Corporation
(TASMAC) at Madurai and awaiting regularisation, after having shifted the
TASMAC godown to a nearby place, the AITUC in another resolution said this
practice of replacing existing "loadmen" with new hands "said to have
proximity to ruling party members", should be given up immediately.
Referring to the Government's announcement in May this year of providing a
monthly relief of Rs.250 to workers of select closed industrial units, the
AITUC regretted that the scheme was yet to take off.
The Government should simplify the procedure for making payments as no
sick industry has come forward so far to open a common bank account as
stipulated in the scheme, it said and urged that die monthly relief be
enhanced to Rs. 1000.
The Government setting apart Rs. 100 crore to activate the welfare board
for work-force in the unorganised sector and raising the minimum bonus
payable to workers from 8.33 per cent to 12.50 per cent were among the
other resolutions adopted at the meeting.
To press for these demands, die AITUC would organise state-wide processions on October 15, it added.
•Re: Women in the homebased workforce
Dear Friends,
I am Rekha Pande, teaching in the History Department of the University of
Hyderabad, India.
I am interested in Gender Issues, and most of my work is related to Women
and Children in unorganised sectors. I have done a project on Women and
Children in the Beedi industry and today I want to share this work with you.
Beedi, an indigenous cigarette, requires tobacco to be rolled in a tendu
leaf and tied with cotton thread. This product is now also becoming popular
in developed countries. In the popular imagination, beedis represent the
working class of India. Although beedis are made by home-based piece rate
workers (women and girls, working at home), men handle the packaging,
transportation and sales activities. This is a very "gendered" industry
because only women and girls make beedis: it is regarded as "women's work".
Boys and men work in factories and are involved in packaging,
transportation etc. B.oys_pnly make beedis if they are less thanjenyears
.of age. This is also a very caste and class-based industry because only
lower levels of castes and people living below poverty line make it.' Beedi
making is an extremely labour intensive, back breaking and strenuous
23
occupation but women and children do it for lack of any other means of
livelihood.
These women work fourteen to fifteen hour a day, but since this industry
falls within the unorganised, small scale industry, manufacturers.shun
their responsibilities and get away with paying workers a pittance. Women
are paid Rs.21 (about 0.50USS: Rs. 44= 1 USS) formaking 1000 thousand
beedis,
The social and cultural constructs of gender relations, the existing power
relations in society along with the disadvantages of putting out system all
combine to create an exploitative situation. The beedi making women live
and work in a male dominated industry where the manufacturer, the
contractor and the consumer of the goods are all male and only the worker
is female.
Unfortunately, in economic analysis, many data gathering systems, policy
makers and administrators generally ignore these kinds of structural
exploitations.
Thanking you,
Rekha Pande
BOARDS: Smoking & other WNT topics LIVE
Different Smokes
By Dr. Timothy Johnson
ABCNEWS.com
BOSTON, July 15 — As the cost of cigarettes
rises, a young generation of smokers is being
hooked by a growing trend: bidi smoking.
Bidis are hand-rolled, unfiltered cigarettes — with
pure tobacco — imported from India.
“These are good,” one youth says as he smokes on a
street comer in Boston. “They got flavor to them, and
that’s the whole thing.”
Bidis are also cheaper than regular cigarettes. In some
places, they can cost half the price of regular cigarettes.
Qne reason.they are so cheap is because they are
manufactured by child laborers injndia.
A study conducted by Massachusetts health officials
also confirmed that bidis are even more toxic than regular
cigarettes.
“We found twice to three times the amount of tar and
carbon monoxide and seven times the amount of nicotine
per gram,” says Dr. Greg Connolly of the Massachusetts
Department of Health.
Nationwide Concern
Massachusetts is not the only state that should be
24
worrying about what its kids are smoking.
Since last year’s tobacco settlement began driving up
the price of regular cigarettes, the bidi phenomenon
appears to be spreading to other states. So far, Arizona is
the only state to draft legislation making them illegal for
underage smokers.
By producing bidis in several flavors, manufacturers
have found another way to attract young smokers.
“I’ve had strawberry, grape, I've heard they have
vanilla,” says one teen smoker.
Although they might like the flavors, many young bidi
smokers know very little about what they are inhaling,
according to a high school survey conducted by teens in
San Francisco.
“Half of the youth they spoke io actually thought that
bidis couldn’t give you cancer," says Susanna
Hennessey-Toure of the San Francisco Department of
Health.
In fact, many thought bidis were herbal cigarettes with
no tobacco. Seven out of 10 packages purchased in the
survey carried no warning labels, which are required on
regular cigarettes.
Easy Access for Teens
Easy access is another concern. 1! .• surv-.y found minors
were able to purchase bidis in almost a quarter of the
stores they went into. Bidis' availability on the Internet
makes them that much more attainable tu curious teens.
“It’s kind of like when a new pair ol Jo;Jans comes
out or something,” explains teen volunteer Frederick
Johnson. “Everybody wants to get them. They see a new
something to smoke come out [and] say. ’! want to try
it.’”
But unlike Jordans, bidis arc a ...J th.:; has the
potential to kill.
25
Sunday 5 December 1999
Posted at 0130 hrs 1ST
US attorneys general seek ban on India's bidis
PHOENIX: Attorneys general from throughout the United
States want to ban the sale of small but strong cigarettes
from India.
The hand-rolled cigarettes known as bidis have more than
three times the amount of nicotine and more than five times
the amounFof tar as "regular cigarettes," do, the officials
say.
Additionally, they are flavored with chocolate, lemon-lime,
strawberry, cloves, mint and other tastes to make them
more appealing to young people, the National Association
of Attorneys General said Friday.
AU 50 of the U.S.'s attorneys general approved asking
federal authorities to halt the marketing and sale of the
oddly shaped cigarettes.
The association also said the cigarettes are made by young
indentured children. Tire U.S. Customs Service recently
banned importation of Mangalore Ganesh brand bidis
because of that practice, the association said.
"We are writing to Congress and to the federal agencies to
urge that the federal government do everything possible to
enforce laws to ensure that bidis are not available to
children and youth in the U.S.," Arizona Attorney General
Janet Napolitano said in a letter on behalf of the
association.
Napolitano, who alerted the U.S. earlier in tire week to a
free-samples promotion by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Holdings Inc. she said violates the multistate tobacco
settlements, was asked to head a committee intended to
help curb minors' access to tobacco products.
The cigarettes typically are sold by service stations,
convenience stores, liquor stores, smoke shops and some
health food stores, the association said. The group said
bidis_also-may.be purchased by phone and via the Internet.
Studies indicate that bidis smokers are twice as likely to get
lung cancer as those who smoke Indian filtered cigarettes,
the association said. (Associated Press)
Bidis: What the Kids Are Saying... and the Doctors [08/10-2]
Excerpts from CALIFORNIA AND THE WEST; AS YOUTHS LIGHT UP, HEALTH
ACTIVISTS FUME OVER BIDIS; TOBACCO: THE SWEET-FLAVORED, READILY
AVAILABLE CIGARETTES ARE THE RAGE AMONG UNDERAGE SMOKERS.
OFFICIALS WARN THAT THEY POSE GREATER RISKS THAN REGULAR
BRANDS.
By KATE FOLMAR, Los Angeles Times [08/10/99]
Ask 16-year-old Anna why she smokes bidi cigarettes and she'll glance down at her clunky
platform sandals, look up knowingly and smile: They're the latest trend.
They give a real buzz, adds 15-year-old Erika, with her pierced navel and lace-trimmed tank top.
Strawberry bidis are best, say the two friends, lounging at a Starbucks after a day at the
Huntington Beach pier. Or maybe the vanilla ones.
"A cigarette calms you down," Anna said. "Bidis have a nice rush to them. I think it's the closest
thing to illegal drugs you can buy legally."
Actually, like^ITcigarettes, the imported bidis cannot be legally sold to those under 18. But that
hardly seems to be impeding some teenagers.
Bidis, which resemble marijuana joints and come in flavors like mango, wild cherry and chocolate,
have become so popular among urban youths that alarmed health experts are warning that they are
more dangerous than regular cigarettes.
Later this month, a study expected to be published in the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report will show that bidis contain five times the tar
and three times the nicotine of name-brand cigarettes.
Anti-tobacco activists also fear that their candy-like appeal will lure youths into smoking, as did the
now-outlawed Joe Camel.
Bidis (sometimes spelled beedies or beadies) are hand-rolled, often unfiltered cigarettes filled with
finely flaked tobacco bundled in a fuzzy leaf and bound tight with a colored thread.
Imported from India, the stubby sticks are about half the diameter of major-brand cigarettes. But,
public health officials warn, bidis can pack twice the cancer-causing punch.
Caught off-guard by the trend, public health officials from Massachusetts to California are
scrambling to produce accurate data on bidi usage and find ways to warn teenagers about their
health dangers.
Arizona has specifically banned the sale of bidis to minors. Federal trade officials are cracking
down on bidi packages without warning labels.
Bidis are "gaining rapid popularity among urban youth in the U.S.," said Dr. Howard Koh, health
commissioner of Massachusetts, whose Public Health Department is about to publish a study of
bidi use among 650 urban teetiagers-that cites a "disturbingly high" level of bidi smoking.
"This is a problem for communities," Koh said. "It's a problem for urban youth. It's a problem for
communities of color."
Despite the concern, teenagers say bidis are easy to procure; You can get them as party favors or
buy them at swap meets. Some convenience and tobacco stores sell them for $ 2,50 to $ 4 a
pack, up to a dollar less than conventional brands^Some teenagers and young adults mistakenly
believe bidis pose less health risk than such cigarettes as Camels or Marlboros because they're
"natural."
As tobacco products, bidis are illegal for minors to buy; Arizona legislators recently took the
additional step of specifically banning bidi sales to youth and increasing penalties for illegal sales.
Concerned Los Angeles public health officials expect to add a bidi question or two to thenupcoming tobacco survey of 3,000 homes; the state is doing likewise. In Orange County, alarm
about the bidi craze prompted one mother to warn other parents about them in a widely distributed
PTA newsletter.
Starting this fall, thousands of Ventura County sixth-graders will be warned about snuff, cigarettes
and bidis in a tobacco education class. The message: No matter how appealing the bidi packaging,
the smokes are still tobacco. Whatever the form, tobacco is dangerous.
Long-term studies in India show that hidijsmokers have twice_thelung cancer risk of smokers of
-filtered cigarettes. That is partly a result of the nonporous nature of the tendu, or ebony, leaves that
Serve as bidi wrappers, said Dr. Samira Asma, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease
Control in Atlanta. To keep the sticks lit, smokers must'take deep drags more often.
While exact numbers of U.S. bidi smokers are not known, imports are trending upward, said
Darryl Jayson, vice president of the nonprofit Tobacco Merchants Assn., an industry trade group
in Princeton, N.J.
In 1998, he estimated, 76.6 million bidi cigarettes with an import value of $ 642,000 were shipped
to American distributors. In the first four months this year, 28.3 million bidis arrived, valued at $
308,000. It is difficult to say precisely how many bidis enter the country, because they are lumped
into several different tariff codes. The bidis are a mere fraction of the United State's $ 51-million
Cigarette market, Jayson said.
x
~
"It is growing, but compared to tire overall market, it's still less than a droplet," he said.
organization which is entirely supported by tax-deductible contributions.
