Temp heading: Deplorable life of tobacco women.

ABSTRACT:

Beedi rolling is one of the major informal sector activities in India. The
government of India estimates that there are about 4.4 million workers in
this industry. The work of beedi rolling is preferred by the women of
weaker economic class because it can be carried from home along with
domestic chores. 58 % of people earn less than Rs. 3000 Rs per month
which is not adequate to maintain their family. Majority people stated that
their health problems were due to their occupation.
They continue to struggle for survival despite low wages, steady
exploitation by the contractors, lack of education and medical facilities and
neglect in government policies.
The conditions of the workers in the beedi industry all over the country are
deplorable and this paper attempts a quantitative analysis of the economic
conditions of beedi workers in Tamilnadu. It considers various aspects like
load of work, wage and non-wage benefits, savings and indebtedness and
the occupational hazards of beedi workers. This paper mainly aims at
gaining insight into the socio economic condition of female beedi
workers.

INTRODUCTION:

Beedi is a leaf-rolled cigarette made of coarse, uncured tobacco, tied with

a string at one end. Beedis (bidis or biris) dominate the smoking market of
India for every cigarette ten beedis are smoked.
The beedi industry in India employs over three million workers, mostly
consisting of females and children. The industry has been classified as
unorganized, falling under the small scale and cottage industries sector.
The beedi industry occupies an import place, in terms of its capacity to
after potential employment opportunities to large number of people in
Tamilnadu. Trichy, Vellore and Tirunelveli districts are the major regions
of beedi production in Tamilnadu. employs
over three million workers mostly consisting of female and children.
The increasing number of women in the small business has been a global
phenomenon in developed and developing world. Most of the women
work at home based unorganized sectors and become invisible and are
extremely vulnerable to exploitation. Beedi is an indigenous cigarette in
which tobacco is rolled in a tender leaf and tied with a cotton thread. This
is smaller and less expensive than a cigarette for a working class. Women
and the girls from schedule castes and schedule tribes and other backward
castes mostly make this sitting at home. This is much gendered industry
for only women and girls that too from low income groups make beedis.
Beedi rolling is an extremely labor intensive, back breaking and strenuous
occupation but women and children continue to do it in the absence of
other source of livelihood. Many of these workers suffer from various
health hazards not because they smoke beedis but due to they make
beedies. Chronic exposure to tobacco dust causes nasal inhalation and
cutaneous absorption of tobacco alkaloids, especially nicotine. This study
aims to focus on these ignored masses and bring to light the multitude of
problems that Veedu workers have to go through every day of their lives

Characteristics of the Bidi Industry:-

The four main steps involved in the production of a beedi are

(i) rewinding the thread
(ii) cutting the beedi leaves
(iii) rolling the beedi, and
(iv) folding the beedi head.
Since the first step involves no expertise or training even children of very
tender age6 or the old can be involved. All that is required to be done is the
re-rolling of the thread from a small bundle onto an object, usually, an
empty match box or a pulley type object. It takes about 30 minutes to an
hour to rewind a bundle of thread. Cutting the beedi leaves, which is the
next step, requires some skill because the maximum number of pieces cut
from the leaf depends on the skill of the worker. Rolling the beedi leaf
with tobacco is the main job in the process-tobacco is to be rolled in the
leaf and tied with the thread; the pinch of tobacco must be accurate. The
folding of the beedi head, which is the final step, can be done by assistants
also; the complete beedis are then bundled and sent to the
employer/contractor.

1. There are about 300 manufacturers of major bidi brands and thousands
of small scale contractors and manufacturers involved in bulk production
in India.
2. The industry employs approximately 4.4 million full time workers and
an additional 4 million in bidi industry-related jobs. Most of them are
largely poor and illiterate.
3. The lack of organized production in the bidi industry creates difficulty
in regulating the working conditions of workers and in implementing
welfare laws.
4. In 1999, the Indian bidi industry generated 165 million in excise and
200 million in foreign exchange revenue for the Indian government

The women engaged in beedi rolling suffer from health hazards

Aches and pains due to the nature of work

Cough which is related to the exposure of Tender leaves
Giddiness which also include breathlessness
Stomach related problems such as stomach pains, cramps, gas and
spasmodic pains leading to diarrhea
Others which include piles, burning sensation in the urinary track, joint
pains and swelling and wheezing.
Special health problems which affect women are menstrual disorders,
problems in uterus and miscarriages.
Due to long hours of work with out adequate rest these problems get
aggravated
The monotonous work causes dullness of the mind.

NEED FOR THE STUDY

The People who are engaged in Beedi work are facing serious problems
including poverty, health hazard, family problems, poor housing facilities,
insufficient nutritious food, unhygienic the environment, illiteracy,
physical stress and debts etc. The researcher is keen to learn about the
conditions of Beedi workers.

PROBLEMS OF WORKERS:

Inactive position throughout, unhygienic working conditions and the

constant breathing of Tobacco, are just a few health hazards; there is also a
high occurrence of other diseases such as T.B, Mycosis, Cancer, Skin
problem, Eye problems etc. While some of these ailments are also caused
by the general conditions of the poor, occupational health hazards in beedi
making cannot be denied.
Most of the women beedi workers are houseless.
Some of the women beedi workers who have the house but it is not in
good condition
have required financial assistance to repair their existing houses.
Inadequate arrangement for childrens education.
They are paid less than what is their due.
The rate of rejection is high, viz. 150 to 200 beedi per 1000 and not only
is they not paid
the labour for the rejected beedi but money for the raw material is
deducted too. And secondly, if there is even one beedi less or defective in a
pack of 25 the entire pack is rejected.
80% of the women of this industry are uneducated and know nothing
apart from beedi making.
Women work during advanced stage of pregnancy also which affects the
unborn child and birth of unhealthy child. There is hardly any facility of
maternity leave though law does provide for it.
There is no awareness or education on family planning as a result of
which they have large families and so, heavy burden of bringing them up.
They tolerate all sorts of violence in the hands of attainders because if
they argue, they may lose their works.
 The findings of the study will be useful to NGOs working for the
development of the unorganized sector.

OBJECTIVES:