Please credit ASH; and include ASH's web address: http://ash.org
US bans Karnataka firm's bidis
The pS Customs Service has ordered that hand-rolled
Indian bidis manufactured by a particular company be
seized at the border pending investigations over the company's reported
use of child labour, officials said.
"The use of forced, convict or bonded labour, especially the forced labour
of children, is morally, ethically and legally wrong," Customs
Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday. "The US Customs Service
is committed to ensuring that products that enter this country were not
made by exploiting those unable to fend for themselves."
The cigarettes affected are those made by the Mangalore Ganesh Beedi
Works of Karnataka.
Kelly said the decision came as a result of a US television news
programme which on Tuesday aired a videotape taken at the Mangalore
factory and alleged the company was using forced or indentured child
labour.
A dollar figure for imported Mangalore bidis was not available, but
customs officials said all imported bidis from India during fiscal 1999
Amounted to about 1.28 million dollars.
UNI
This article is a quote from the October 28, 1996 issue of
Time Magazine:
Tobacco Fashions: Veni, Bidi, Vici
This is the little cigarette that could: it came, it saw, it conquered. The trendiest
smoke on college campuses these days emanates from Indian imports called
beedies (from tire Hindi bidi). About half the diameter of regular cigarettes and hand
rolled in tendu (Indian ebony leaves), they look slightly like microcigars. Beedies,
however, pack a much more powerful punch: up to 8% nicotine, versus the 1% to 2%
in American cigarettes. The imports are composed of a species of tobacco different
from that most commonly used by U.S. manufacturers. They also come in flavors:
clove, menthol and even strawberry. Popular brands include Mangalore Ganesh and
Kailas. Despite the buzz the beedies deliver, FDA analysis finds they contain no
hallucinogens. Says Suresh Talapati, a native of India and a tobacco scientist at the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms: "Perhaps the fact that they look like joints
interests the young people." Beedies cost from $2.50 to $3.00 per pack of 20. (A pack
of unfiltered Camels can range from $1.25 to $3.15.) Why the expense for such tiny
smokes? In 1994 tire ATF reclassified beedies as cigarettes rather than cigars, thus
imposing a tax rate about 10 times as high as was previously charges. Though they
may have cult status in America, beedies have little cachet back in India, where
more than 800 billion are smoked each year. They remain what they have always
been , says Talapati, "the poor man's cigarette
Surgeon General Warning: Quiting smoking now greatly reduces serious risk to your
health.
INDIA ABROAD
Decembers, 1999
HEALTH
On basis of TV report, Customs suspends
import of bidis from Ganesh Beedi Works
BY AZIZ HANIFFA
WASHINGTON - On the strength of an investigative report on CBS Television's "60 Minutes
JI" broadcast from Tamil Nadu on Nov. 23, titled "Tobacco Slaves in India," the U.S. Customs
Service the following day suspendecTthe import of bidis - hand-rolled, unfiltered cigarettes —
produced by Mangalore Ganesh Beedi Works.
Layne Lathram, a spokeswoman for the Customs Service, told India Abroad that it was reviewing
evidence provided by "60 Minutes II" and until its investigation was completed as to whether
Mangalore Ganesh may have used forced child labor to produce the bidis, they would be barred
from entering the United States.
It is illegal to import any products into the U.S. made with any kind of forced labor, child labor,
indentured labor or convict labor.
The "60 Minutes II" segment, which was reported by correspondent Scott Pelley from Tamil
Nadu, alleged that Mangalore Ganesh uses "children sold into bonded servitude" in the
manufacture of its bidis that are exported to the U.S.
According to Customs officials, it had already been investigating allegations of forced or indentured
child labor in the manufacture of bidis by Mangalore Ganesh when the "60 Minutes II" report
surfaced.
These officials said that a videotape of the program, which clearly showed child labor being used
by the company, had been turned over to Customs, and would be part of the "hard evidence" the
service would use in its investigation against the Indian bidi manufacturer.
The officials acknowledged that the CBS report had provided the "sufficient evidence" Customs
had been looking for all these months to go after Mangalore Ganesh and other bidi manufacturers
in India that allegedly use bonded child labor and other kinds of forced or indentured labor to
produce these cigarettes that have now become a fad among the youth in the U.S., particularly
since some are sweetened with an assortment of flavors.
Lathram said that Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly has been on record saying that "the use
of forced, convict or bonded labor, especially the forced labor of children, is morally .ethically and
legally wrong."
She said that she could not say when the investigation into Mangalore Ganesh would be completed
and said that the bidis the company had already shipped to the United States would either have to
be put in storage or it would have to make arrangements to get them reshipped back to where they
came from.
The spokeswoman asserted that there was no case of any of the bidis that had already arrived in
the U.S. being grandfathered so that they could be distributed across the country to wholesalers or
retail outfits.
She said no bidis from Mangalore Ganesh would be allowed to be released until the investigation is
completed.
Customs officials had no information on the quantity or value of bidis exported to the United States
by the company. However, it is estimated that the total value of all bidis imported into the country,
including those manufactured by Mangalore Ganesh, in fiscal year 1999 ended on Sept. 30 was
$1.28 million.
This was an increase from the $915,000 that was shipped to the U.S. in fiscal year 1998.
The "60 Minutes II" program began by saying, "There was a time that some of the tobacco
products sold in America were made by slaves. On die eve of the 21st century, this is still true."
It said Pelley had found "child slaves" in India "who make cigarettes for America."
The report said die bidis, besides being a fad in the U.S., were"also cheap, because they are hand
rolled by kids who are tobacco slaves, children sold into bonded servitude."
The report said that despite India being the "world's largest democracy, children are still sold into
bonded servitude."
It said that most often "children are bonded for many years, laboring anonymously in their own
homes as childhood passes them by." The report quoted Special Commissioner P.W.C. Davidar,
an Indian government official fighting bonded labor in Tamil Nadu, as saying, "We've had children
from age 5, 6, 7, 10, 12. It's all ages. As soon as you can... and you know how to roll bidis, you
are an eligible candidate."
It also said that, according to Gary Haugen, an American lawyer who has devoted himself to
rescuing children from illegal bondage, the average price for a child is $25 to $50, and the length of
service can last from a few years to a lifetime.
Haugen had once prosecuted crooked cops for the U.S. Department of Justice. He then led the
United Nations' investigation of war crimes in Rwanda. Now he heads up a nonprofit group of
investigators he calls the International Justice Mission.
The report said when the Customs Service sends investigators into India, it has to follow
diplomatic protocol, warning the Indian government. The investigators are then taken to places
where there is no bonded labor, it said.
It quoted a frustrated Kelly as saying, "We need tire cooperation of foreign governments, and we
don't always get it."
The report said dial at the Mangalore Ganesh Beedi Works, there were bidis that were ironically
wrapped with the U.S. Surgeon General's warning, a requirement for export to the United States.
"60 Minutes II" said it had shown some of its footage to Kelly, who had said the pictures provided
enough evidence to legally bar imports of Mangalore Ganesh bidis into the U.S.
Indonesian Cigarettes Provide Unique Flavors,
Risks
COLUMBUS, Ohio - They are smaller than a Salem, less expensive than
a pack of Marlboros and taste like a strawberry. It is no surprise that
bidi cigarettes are becoming more popular, but they are more
dangerous than some think.
Once available only in tobacco specialty shops, these Indonesian
hand-rolled smokes can now be purchased in many convenience
stores across the country.
Bidis are made from an all-natural leaf, wrapped around a small
amount of tobacco and tied with a string. They are made in a variety of
flavors including strawberry, vanilla, chocolate and grape. Bidis
contain less tobacco than regular cigarettes, but unfiltered varieties
have two to three times more tar and nicotine.
"Bidis were originally designed in India to be a quick smoke," said
Mark Cassar, vice president of Kretek International, a leading
specialty tobacco distributor. "They're popular because they're an
alternative smoke in an alternative flavor."
According to Cassar, Kretek International, which imports the Darshan
brand of bidis, has doubled their sales in the last year to year and a
half.
Phillips and King, an importer of Kalai brand bidis, has also
experienced increased demand, especially in the past three months.
Chuck Yoho, a freshman natural resources major, occasionally
smokes bidis "just for something different." While the disparities in size
and flavorare obvious, Yoho found other differences.
"The first thing I noticed is that they don't have a filter," Yoho said.
"Everything you smoke goes directly into you."
Yoho said bidis are a novelty item, and that while one or two would
not hurt you, smoking them as often as nicotine cigarettes could be
dangerous.
l According to the Centers for Disease
| Control and Prevention, the incidence of
lung cancer in India is higher among bidi
smoke;o than cigarettesmokers.
!
Bidis pose other hazards as well.
"The problem is that they are attracting
younger kids," said Michelle Chippas, project director for
Tobacco-Free Ohio "You start with candy cigarettes, and then move
up to bidis and cigai cites."
Chippas said children as young as 9-years-old are using bidis. People
who would not normally be attracted to smoking become interested
because of the flavors.
"It's a stepping stone to becoming a committed tobacco user,"
Chippas said. "It's gaining popularity. It's very scary."
In a released statement by the CDC, experts warned potential
consumers of bidis.
"Bidis represent a s.-nilicant health risk and should not be considered
a safe alternative to cigarette smoking and other tobacco products."
According to Reina Sims, director of program services and minority
health research at the Central Ohio Breathing Association, the Federal
Trade Commission :s conducting an investigation into the labeling
practices of bidi cigarette manufacturers in India. Many bidis are being
sold in the United Slates without a surgeon general's warning on the
label, which is against current FTC regulations.
Warnings or not, bidis are selling well in area stores.
Tom Pellican, ownc r of Smokers Preferred, said the strawberry,
vanilla and clove bi 'is are the best sellers of the more than 20 flavors
he stocks. He has noticed that they have grown in popularity in the last
two years, especially among 20- to 30-year-olds.
"I think ifs just a ve ; unique taste," he said. "It's definitely for the
younger people. Wc don't get any senior citizens buying them."
-05/13/1999
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Time Magazine:
Tobacco Fashions: Veni, Bidi, Vici
This is the little cigarette that could: it came, it saw, it conquered. The trendiest
smoke on college campuses these days emanates from jndian imports called
beedies (from the Hindi bidi). About half the diameter of regular cigarettes and hand
rolled in tendu (Indian ebony leaves), they look slightly like microcigars. Beedies,
however, pack a much more powerful punch: up to 8% nicotine, versus the 1% to 2%
jn American cigarettes. The imports are composed of a species of tobacco different
from that most commonly used by U.S. manufacturers. They also come in flavors:
clove, menthol and even strawberry. Popular brands include Mangalore Ganesh and
Kailas. Despite the buzz the beedies deliver, FDA analysis finds thejTcbhtaih no
hallucinogens. Says Suresh Taiapati, a native of India and a tobacco scientist at the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms: "Perhaps the fact that they look like joints
interests the young people." Beedies cost from $2.50 to S3.00 per pack of 20. (A pack
of unfiltered Camels can range from $1.25 to $3.15.) Why the expense for such tiny
smokes? In 1994 the ATF reclassified beedies as cigarettes rather than cigars, thus
imposing a tax rate aboutjULtimes as high as was previously charges. Though they
may have cult status in America, beedies have litffecachet bacITinTndia, where more
than 800 billion are smoked each year. They remain what they have always been ,
says Taiapati, "the poor man's cigarette."
Smoker's choice brings you Shiv Sagar and Irie Brand Bidis
made from Pure Natural Indian Tobacco.
1 ofl
2/15/00 4:51 PM
Facedwith a declining market, labour problems and diminishing political clout,
Madhya Pradesh’s bidi barojjs are moving out in search of greener pastures
___ By BHARAT DESAI
"TZjRIDAYS ARE SMOKING DAYS
|B for Baburao Pimplapure. As be
^^■settles down with a heap of hidis
4 before him in the study of his
H sprawling mansion in Sagar. I he
65-year-oId winces as his lungs—
which remain smoke-free for the
remaining six days of the week- -lake a
pounding. An hour later, with two
dozen bidis reduced to ashes, he arrives
at the right blend of tobacco for
No. 207. the favourite bidi of nearly 1 5
48 INDIA
H'l.AY ♦ <H I'-ii'ti ■■ D'->7
half the country’s * production of
bidis till some years ago! Faced with a
declining market. labour problems a nd
diminishing political clout, more and
more manufacturers are now moving
out of the st ate in search <jf greener pas
tures and greater returns.
"Almost 80 per cent of the business
has already shifted out says Pimplapnre, who is also president of the
Madhya Pradesh Bid' Manufacturers’
Association. The new des!"mations are
the poor pockets of West Bengal Bihar,
Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
amt Karnataka, where labour is
cheaper and workmanship of a belter
grade. The absence of plants and ma
chinery has made the shifting easy.
The migration recently forced Chief
Minister Digvijay Singh to press the
Centra! Government to formulate a
national policy and wage structure for
the hldi industry, a long-standing de
mand of the unions representing 20
lakh workers in the stale.
The exodus began in 1089 when
the (hen chief minister Ariun Singh
announced the nationalisation of
tendu leaf collection. As a conse
quence, the price of the leaves shot up
from Rs 5 to Rs 30 per kg. It picked up
momentum last year after the state
Government directed that the workers
be paid Dearness Allowance (da) at the
rate of 2 paise per point, taking their
wages to Rs 30 for every 1,000 bidis
rolled. But the manufacturers contended that this would push up the
total cost of rolling 1,000 bidis to
Rs 82.45, as against Rs 65.9 7 in West
Bengal, Rs 64.22 in Bihar and
Rs 58.22 in Orissa. The da was then
reduced to 1 paisa a point only to be
legally challenged by the bidi workers.
The issue is pending before the
Madhya Pradesh High Court, but even
so manufacturers say the operational
costs in the state are so high that it is
cheaper to transport raw material to
other states and get the bidis rolled
there. The slimmer, finer bidis from the
south and east have overtaken sales of
those produced by adopting con
ventional methods in Madhya Pradesh’s
Bundelkhand belt comprising Sagar,
Damoh and Jabalpur districts. Last year,
the annual bidi production in the state
fell to 5,200 crore from a peak of 7,700
crore in 1984. Even popular brands like •
No. 207 have been hit—its daily
production is down to 2 crore from 3.5
MfflUiJAbll
Brand name: Dholak Chaap. Production: Down from 2 crore per
day in 1992 to 1 crore per day now.
Political background: Son Sunil Jain, a Congress MLA from Sagar.
New base: Shifted operations to.Orissa and West Bengal. Has
diversified into paper-making and newspapers.
crore a decade ago.
The declining market, according to
manufacturers, is largely because of
the changing smoking habits in the
countryside—whether it is greater
awareness about health or simply a
growing preference for cigarettes and
paan masala. Added to this, the collec
tion of tendu leaves in the state, which
accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the
country’s supply, was rather low at
40 lakh bags before the monsoon broke
out. Over the past three months,
manufacturers and traders have boy
cotted auctions of the leaves in Bhopal,
alleging that the bags contain much
less than the stipulated 1,000 bundles
of 50 leaves each.
Though the total expenditure in
curred in wages paid to leaf pluqkers
has jumped from Rs 50 crore in 1988
(before nationalisation) to Rs 150
crore today, the collection of leaves in
the same period has dropped by a
Despite f0Sling profits, ths tamas continue to live in
partial bungalows with fleets of the best of ears.
third. The quality too has deterio
rated. "There is mismanagement and
corruption at every level of collec
tion,” says Siddharthbhai Patel,
manufacturer of Sher brand bidis:
decade ago, summers were the
busiest season for the manufac
turers and tendu contractors.
Recalls Anilbhai Patel, manu
facturer of the Phool Chaap brand:
“When everybody else was holidaying,
we used to slog it out in the sun.” But
post-nationalisation, things have
changed. With the collection of leaves
done by pluckers’ cooperatives, says
Patel, "we can all go to hill stations
during summers now".
Some even take vacations abroad.
Many believe that it is the craving for
a lavish lifestyle, in sharp contrast to
the abject poverty of the bidi rollers,
that has been the undoing of the
barons. Manufacturer and former
minister Vitthalbhai Patel candidly
says, “We haven't given the workers
their due and some of us have adopted
questionable means of making
A
OCTOBER 6. 1997 ♦ INDIA’TODAY
49
BUSINESS
Brand name: No. 207. Production: Down from
3.25 crore per day in 1992 to 2 crore now.
Political background: Father ex-Congressman.
New base: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and
Orissa. Planning pharmaceuticals business.
money." Over the years, the sullied
image has cost the barons their polit
ical power as well. The money-fed bidi
lobby was once strong enough to
block the entry of any large industry
into Bundelkhand in order to perpet
uate the dependence of the region’s
poor on bidi manufacturers. It's no
coincidence that three treasurers of
the Madhya Pradesh Congress
Committee—Parmanandbhai Patel,
Dal-chand Jain and Arvindbhai
Patel—have been bidi bigwigs.
While not a politician himself,
Pimplapure recalls. “Many politicians
used to come to my father Chintamanrao for donations, and tickets to
contest elections were there for the
asking." Successive barons have also
been MPs, MLAs and ministers. But
today, barring the lone representative
in the state Assembly, Sunil Jain, they
have little political reckoning.
No wonder Jain says. "Business is on
Brand name: Top (Cannon). Production:
Down from 1.25 crore in 1992 to 1 crore now.
Political background: Former bjp MLA, now
president of Sagar bjp unit.
New base: Orissa. Into agriculture, pvc pipes.
the decline and so our political clout
too has declined.”
Despite these realities, the bidi
manufacturers continue to live in
palatial bungalows, littered with fleets
of Honda Accords and Civics, Contes
sas and Cielos. Marriages are grand*
events with lavish gifts being show
ered upon guests. Those who have
been in the bidi business for the last
five decades are worth,any where be
tween Rs 50 crore and Rs 100 crore
each. One baron smokes an Indian
Lights cigarette, though with a Japan
ese filter which reduces the tar con
tent to a fraction of what his bidi
contains. In fact, some of them like
Pimplapure and Vitthalbhai Patel
openly admit that there is a stigma at
tached to making bidis. They say
that they are “distinctly uncomfort
able in the industry". It is an exploita
tive industry where there is little
supervision, child labour difficult to
Som? barons admit thero's a stigma attached la bids
makkg and are distinctly uncomfortable about it.
50
INDIA TODAY ♦ OCTOBER h. 1997
eliminate and the end-product proven
injurious to health.
But guilt pangs don't make busi
ness sense. Especially if it’s a business
that has helped roll megabucks for
almost half a century. Union leader
Ajit Jain sees the flight ofbidi capital as
just a means by which the barons are
blackmailing the Government to pro
vide incentives to the industry, so they
can continue to make money.
The point is not so much the de
clining fortunes of the barons—that’s
something they are already setting
right in their new-found bidi bases,
even diversifying into areas like
finance, real estate and agriculture—
as the plight of the lakhs ofbidi work
ers they are leaving behind.
Arvindbhai Patel, who makes the
mass-selling No. 27 brand, may tell
you that he “dreads the day the bidi
industry will bid a final good-bye to
Bundelkhand, where people have no
other means of livelihood”. But ask
him what he plans to do about it, and
the question draws a blank, for he has
himself shifted base.
H
BIDI INDUSTRY IN MP
Facing a bleak future: Bldl
labourers at work in Sagar
Up in smoke
The bidi seths are
moving out and the
once-thriving indus
try is on the verge
of a collapse. The
worst hit are the
labourers who have I
HEN Rama Bai, a bidi worker,
one of almost 20 lakh in
Madhya Pradesh, refused to
participate in a redly organised to
demand better working conditions
wages no one was surprised. She
^Pnot alone in her decision. Thou
sands of other bidi workers have
joined Rama Bai and refused to claim
what is theirs by law. They prefer
working in difficult conditions to not
working at all.
Over 60 per cent of the bidis manu
factured in the country are made in
Madhya Pradesh and most of this
manufacturing is done in the two dis
tricts of Sagar and Damoh. However,
over the last three years most of the
bidi manufacturers have been shift
ing operations to other states because
political rivalry and unfriendly poli
cies are threatening the very exist
ence of the industry in Madhya
Pradesh.
Those who are staying are taking
the precaution of diversifying, to stay
alive. Leading bidi manufacturers like
W
Chotta Bhai Jetha Bhai and Bhagwan
Das Shobhalal have ventured into the
soyabean oil business.
The bidi industry has been very
active in politics. Nearly all the manu
facturers, or bidi seths as they are
known, are active members of politi
cal parties and have been MPs or
MLAs. Some like the maker of Dholak
brand bidis play it doubly safe by
having links with all the major politi
cal parties. One of his sons, Sunil Jain,
is a Congress MLA and another,
Shailendra Jain, is a BJP member.
And until 1988 their influence was
such that they could keep out any
other big industry that posed a threat
to them. If Virendra Kumar, the MP
from Sagar, is to be believed, in 1987
they sabotaged the chances of an
ordnance factory being opened in
Sagar.
Butin 1988 the then chief minister
Arjun Singh delivered a near crip
pling blow to the bidi seths by bring
ing tendu leaf collection under the
cooperative sector.
TOE WEEK ■ AUG. 23. 1993
Eighty per cent of the tendu leaf
collection in the country is done in
Madhya Pradesh and the jungles of
tendu leaf used to be auctioned by
the government to bidi manufactur
ers who then plucked the leaf. The
manufacturers kept the best leaf and
sold the rest to the other states in
volved in bidi manufacturing. This
guaranteed that the best bidis were
made in Madhya Pradesh.
But under the new tendu policy
exactly the reverse is happening. The
better quality leaf is sold to the other
states and the inferior leaf is all that
remains for the local manufacturers.
The overall quality of the leaf has also
declined because once it is plucked
the labourers do not pay any atten
tion to properly processing the leaf.
The new policy was bitterly op
posed by the bidi manufacturers who
even issued full-page advertisements
in the newspapers that read, “Hamari
rajnitik pratibadhata kuch bhi ho,
hamari vyaparik pratibadhata ek hai.”
(Whatever our political interests may
be, our business interests are one.)
All in vain.
According to Gopal Bhargava, BJP
MLA from Rehli-Garhakota, the real
rc^Mun for the introduction of the
nqUlendu leaf policy “was not the
welfare of tendu leaf pluckers (most
of whom are tribals), but the vested
interests of Arjun Singh”.
Lakhi Ram Agarwal, the then state
President of the BJP, was the biggest
tendu leaf merchant in the country,
collecting about 25 lakh bags of tendu
leaf every year. "Arjun Singh’s real
aim in implementing the policy was
to ruin the flourishing business of
Lakhi Ram Agarwal,” Bhargava told
THE WEEK.
The net effect of this policy, how
ever, was the migration of the bidi
manufacturers to other states. Former
minister and Congress leader Vitthal
Bhai Patel, who is also a bidi manufac
turer, claims that “40-50 per cent of
bidi units have migrated to other
states and still more are in the pro
cess of moving out”.
“Working in other states is quite
profitable and easy as the cost of
production is far lower than in Madhya
Pradesh and the wages are also mini
mum,” said Harnam Singh Rathore,
Working in other states is more
profitable: H.S. Rathore, BJP
leader and owner of the Tope bldi
THE WEEK ■ AUG. 23. >998
BJP leader and owner of the Tope
brand bidi. “The cost of production is
only Rs 58.22 per 1,000 bidis whereas
in Madhya Pradesh, it is as high as Rs
82.43 per 1,000.”
If a bidi manufacturer wanted to
shift his operations to West Bengal,
Orissa or Andhra Pradesh, all that he
had to do was contact the labour
union of that area. The union decided
the wages and made ail the arrange
ments required.
“They want employment, so they
help us,” said Rathore. “We don't even
have to pay provident fund and other
funds that have becoipe mandatory
in Madhya Pradesh. The labour
unions are so eager for new indus
tries that they even fix the wages for
the labour far below the official rate
in the state.”
The sufferers are the exploited
bidi labourers in Madhya Pradesh.
The sattedar or commission agent of
the bidi firm cannot give work as
before because he does not have
tendu leaf and zarda (tobacco) as
before. The workers, including chil
dren, now get work only for three
days a week. Most of them do not
know the reason for this, but believe
that it is the government that is forc
ing the bidi workers to close down
their business.
Obviously, quality has suffered,
giving the manufacturers another rea
son to migrate. “Bidi-making here is a
part-time affair. The labour is un
skilled and a lot of raw material is
wasted,” said Vishnu Bhai, manager
of Parbhu Das Kishore Tobacco Prod
ucts, the biggest bidi firm in Madhya
Pradesh. "In Tamil Nadu, a bidi worker
can roll 2,200 bidis out of one kilo
gram of tendu leaf but in Madhya
Pradesh they only make 1,300 out of
the same quantity. And the quality is
poor."
According to the secretary of the
Madhya Pradesh Bidi Udyog Sangh,
Anand Dubey. the industry is on the
verge of collapse because of the myo
pic policies of the government. "The
excise duty curbs on small size ciga
rettes and the new tendu leaf policy
have left the industry high and dry.”
Meanwhile bidi labourers like
Rama Bai, 85 per cent of whom de
velop lung disease, remain unem
ployed with few other skills and no
alternative source of income, victims
of political rivalry and the bidi seths’
business sense.
DEEPAK TIWAR1
REPORT ON THE BEEDI INDUSTRY
IN SOUTH INDIA
INTRODUCTION
BHAT IS A BEEDI?
“Beedis”, also known as the “poor man’s cigarettes”, are slim, hand-rolled
unfiltered cigarettes which resemble marijuana joints. They consist of tobacco rolled
in lendu leaves, which are less permeable to air than paper, requiring the smoker to
inhale more deeply than a regular cigarette.1
MUY HAS THE BEEDI BECOME A CAUSE FOR CONCERN?
According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), a beedi releases 3-5
times more tar and nicotine than a regular cigarette, despite containing less tobacco.
Beedi smoke also contains more deadly chemicals such as ammonia and carbon
monoxide than regular cigarette smoke. It is found to be loaded with cancer-causing,
chromosome-damaging, genetic poisons, far more than are found in a regular
cigarette.2
In the U.S., these beedis appeal to teenagers in particular'as they come
flavoured vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint and cola.3 These “dessert cum smokes”
are cheap and easily available (even over the Internet) to minors.
It seems as if, smoking a beedi has become the latest fad. Says one journalist “
They’re sweet. They’re cheap. They’re small and worst of all, they’re trendy.”4 These
beedis are essentially exported from India. Although beedi sales in the U.S. are
estimated at $980,000 as compared to the billions spent on cigarettes, they are gaining
1 Internet document.
2 Infra., note 7.
3 Internet document.
4 Sally Squires, “The Scourge of Beedis on the Young”, <http://ash.org/august99/08-18-99-l.html>
cjqlCX
popularity because of their low cost? In India, a beedi is as cheap as Rs. 0.15? There
is also the prevalent misconception that the beedi is a safe alternative to the cigarette.
They can even be bought in health stores, as these beedis are considered the “natural”
form of tobacco.
It is rumoured that in China, beedis are laced with opium.7 “In some provinces
of China, puffs from lighted beedis are give to infants and toddlers to stop them from
crying.”8
However, what is also a major cause for concern is the Work environment in
which these beedis are produced. Research works have revealed that this product is
produced in toxic conditions and even those who have never smoked a beedi, but are
involved in the production process, are damaged by the mutagenic and carcinogenic
compounds in the air? The dust mutates the skin of these workers and damages their
chromosomes. They get sick and die at alarming rates just from making the beedis.10
Another cause for concern is that the beedi industry employs child labour.
A study was carried out in South India, in two major beedi-producing areas
namely South Kannara and the North Arcot district around Vellore. A large number of
beedi workers as well as their employers w-ere consulted. This report is an account of
the said study regarding the beedi industry.
3 “All Smoke, No Fire, insists bidi manufacturer”, TIMES OF INDIA, February 17, 2000.
6 Approximately Rs. 43 is the equivalent of a dollar.
7 <http://www.drgreene.com/990517.html>
" Ibid.
’ International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1992 in supra., note 7.
10 Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 1994 ip_supra., note 7.
CHAPTER 1
THE PRODUCTION PROCESS11
The tendu leaves, which are the wrapper leaves, grow wild, particularly in the
forests of Gujarat, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. Once a year, normally in the month of
May, the beedi manufacturers gather for an auction of the tendu leaves. The highest
bidder gets access to the forest for that amount of time as is required to harvest the
beedi leaves. This stage is labour intensive, as all the leaves are hand-plucked.
The tobacco is mainly grown in the Raichur area...
K
The leaves are then piled up and wet. They are then stocked and dried and then
put into large bags and sent to the factory. The tobacco is grown and harvested
separately (usually in a different are) and also sent to the factory. Once in the factory,
the manufacturers send the leaves and the tobacco either directly to the beedi-rollers
or to the contractors through whom they operate.
These contractors, distribute the tendu leaves and the tobacco to the beedi
rollers and on completion, take the finished product back to the factory. On every
1000 beedis, these contractors earn a commission of between Rs. 1 and Rs. 3.12 On an
average, every beedi-roller rolls 1000 beedis a day, and each contractor has a
minimum of 20 workers under him.
The beedi-rolling process itself runs thus. The tendu leaf is cut in a rectangle
and held in the left hand, while the tobacco is spread evenly over it. The leaf is then
rolled into a cone. The lower end is then closed by bending the leaf inward. To
facilitate this process, the index finger is closely fitted with a sharp, metallic nail that
is heated and clamped onto it, burning the finger everytime. However, the workers say
they are “used to their fingers getting burnt”. Sometimes, a long metallic object is
used and sometimes, the workers do not use anything at all, but merely use their
fingers for this step. The uncut and tapering end is tied with a piece of thread.13
11 All information in this section has been obtained from a beedi manufacturer who wishes to remain
anonymous.
11 Figures obtained from contractors interviewed.
Anonymous, “Comparative Study of the Beedi Industry in the Private and Co- operative Sectors”,
Ph.D. dissertation. May 1993.
The finished beedis are tied in bundles of 25. Rolling 1000 beedis takes a
minimum of 6 - 8 hours a day, sometimes even 10-12 hours. In villages where
beedi-rolling is the only occupation of the workers (for example in the villages of the
North Arcot district), beedi-rollers roll almost 2000 beedis a day, working an average
12 hours each day.
At the end of the day, the beedi-rollers take the finished products to the
contractor whom in turn sorts out the “good” quality beedis from the others, and
arrange the bundles in open wooden troughs and dry them.
The beedis are then arranged in large baskets, each containing approximately
150,000 such bundles,14 (see photograph) and delivers the goods to the factory, where
he is paid his commission as well as supplied with more raw material. The contractors
usually visit the factory once or twice in a week, and only rarely, more often.
The last stage of the production process is the further drying of the beedis in
large ovens, and then labelling the products.
Beedi-rolling is done both in the houses of the workers and in co-operatives.
Many workers interviewed preferred working from home as they then saved on the
cost as well as on the time spent in travelling to the work place. In the South Kannara
region, the workers were mainly women who rolled beedis in order to supplement
their husbands’ income. In such cases, workers could work at home in addition to
looking after household chores and child rearing.
No machinery is employed in the production of beedis. The industry is
therefore entirely dependent on labour, thus providing employment to scores of
labourers (employment figures are provided in the next chapter).
(
/
/
/
Figure obtained from interview with a contractor.
CHAPTER 2
EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES
As has already been mentioned, the beedi industry is labour intensive. Every
stage of the beedi production is executed with the use of manual labour. Indeed, the
industry provides employment to many lakhs of workers. In the South Kannara
region, the industry provides employment to over 10 lakh labourers. In the
Tirunalvelli region in Andhra Pradesh, 14 lakh labourers are involved in the
production of beedis.I5This industry is one of the largest employment generating
industries in the country.
While some workers merely work in this industry in order to supplement
income that is earned from other occupations, for many, the beedi industry provides
them their daily bread and butter.
One of the main causes of worry is that the beedi industry employs child
labour. For this reason, the U.S. has banned the import of products from Indian beedi
industry(ies)y.ie> We talked to beedi workers in and around Vellore, as well as in
Jelligude (hardly 8 kilometres from Mangalore). While they all admitted that their
children too were involved in beedi production, they said that the children merely
“helped"’ them. Most of the children go to school, or have obtained an education upto
the 8th grade.
Under such situations, the employer cannot be accused of having employed
“child labour”, as it is the parents and not the children who are on the pay rolls.
Moreover, this “helping” by the children occurs in the private sphere of the “home”,
and cannot be interfered with.
Infact, one beedi manufacturer even said “I will not risk employing child labour, as I
don’t know when I’ll have an inspectc. watching my factor)' in order to catch me for
that very’ reason. Besides, the fine imposed for employing child labour is Rs. 20,000 a
child. We make sure even the Taiwan is above the age of 16 I also view the situation
as one where I feed another mouth. I may .stop employing these children in my
Figures obtained from interview with a beedi manufacturer.
factor}', but that does not mean they won’t be compelled to find work elsewhere. It is
most often parental pressure which forces these children to work in order to provide
for the sustenance of their families.
However, in the more remote villages like Hoskote, child labour is freely
employed. There is, one point to be noted in this respect, which is that while the child
is on the employer’s pay roll, he/she does not receive the wages. The wages only go to
the parent
The wages of beedi-rollers for branded beedis is between Rs. 40 and Rs. 55
foe every 1000 beedis rolled. Some workers are only involved in cutting the tendu
leaves. Such workers earn Rs. 10 - Rs. 15 a day, generally for having rolled 1
kilogram of tendu leaves.
Most often, the workers do not get in hand, the prescribed wages. They are
generally given enough raw material to roll 1000 beedis, but the quality of the tendu
leaves is poor, and the shortfall has to be made good by the workers themselves.
In Kaniyambadi, a village just outside the town of Vellore, the workers say
their wages on paper are Rs. 55 per 1000 beedis, but they receive only Rs. 40, or
sometimes even less, in hand. Rs. 7.50 is kept aside as part of the Provident Fund that
these workers are entitled to.
The workers are entitled to benefits such as a pension and their Provident
Fund. There are also special government hospitals set up around areas concerned with
beedi production. However, the villagers had the same thing to say about these
hospitals, and that is that the doctors in these hospitals are irregular. The medicines
they are given do not help. They also have to wait hours on end before they can meet
the doctor, and none of them has the time to waste waiting for the doctor to arrive.
There is a special provision for government holidays. On these days, the
workers need not roll beedis, but receive the wages for that day anyway.
The workers ;?re allowed to take their Provident Fund as a lump sum at any
time. However, in such an event, the worker then forfeits his/her right to a pension.
Such workers do not give up rolling beedis, as the pension they receive is a mere Rs.
200 or 300 a month, hardly enough to sustain them. They prefer claiming their
Provident Fund as a lump sum and continuing rolling at the mercy of the contractor.
Supra., note 5.
When a worker continues to roll even after retirement age, the procedure is
thus. He is enrolled under the local contractor, and his holiday wages and the amount
that is put aside as part of the Provident Fund; all goes to the contractor. Therefore,
what the worker actually receives is a wage for the beedis rolled everyday minus what
is put into the contractor’s Provident Fund. It now becomes obvious how the
contractor stands to gain at every stage!
The workers accept the contractor’s position as an inherent part of their
occupation. The contractor himself admits that his position may at some level cause a
loss to the workers. However, according to him, this is his way of earning his
livelihood. It just so happened that he had the money to clinch the contract and now
the workers would have to accept his more powerful position.
Infact, when asked why they work for the beedi industry, the workers of North
Arcot district unanimously replied that there was no other industry in which
employment can be found as the beedi industry is the only industry there.
■‘The beedi industry in India employs many lakhs of workers”, says the
interviewed beedi manufacturer, “close it down and all these workers will be left
unemployed. Moreover, they are now accustomed to their work and have developed a
skill for it. Given any other employment, they will find it hard to leam the trade.
Infact, the workers themselves will be outraged to hear any proposition of the industry
being.forcibly closed down.”
CHAPTER 3
HEALTH CONCERNS REGARDLNG WORKERS IN THE
BEEDI INDUSTRY
While it is a popular notion that tuberculosis is largely prevalent among beedi
workers, the truth is that while working in tobacco dust does make the worker
susceptible to the disease, tuberculosis strikes only when the worker does not eat
properly or is an alcoholic. This input came from the beedi workers themselves as
well as various doctors interviewed.
This is true of any form of
labour involving working with dust, including construction, rolling of incense sticks
etc. Infact, of all the beedi workers interviewed, the researcher came across only one
worker who was infected with tuberculosis.
Doctors say that the notion of TB being widely prevalent among beedi
workers originated in times much earlier, when all beedi workers used to sit together
in the same room, which was airtight so moisture did not touch the dried leaves.
Under such conditions, if one worker were infected with TB, it would spread to all the
others in the room. However, nowadays the workers either work at home or in rooms
with circulation, and spreading of TB in the above-mentioned manner does not occur.
TB apart, the workers are however prone to asthma and various other dust
related allergies including the skin of their hands peeling off due to excessive work in
the dust. In addition, the workers develop bronchial diseases as the posture adopted
for beedi rolling exerts pressure on the lower part of the lung leading to such
diseases.17
They also develop chronic back problems due to the posture in which they sit
while working and eyesight is affected due to constant gazing at the beedis they are
rolling. Fingers also lose sensation and become numb after a prolonged period of
beedi rolling.
While the provision of a hospital in every beedi manufacturing area is part of
the benefits the workers are entitled to, all the workers saythe hospitals are practically
From interviews with affected beedi workers and doctors.
redundant as none of the workers uses these hospitals. Irregularities of the doctors as
well as callousness of the doctors are reasons for the abandonment of these hospitals.
The workers prefer using private doctors, but end up spending a lot more money that
they would have had to if the doctors in the government hospitals were reliable.
Beedi smokers are exposed to more deadly diseases such as oral and lung
cancer, which beedi makers are not exposed to directly. But working in the beedi
industry may lead to being an addicted beedi smoker, which will then expose these
workers to different forms of cancer.
9
REPORT ON
KARNATAKA
Based on a survey by:
Ms. Zebaysh Hirji
Student, National Law School of India university.
While placed with:
Community Health Cell
(Society for Community Health Awareness, Research and
Action)
February - March, 2000.
ACKNOWLEDGEM ENT
At the onset of this report, I would like to express my thanks to Dr. Thelma
Narayanan, Coordinator, Policy Research and Evaluation, Community Health Cell; Dr
J.P. Muliyal and Ms. Akhila, CHAD, Vellore, and Ms. Jacinta D’souza and Mr.* Joslin
Lobo, Roshini Nilaya, Mangalore; for extending their help and co-operation during the
collection of data for this report.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
I
INTRODUCTION
3
CHAPTER 1: THE PRODUCTION PROCESS
5
CHAPTER 2: EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES
7
CHAPTER 3 HEALTH CONCERNS REGARDING WORKERS
IN THE BEEDI INDUSTRY
11
. CHAPTER 4: A BRIEF NOTE REGARDING THE RELEVANT
LAWS RELATING TO BEEDI WORKERS IN INDIA
CONCLUSION
I3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Aim anil Objectives: The WHO wished for a study of the working of the Beedi industry
in Karnataka, one of the major beedi producing areas of the country, wherein the
controversial Ganesh Beedis is also located. The survey was conducted not only in
Karnataka, but also in the neighbouring state Tamil Nadu to provide a clear picture of
the beedi industry.
Sites of Data Collection: this survey was conducted in the Jelligude village of Mangalore
District, with inputs from Ph.D. dissertations with regard to the same; and also from
villages in the North Arcot district of Tamil Nadu. A little information was gathered from
Hoskote, a village situated near Bangalore, Karnataka.
Mode ofData Collection: Beedi rolling is essentially carried out in the workman’s home.
Data was collected by visiting the homes of various beedi rollers as well as visits to the
contractors of the area. 5-6 households were visited in Jelligude, and approximately 25
households were visited in the North Arcot region. 5 contractors were consulted in
totality. Further, data from Ph.D. dissertations has also been relied on. Data used in this
report is essentially primary data, derived from interviews with beedi workers, social
workers, beedi contractors and one beedi manufacturer'.
Research Questions: before the researcher began data collection, the following were the
guidelines based on which data was collected:
♦ How a beedi is produced;
♦ What are the wages of a beedi worker;
♦ Employment concerns in the beedi industry;
♦ Health concerns of the beedi workers
♦ Some of the prevailing laws pertaining to the beedi industry.
Chapterisation:
Based on the research questions for data collection, this report
accordingly consists of the following chapters:
> A general introduction to what exactly a beedi is and why it has become a cause for
concern;
> The production process with regard to beedis;
> Employment and wages in the beedi industry;
'r Health concerns regarding workers in the beedi industry;
> Relevant laws pertaining to beedi workers and the industry.
Note: This report does not have a Bibliography as it is based entirely on primary data.
' The concerned beedi manufacturer wishes to remain anonymous
INTRODUCTION
What is a Beedi?
“Beedis”, also known as the “poor man’s cigarettes”, are slim, hand-rolled,
unfiltered cigarettes, which resemble marijuana joints. They consist of tobacco rolled in
tendu leaves, which are less permeable to air, than paper is, requiring the smoker to
inhale more deeply, while smoking a beedi, than is require for a regular cigarette.2
Why has the beedi become a cause for concern?
According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), a beedi releases 3-5 times
more tar and nicotine than a regular cigarette, despite containing less tobacco. Beedi
smoke also contains more deadly chemicals such as ammonia and carbon monoxide than
regular cigarette smoke. It is found to be loaded with cancer causing, chromosome
damaging, genetic poisons, far more than are found in a regular cigarette.3
In the U.S., these beedis appeal to teenagers in particular as they come flavoured
vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint and cola, and a host of other flavours.4*These
“dessert-cum-smokes” are cheap and easily available (even over the Internet) to
everybody, minors included.
It is almost as if, smoking a beedi has become the latest fad for many. Says one
journalist, “They're sweet They’re cheap. They’re small, and worst of all, they’re
trendy.” These beedis are essentially exported from India. Although beedi sales in the
U.S. are estimated at a mere (sic) $980,000 as compared to the billions spent on
2 Internet document.
’ Internet document, infra., note 7.
1 Internet document,
' Sally Squires, “The Scourge of Beedis on the Yoting”. http://asli.org/aunnst99/0X-18-99-1.11tin.
4
cigarettes, they are gaining popularity because of their low cost.6*in India, a beedi is as
cheap as Rs. 0.15. there is also the prevalent misconception that the beedi is a safe
alternative to the cigarette. They can even be bought in health stores, as the beedis are
considered the “natural” form of tobacco.
it is rumoured that in China, beedis are laced with opium.8*“In some provinces of
China, puffs from lighted beedis are given to are given to infants and toddlers to stop
them from crying”.'
However, what is also a major cause for concern is the work environment in
which these beedis are produced. Research works have revealed that this product is
produced in toxic conditions and even those who have never smoked a beedi, but are
involved in the production process, are damaged by the mutagenic and carcinogenic
compounds in the air1011
The dust mutates the skin of these workers and damages their
chromosomes. They get sick and die at alarming rates just from making the beedis.”
Another cause for concern is that the beedi industry employs child labour, an
aspect dealt with in the survey.
A study was carried out in South India, in two major beedi producing areas
namely South Kannara (Mangalore District) and the North Arcot district in and around
Vellore. A large number of beedi workers as well as their employers were consulted. This
report is an account of the said study regarding the beedi industry.
“All Smoke, No Fire, insists bidi manufacturer”, TIMES OF INDIA, February 17,2000.
Rs.41 approximately makes up a dollar.
8 bttp:/A»TTO’.drereeue.com/9905 ] 7 .html.
"Ibid.
10 International Archives of Occupational and Environmental I Icalth, 1992 in supra., note 7.
11 Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 1994 in supra., note 7.
CHAPTER 1
THE PRODUCTION PROCESS12
The tendu leaves, which are the wrapper leaves, grow wild, particularly in the
forests of Gujarat, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Once a year, normally in the month of
May, the beedi manufacturers gather for an auction of the tendu leaves. The highest
bidder gets access to the forest for that amount of time as is required to harvest the beedi
leaves. This stage is labour intensive, as all the leaves are hand plucked, and as is evident,
the demand for workers in the beedi industry', starts from this point.
The tobacco for beedi production in Southern India, is grown in the Raichur
area.13
The leaves are then piled up and wet. They are then stocked and dried and then
p v> u
•
put into large bags and sent to the factory. The tobacco is grown and harvested separately
(usually in a different area) and also sent to the factory. Once in the factory, the
manufacturers send the leaves and the tobacco either directly to the beedi rollers or to the
contractors through whom they operate.
These contractors, distribute the tendu leaves and the tobacco to the beedi rollers
and on completion, take the finished product back to the factory. On every 1000 beedis,
these contractors earn a commission of between Rs. 1 and Rs. 3.14 On an average, every
beedi roller rolls 1000 beedis a day, and each contractor has a minimum of 20 workers
under him.
The beedi rolling process itself runs thus. The tendu leaf is cut in a rectangle and
held in the left hand, while the tobacco is spread evenly over it. The leaf is then rolled
into a cone. The lower end is then closed by bending the leaf inward. To facilitate this
process, the index finger is closely fitted with a sharp, metallic nail that is heated and*11
12 All information in this section has been obtained from a beedi manufacturer who wishes to remain
anonymous.
1 ’ Aspects of tobacco growth have not been dealt with in detail.
11 figures obtained from contractors interviewed.
,
Jf
.
clamped onto it, burning the finger every time. However, the workers say they are “ used
to their fingers getting burnt”. Sometimes, a long metallic object is used and sometimes,
the workers do not use anything at all, but merely use their fingers for this step. The
uncut and tapering end is tied with a piece of thread.15
The finished beedis are tied in bundles of 25. Rolling 1000 beedis takes a
minimum of 6 - 8 hours a day, sometimes even 10 - 12 hours. In villages where beedi
rolling is the only occupation of the workers (for example in the villages of the North
Arcot district), beedi rollers roll almost 2000 beedis a day, working an average of 12
hours each day.
At the end of the day, the beedi rollers take the finished products to the
contractors, who in turn sort out-the “good” quality beedis from the others, and arrange
the bundles in open wooden troughs and dry them.
The beedis are then arranged in large baskets, each containing approximately
150,000 such bundles,16 and delivers the goods to the factory, where he is paid his
commission as well as supplied with more raw material. The contractors usually visit the
factories once or twice in a week, and only rarely, more often.
The last stage of the production process is the further drying of the beedis in large
ovens and then labelling the products. Beedi rolling is done both in the houses of the
workers and in cooperatives. Many workers interviewed preferred working from home as
they then saved on the cost as well as on the time spent in travelling to the work place. In
the South Kannara region, the workers were mainly women who rolled beedis in order to
supplement their husbands’ income. In such cases, workers could work at home in
addition to looking after household chores and child rearing.
No machinery is employed in the production of beedis. The industry is therefore
entirely dependent on labour, thus providing employment to scores of labourers.17
Anonymous, “Comparative Study of the Beedi Industry in the Private and Cooperative Sectors”, Ph.D.
dissertation. May, 1993.
16 Figures obtained from interview with a contractor.
' limployment figures are provided in the next chapter.
7
CHAPTER 2
EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES
As has already been mentioned, the beedi industry is labour intensive. Every stage
of the beedi production is executed with the use of manual labour. Indeed, the industry
provides employment to many lakhs of workers. In the South Kannara region, the
industry provides employment to over 10 lakh labourers. In the Tirunalvelli region in
Andhra Pradesh, 14 lakh labourers are involved in the production of beedis.iK This
industry is one of the largest employment generating industries in the country.
While some workers merely work in this industry in order to supplement income
that is earned from other occupations, for many, the beedi industry provides them their
daily bread and butter.
One of the main causes of worry is that the beedi industry employs child labour.
For this reason, the U.S. has banned the import, of products from Indian beedi
industr(ies)y.18
19 We talked to beedi workers in and around Vellore (in Tamil Nadu) as
well as Jelligude (hardly 8 kilometres from Mangalore). While they all admitted that their
children too were involved in beedi production, they said that the children merely
“helped” them. Most of the children go to school, or have obtained an education upto the
8,h grade.20
In the village of Hoskote, the children do not go to school. They are directly
employed by the companies, which most of the time make unbranded beedis, and
therefore, the wage rate is much lower than what is paid to the workers working for
18 Figures obtained from interview with a beedi manufacturer.
” Supra., note 6.
-1J Prior to 1991, the children of the North Arcot district were held as bonded labourers, but the situation has
now been remedied.
8
branded companies.21
Under such situations, the employer cannot be accused of having employed “child
labour”, as it is the parents and not the children, who are on the pay rolls. Moreover, this
“helping”22 by the children occurs in the private sphere of the “home”, and cannot be
interfered with.
In fact, one beedi manufacturer even said “1 will not risk employing child labour,
as I don’t know when I’ll have an inspector watching my factory in order to catch me for
that very-reason. Besides, the fine imposed for employing child labour is Rs. 20,000 a
child. We make sure that even the chaiwalla (person who brings in the mid-morning tea)
is above the age of 16. I also view the situation as one where I feed another mouth. I may
stop employing these children (through their parents) in my factory, but that does not
mean they won’t be compelled to find work elsewhere. It is most often parental pressure
which forces these children to work in order to provide for the sustenance of their
families,”
However, in the more remote villages like Hoskote, child labour is freely
employed. There is, one point to be noted in this respect, which is that while the child is
on the employers’ pay roll, s/he does not receive the wages. The wages only go to the
parent.
The wages of beedi rollers for branded beedis is between Rs. 40 and Rs. 55 for
every 1000 beedis rolled. Some workers are only involved in cutting tire tendu leaves and
some with closing the open end of the beedi after it has been filled with the tobacco. Such
workers earn Rs. 10 - Rs. 15 a day, generally for having cut 1 kilogram of leaves or
having closed and tied 1000 beedis respectively.
Most often, the workers do not get in hand, the prescribed wages. They are
generally given enough raw material to roll 1000 beedis, but the quality of the tendu
leaves is poor, and the short-fall has to be made good by the workers themselves.
2 I lorror stories have been heard about the villages of Hoskote and the district of Bellary, wherein, ganja is
used in tire beedis. Since these villages are far olf the main road, no real tabs can be kept on the activities
earned out here. Moreover, these villages are strongly monitored by the underworld Malta.
22 “I lelping" in this sense is known as “child work” by various social workers, and is not banned by law.
9
In Kaniyambadi, a village just outside of Vellore, the workers say their wages on
paper are Rs. 55 per 1000 beedis, but they receive only Rs. 40, or sometimes even less, in
hand. Rs. 7.50 is kept aside as part of the Provident Fund that these workers are entitled
to.
The workers are entitled to benefits such as a pension and their Provident Fund.
There are also special government hospitals set up around areas concerned with beedi
production. However, the villagers had the same thing to say about these hospitals, and
that is that the doctors in these hospitals are irregular. The medicines they are given do
not help. They also have to wait hours on end before they can meet the doctor, and none
of them has the time to waste waiting for the doctor to arrive.
There is a special provision for government holidays. On these days, the workers
need not roll beedis, but receive a wage anyway. However, this benefit is only given to
workers rolling branded beedis.
The workers are allowed to take their Provident Fund as a lump sum at any time.
However, in such an event, the worker then forfeits his/her right to a pension. Such
workers do not give up rolling beedis, as the pension they receive is a mere Rs. 200 or
Rs. 300, hardly enough to sustain them. They prefer claiming their Provident Fund as a
lump sum as continuing rolling at the mercy of the contractor.
When a worker continues to roll even after retirement age, the procedure is thus.
He is enrolled under the local contractor and his holiday wages and the amount that is put
aside as part of the Provident Fund; all goes to the contractor. Therefore, what the worker
actually receives is a wage for the beedis rolled everyday minus what is put into the
contractors’ Provident Fund. It now becomes obvious how the contractor stands to gain at
every stage!
The workers accept the contractor’s position as an inherent part of their
occupation. The contractor himself admits that his position may at some level cause a
loss to the workers. However, according to him, this is his way of earning his livelihood.
It just so happened that he had the money to clinch the contract and now the workers
would have to accept his more powerful position.
10
In fact, when asked why they work for the beedi industry, the workers of North
Arcot district unanimously replied that there was no other industry in which employment
can be found as the beedi industry is the only industry there.
“The beedi industry in India employs many lakhs of workers”, says the
interviewed beedi manufacturer, “close it down and all these workers will be left
unemployed. Moreover, they are now accustomed to their work and have developed a
skill for it. Given any other employment, they will find it hard to learn the trade, hi fact
the workers themselves will be outraged to hear any proposition of the industry being
forcibly closed down.” The older workers themselves said that they had been trained to
roll beedis from a very young age and will now find it extremely difficult to learn any
other kind of work.
II
CHAPTER 3
HEALTH CONCERNS REGARDING WORKERS IN THE
BEEDI INDUSTRY
While it is a popular notion that tuberculosis is largely prevalent among beedi
workers, the truth is that while working in tobacco dust does make the workers
susceptible to the disease, tuberculosis strikes only when the worker does not eat properly
or is an alcoholic. (This input came from the beedi workers themselves, as well as the
doctors interviewed). This is true of any form of labour involving working with dust,
including construction, rolling of incense sticks etc. In fact, of all the beedi workers
interviewed, the researcher came across only one worker who -was infected with
tuberculosis (TB).
Doctors say that die notion of TB being widely prevalent among beedi workers
originated in times much earlier, when all beedi workers used to sit together in the same
room, which was airtight so moisture would not touch the dried leaves. However,
nowadays the workers either work at home or in rooms with proper ventilation, and
spreading of TB in the above-mentioned manner, does not occur.
TB apart, the workers are however prone to asthma and various other dust related
allergies .including the skin the skin of their hands peeling off due to excessive work in
the dust. In addition, the workers develop bronchial diseases as the posture adopted for
beedi rolling exerts pressure on the lower part of the lung leading to such diseases.23
They also develop chronic back problems due to the posture in which they sit
while working and eyesight is affected due to constant gazing at the beedis they are
rolling. Fingers also lose sensation and become numb after a prolonged period of rolling
beedis.
‘' From interviews with nfl’ected beedi workers and contractors, and concerned doctors.
12
WTiile the provision of a hospital in every beedi manufacturing area is part of the
benefits afforded to the workers, all the workers say the hospitals are practically
redundant as none of the workers use these hospitals. Irregularity of the doctors as well as
callousness and carelessness on the part of the doctors are reasons for the abandoning of
these hospitals. The workers prefer using private doctors, but end up spending a lot more
money than they would have had to if the doctors in the government hospitals were
reliable.
Beedi smokers are exposed to more deadly diseases such as oral and lung cancer,
which beedi workers are not exposed to directly. But working in the beedi industry may
lead to being an addicted beedi smoker, which will then expose these workers to different
forms of cancer.
CHAPTER 4
A BRIEF NOTE ON THE RELEVANT LAWS RELATING TO
BEEDI WORKERS IN INDIA
IThel Child Labour (Prohibition Resn.} Act, 1936.
Part B (1) of the Schedule of this Act expressly prohibits the employment of
children under the age of 14 in “bidi-making”.
IThel Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions ofEmployment} Act, 1966.
The “Statement of Objects and Reasons” for the institution of the Act reads as
follows:
The working conditions prevailing in the beedi and cigar
establishments arc unsatisfactory. Though al present, the
Factories’ Act, 1948 applies to such establishments, there has
been a tendency on the part of the employers to split the
concerns, into smaller units and thus escape from provisions of
the Act. a special feature of the industry is the manufacture of
bcedis through contractors and by distributing work in private
dwelling houses where the workers take the raw materials given
by the employers or contractors. Employer - employee
relationship not being well defined, tlic application of the
Factories Act has met with difficulties. The labour is
unorganised and not able to look after its interests.
One or two State governments passed special Acts to regulate the
conditions of work of these workers but found themselves unable
to enforce the law owing to the fact that the industry is highly
mobile and tended to move on to an area where no such
restrictive laws prevailed. It became necessary therefore to have
Central Legislation on the subject
(provides) for the
14
regulation of the contract system of work, licensing of beedi and
cigar industrial premises and matters like health, hours or work,
spread over, rest periods, overtime, annual leave with pay,
distribution of raw materials, etc.
Accordingly, the Act provides for all mentioned in the Statement of Objects and
Reasons.
IThel Beedi Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1976.
This is an Act to provide, for the levy and collection by ways of cess, a duty of
excise on manufactured beedis
fThe! Beedi Workers’ Welfare Fund Act, 1976.
This is an Act to provide for the financing of measures to promote the welfare of
persons engaged in Beedi establishments.
15
CONTUSION
Although this survey was supposed to be conducted in Karnataka alone, the
researcher also collected data from the North Arcot district in Tamil Nadu to bring out
the differences in the two places. In South Kannara, agriculture and fishing are the main
occupation of the men-folk. The women normally roll beedis in order to supplement their
husbands’ income. Beedi rolling is an annual job, while agriculture and fishing are
seasonal activities. Thus beedi rolling provides for a regular income through the year.
This accounts for the better standard of living in the South Kannara region.
In the North Arcot district, the beedi industry is the only industry, which provides
employment, and all the labourers depend on this industry for their income. Therefore,
the standard of living of the people in the North Arcot district is far inferior to that of
those in the South Kannara district.
In today’s globalised society, the beedi industry remains one of the few industries
which still employs such a large number of workers. With India’s prevailing
unemployment problem, unless the workers were given alternative means of employment
in order to sustain themselves, it would indeed be a disadvantage to all those employed in
the beedi industry, if the industiy were to close down. Thus, just as there is a flip side to
every coin, the advantage of the beedi industry is that it does provide an income, however
meagre it may be, to the lakhs of people engaged in this industry.
'[KARNATAKA ACT]' No. 30 OF 1SG3.
{First published in the ’[Karnataka Gazette]' on the
■Seventh day of November, 1963.)
THE '[KARNATAKA]' PROHIBITION OF SMOKING IN SHOW
HOUSES ANO PUBLIC HALLS ACT, 1SS3.
(Received the assent of the Governor on the
Twenty-thlrd day of October, 1963.)
An Act to prohibit smoking In show houses and public halls In the
’[State of Karnataka]'.
Whereas it is expedient to prohibit smoking in show houses and public
halls in the ’[State of Karnataka]’;
Be it enacted by the ’[Karnataka]' State Legislature in the Fourteenth Year
of tne Republic of India as follows:—
1. Short title, extent and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called
the '[Karnataka]’ Prohibition of Smoking in Show Houses and Public Halls
Act, 1963.
(2)
It extends to the whole of the '(State of Karnataka]'.
(3)
It shall come into force al once.
2.
Definitions.- In this Act. unless lhe context otherwise requires,—
(a) "public hall" means a chamber or hall used ordinarily or occasionally
as a place of public assembly or meeting;
(b) "show house" means any building or any roofed and enclosed
structure, used ordinarily or occasionally for the demonstration or exhibition
io the public, whether on payment or otherwise of cinematographic films,
dramatical pantomime, musical performances, dances, physical feats of
human beings or animals, conjuring tricks or sleights of hand;
(c)
"smoke" means inhalation and exhalation of the smoke of tobacco.
3. Prohibition of smoking In shown houses and public halls.—(1) If
any demonstration, exhibition, assembly or meeting is held in a show house
1. Adapted by the Karnataka Adaptations of Lavrs Order, 1073 w.e.f. 1.11.1073.
924
The Karnataka Prohibition of Smoking in Show
[1963: KAR. ACT 30
Houses and Public Halls Act
or pubic hall, then no person shall, during the prohibited period as defined
in sub-section (2), smoke either—
(a) on the stage except in so far as smoking may be part of the
demonstration or exhibition, or
(b) in the auditorium, that is to say, in that portion of the show house or
public hall in which accommodation is provided for audience or the
spectators.
(2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), 'prohibited period1 means the
period commencing thirty minutes isefore the beginning or the demonstration,
exhibition, assembly or meeting and ending with the termination thereof.
(3) Any person who contravenes the provisions of this section and who
on being asked by a police officer to desist from smoking persists, shall be
liable to be removed from the show house or public hall by such police officer
and shall also, on conviction, be punished with fine which may extend to
fifty rupees
(4) A person removed from the show house or public hall under sub
section (3) shall not be entitled to the refund of any payment made by him
for admission to the demonstration, exhibition, assembly or meeting or to
any other compensation.
4. Management to post notices or exhibit slides.—(1) Every person
responsible for the management of a demonstration or exhibition in a show
house and every person who is in charge of the arrangements of a public
assembly or a meeting in a public hall, shall bring to the notice of the
audience or the spectators, by posting notices prominently or by exhibiting
slides, that any person who smokes during the prohibited period, either on
the stage or in the auditorium reserved for the audience or spectators, shall
be liable to be ejected summarily and also to payment of fine.
(2) Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) shall, on
conviction, be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.
5. Power to exempt.—(1) The Government may having regard to the
duration of any demonstration, exhibition, assembly or meeting, by order
direct either generally or with respect to any particular case or class of cases,
that the provisions of this Act shall not apply or that the said provisions shall
1963: KAR ACT 30]
The Karnataka Prohibition of Smoking in Show
925
Houses and Public Halls Act
net apply during such part of the prohibited period as may be specified in
the direction.
(2) Every general order under sub-section (1) shall be laid as soon as
may be after it is issued before each House of the State Legislature while it
is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised In one
session or in two or more sessions and if before the expiry of the said period,
either House of the State Legislature makes any modification in the order
or directs tnat the order shall not have effect and if the modification or
direction if agreed to by the other House, the order shall thereafter have
effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be.
6, Repeal.—The Mysore Prohibition of Smoking in Show Houses and
Public Halls Act, 1952 (Mysore Act XXIX of 1952), as in force in the Mysore
Area, and the Coorg Prohibition of Smoking (Show Houses and Public Halls)
Act, 1953 (<Coorg Act VI of 1953), as in force in the Coorg district, are hereby
repealed.
THE KARNATAKA PROHIBITION OF SMOKING IN SHOW
HOUSES AND PUBLIC HALLS (AMENDMENT ) BILL,1999
A Bill to amend the Karnataka Prohibition of Smoking in show houses and public halls Act,
1963.
Whereas it is expedite to amend the Karnataka Prohibition of smoking in show houses and
public halls Act, 1963 (Karnataka Act 30 of 1963) for the purposes hereinafter appearing;
Be it enacted by rhe Karnataka State Legislature in rhe Fiftieth year of the Republic of India
as tollows:1.Short Title and Commencement
'l i
■II)
2.
This act may be called the Karnataka Prohibition of smoking in show houses and
public halls (Amendment) Act, 1999.
They shall come into f >rce on rhe dare of publication in the official Gazette.
Amendment of the long title and preamble: -
In rhe long title ant! preamble ol the Karnataka Prohibition of smoking in show houses and
public halls Act, 1963 (Karnataka Act 30 of 191963) (hereinafter referred to as the principal
\ci) tor rhe words, "Show houses and Public I lulls" shall be substituted.
3.
Amendment of section 2:
In section 2 ot the principal Act, clause (a) shall be renumbered as clause (aiv) and before
clause (aiv) as so renumbered the following shall be inserted namely:ai, 'education Institution' means an institution defined as such in clause (14) ot section 2
rhe Karnataka I'.ducation \cr, 1983 (Karnataka Act 8 of 1998) and includes any institution
under the.management 'if I nr '.-rar, or Central Government ora Tutorial Institution;
(aii) Medical Institution means .in institution imparting medical education includes a medical
college w hether under rhe management of private institution or State Government, Private
Nursing I lome ami any lain>rai< >rv where medical investigation is undertaken and such other
institution as may be notified by Government;
'.ini' "Public Place" means and includes all medical institutions, educational institutions
and such other place .is rh< Stale Government may, by notification in rhe official Gazette
?.|i!'. for th< - purpose ot ihis act
- 4 -
4.Amendment of section 3
In section 3 of the Principal Act,- (1) in the heading, before the words "show houses
and public halls" the word "public place" shall be inserted:
(ii) Section (1) shall be renumbered as sub-section (1 A) and before sub-section (1A) as so
renumered, the following shall be inserted namely,"(1) No person shall smoke in a public place"
(iii) For sub section (3) the following shall be substituted, namely,"(3) Any person who contrivances the provisions of this section and who is found
smoking or on being asked by the police officer, hei)(j of the medical institution as the
case may be, or on being asked by the police officer as may be specified in this behalf, to
desist from smoking, persists, shall be removed immediately from such public place,
public hall and show house and shall also on conviction, be punished with a fine which
may extend to one thousand and five hundred rupees"
Dr.B.S.Ramesh
Trustee
REPORT ON THE BEEDI INDUSTRY
IN SOUTH INDIA
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS A BEEDI?
“Beedis”, also known as the “poor man’s cigarettes”, are slim, hand-rolled
unfiltered cigarettes which resemble marijuana joints. They consist of tobacco rolled
in tendu leaves, which are less permeable to air than paper, requiring the smoker to
inhale more deeply than a regular cigarette.1
WHY HAS THE BEEDI BECOME A CA USE FOR CONCERN?
According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), a beedi releases 3-5
times more tar and nicotine than a regular cigarette, despite containing less tobacco.
Beedi smoke also contains more deadly chemicals such as ammonia and carbon
monoxide than regular cigarette smoke. It is found to be loaded with cancer-causing,
chromosome-damaging, genetic poisons, far more than are found in a regular
cigarette?
In the U.S., these beedis appeal to teenagers in particular as they come
flavoured vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint and cola.1*3 These “dessert cum smokes”
are cheap and easily available (even over the Internet) to minors.
It seems as if, smoking a beedi has become the latest fad. Says one journalist “
They’re sweet. They’re cheap. They’re small and worst of all, they’re trendy.”4 These
beedis are essentially exported from India. Although beedi sales in the U.S. are
estimated at S980,000 as compared to the billions spent on cigarettes, they are gaining
1 Internet document.
' Infra., note 7.
3 Internet document.
4 Sally Squires, “The Scourge of Beedis on the Young”, <http://ash.org/august99/08-18-99-l.html>
popularity because of their low cost? In India, a beedi is as cheap as Rs. 0.15? There
is also the prevalent misconception that the beedi is a safe alternative to the cigarette.
They can even be bought in health stores, as these beedis are considered the “natural”
form of tobacco.
It is rumoured that in China, beedis are laced with opium.567 “In some provinces
of China, puffs from lighted beedis are give to infants and toddlers to stop them from
crying.”8
However, what is also a major cause for concern is the work environment in
which these beedis are produced. Research works have revealed that this product is
produced in toxic conditions and even those who have never smoked a beedi, but are
involved in the production process, are damaged by the mutagenic and carcinogenic
compounds in the air.9 The dust mutates the skin of these workers and damages their
chromosomes. They get sick and die at alarming rates just from making the beedis.10
Another cause for concern is that the beedi industry employs child labour.
A study was carried out in South India, in two major beedi-producing areas
namely South Kannara and the North Arcot district around Vellore. A large number of
beedi workers as well as their employers were consulted. This report is an account of
the said study regarding the beedi industry.
5 “All Smoke, No Fire, insists bidi manufacturer”, TIMES OF INDIA, February 17, 2000.
6 Approximately Rs. 43 is the equivalent of a dollar.
7 <http://www.drgreene.com/99051 7.html>
5 Ibid.
’ International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1992 in supra., note 7.
10 Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 1994 in_supra., note 7.
CHAPTER 1
THE PRODUCTION PROCESS11
The tendu leaves, which are the wrapper leaves, grow wild, particularly in the
forests of Gujarat, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. Once a year, normally in the month of
May, the beedi manufacturers gather for an auction of the tendu leaves. The highest
bidder gets access to the forest for that amount of time as is required to harvest the
beedi leaves. This stage is labour intensive, as all the leaves are hand-plucked.
The tobacco is mainly grown in the Raichur area..
The leaves are then piled up and wet. They are then stocked and dried and then
put into large bags and sent to the factory. The tobacco is grown and harvested
separately (usually in a different are) and also sent to the factory. Once in the factory,
the manufacturers send the leaves and the tobacco either directly to the beedi-rollers
or to the contractors through whom they operate.
These contractors, distribute the tendu leaves and the tobacco to the beedi
rollers and on completion, take the finished product back to the factory. On every
1000 beedis, these contractors earn a commission of between Rs. 1 and Rs. 3.12 On an
average, every beedi-roller rolls 1000 beedis a day, and each contractor has a
minimum of 20 workers under him.
The beedi-rolling process itself runs thus. The tendu leaf is cut in a rectangle
and held in the left hand, while the tobacco is spread evenly over it. The leaf is then
rolled into a cone. The lower end is then closed by bending the leaf inward. To
facilitate this process, the index finger is closely fitted with a sharp, metallic nail that
is heated and clamped onto it, burning the finger everytime. However, the workers say
they are “used to their fingers getting burnt”. Sometimes, a long metallic object is
used and sometimes, the workers do not use anything at all, but merely use their
fingers for this step. The uncut and tapering end is tied with a piece of thread.13
" All information in this section has been obtained from a beedi manufacturer who wishes to remain
anonymous.
12 Figures obtained from contractors interviewed.
13 Anonymous, “Comparative Study of the Beedi Industry in the Private and Co- operative Sectors”,
Ph.D. dissertation, May 1993.
The finished beedis are tied in bundles of 25. Rolling 1000 beedis takes a
minimum of 6 - 8 hours a day, sometimes even 10 - 12 hours. In villages where
beedi-rolling is the only occupation of the workers (for example in the villages of the
North Arcot district), beedi-rollers roll almost 2000 beedis a day, working an average
12 hours each day.
At the end of the day, the beedi-rollers take the finished products to the
contractor whom in turn sorts out the “good” quality beedis from the others, and
arrange the bundles in open wooden troughs and dry them.
The beedis are then arranged in large baskets, each containing approximately
150,000 such bundles,14 (see photograph) and delivers the goods to the factory, where
he is paid his commission as well as supplied with more raw material. The contractors
usually visit the factory once or twice in a week, and only rarely, more often.
The last stage of the production process is the further drying of the beedis in
large ovens, and then labelling the products.
Beedi-rolling is done both in the houses of the workers and in co-operatives.
Many workers interviewed preferred working from home as they then saved on the
cost as well as on the time spent in travelling to the work place. In the South Kannara
region, the workers were mainly women who rolled beedis in order to supplement
their husbands’ income. In such cases, workers could work at home in addition to
looking after household chores and child rearing.
No machinery is employed in the production of beedis. The industry is
therefore entirely dependent on labour, thus providing employment to scores of
labourers (employment figures are provided in the next chapter).
Figure obtained from interview with a contractor.
CHAPTER 2
EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES
As has already been mentioned, the beedi industry is labour intensive. Every
stage of the beedi production is executed with the use of manual labour. Indeed, the
industry provides employment to many lakhs of workers. In the South Kannara
region, the industry provides employment to over 10 lakh labourers. In the
Tirunalvelli region in Andhra Pradesh, 14 lakh labourers are involved in the
production of beedis.l5This industry is one of the largest employment generating
industries in the country.
While some workers merely work in this industry in order to supplement
income that is earned from other occupations, for many, the beedi industry provides
them their daily bread and butter.
One of the main causes of worry' is that the beedi industry employs child
labour. For this reason, the U.S. has banned the import of products from Indian beedi
industry(ies)y.16 We talked to beedi workers in and around Vellore, as well as in
Jelligude (hardly 8 kilometres from Mangalore). While they all admitted that their
children too were involved in beedi production, they said that the children merely
“helped” them. Most of the children go to school, or have obtained an education upto
the 8th grade.
Under such situations, the employer cannot be accused of having employed
“child labour”, as it is the parents and not the children who are on the pay rolls.
Moreover, this “helping” by the children occurs in the private sphere of the “home”,
and cannot be interfered with.
Infact, one beedi manufacturer even said “I will not risk employing child labour, as I
don’t know when I’ll have an inspector watching my factory in order to catch me for
that very reason. Besides, the fine imposed for employing child labour is Rs. 20,000 a
child. We make sure even the Taiwan is above the age of 16 I also view the situation
as one where I feed another mouth. I may stop employing these children in my
15 Figures obtained from interview with a beedi manufacturer.
factory, but that does not mean they won’t be compelled to find work elsewhere. It is
most often parental pressure which forces these children to work in order to provide
for the sustenance of their families.
However, in the more remote villages like Hoskote, child labour is freely
employed. There is, one point to be noted in this respect, which is that while the child
is on the employer’s pay roll, he/she does not receive the wages. The wages only go to
the parent [
'
The wages of beedi-rollers for branded beedis is between Rs. 40 and Rs. 55
foe every 1000 beedis rolled. Some workers are only involved in cutting the tendu
leaves. Such workers eam Rs. 10 - Rs. 15 a day, generally for having rolled 1
kilogram of tendu leaves.
Most often, the workers do not get in hand, the prescribed wages. They are
generally given enough raw material to roll 1000 beedis, but the quality of the tendu
leaves is poor, and the shortfall has to be made good by the workers themselves.
In Kaniyambadi, a village just outside the town of Vellore, the workers say
their wages on paper are Rs. 55 per 1000 beedis, but they receive only Rs. 40, or
sometimes even less, in hand. Rs. 7.50 is kept aside as part of the Provident Fund that
these workers are entitled to.
The workers are entitled to benefits such as a pension and their Provident
Fund. There are also special government hospitals set up around areas concerned with
beedi production. However, the villagers had the same thing to say about these
hospitals, and that is that the doctors in these hospitals are irregular. The medicines
they are given do not help. They also have to wait hours on end before they can meet
the doctor, and none of them has the time to waste waiting for the doctor to arrive.
There is a special provision for government holidays. On these days, the
workers need not roll beedis, but receive the wages for that day anyway.
The workers are allowed to take their Provident Fund as a lump sum at any
time. However, in such an event, the worker then forfeits his/her right to a pension.
Such workers do not give up rolling beedis, as the pension they receive is a mere Rs.
200 or 300 a month, hardly enough to sustain them. They prefer claiming their
Provident Fund as a lump sum and continuing rolling at the mercy of the contractor.
Supra., note 5.
When a worker continues to roll even after retirement age, the procedure is
thus. He is enrolled under the local contractor, and his holiday wages and the amount
that is put aside as part of the Provident Fund; all goes to the contractor. Therefore,
what the worker actually receives is a wage for the beedis rolled everyday minus what
is put into the contractor’s Provident Fund. It now becomes obvious how the
contractor stands to gain at every stage!
The workers accept the contractor’s position as an inherent part of their
occupation. The contractor himself admits that his position may at some level cause a
loss to the workers. However, according to him, this is his way of earning his
livelihood. It just so happened that he had the money to clinch the contract and now
the workers would have to accept his more powerful position.
Infact, when asked why they work for the beedi industry, the workers of North
Arcot district unanimously replied that there was no other industry in which
employment can be found as the beedi industry is the only industry there.
“The beedi industry in India employs many lakhs of workers”, says the
interviewed beedi manufacturer, “close it down and all these workers will be left
unemployed. Moreover, they are now accustomed to their work and have developed a
skill for it. Given any other employment, they will find it hard to leam the trade.
Infact, the workers themselves will be outraged to hear any proposition of the industry
being forcibly closed down.”
CHAPTER 3
HEAL TH CONCERNS REGARDING WORKERS IN THE
BEEDI INDUSTRY
While it is a popular notion that tuberculosis is largely prevalent among beedi
workers, the truth is that while working in tobacco dust does make the worker
susceptible to the disease, tuberculosis strikes only when the worker does not eat
properly or is an alcoholic. This input came from the beedi workers themselves as
well as various doctors interviewed. [
.I This is true of any form of
labour involving working with dust, including construction, rolling of incense sticks
etc. Infact, of all the beedi workers interviewed, the researcher came across only one
worker who was infected with tuberculosis.
Doctors say that the notion of TB being widely prevalent among beedi
workers originated in times much earlier, when all beedi workers used to sit together
in the same room, which was airtight so moisture did not touch the dried leaves.
Under such conditions, if one worker were infected with TB, it would spread to all the
others in the room. However, nowadays the workers either work at home or in rooms
with circulation, and spreading of TB in the above-mentioned manner does not occur.
TB apart, the workers are however prone to asthma and various other dust
related allergies including the skin of their hands peeling off due to excessive work in
the dust. In addition, the workers develop bronchial diseases as the posture adopted
for beedi rolling exerts pressure on the lower part of the lung leading to such
diseases.17
They also develop chronic back problems due to the posture in which they sit
while working and eyesight is affected due to constant gazing at the beedis they are
rolling. Fingers also lose sensation and become numb after a prolonged period of
beedi rolling.
While the provision of a hospital in every beedi manufacturing area is part of
the benefits the workers are entitled to, all the workers say the hospitals are practically
'' From interviews with affected beedi workers and doctors.
redundant as none of the workers uses these hospitals. Irregularities of the doctors as
well as callousness of the doctors are reasons for the abandonment of these hospitals.
The workers prefer using private doctors, but end up spending a lot more money that
they would have had to if the doctors in the government hospitals were reliable.
Beedi smokers are exposed to more deadly diseases such as oral and lung
cancer, which beedi makers are not exposed to directly. But working in the beedi
industry may lead to being an addicted beedi smoker, which will then expose these
workers to different forms of cancer.
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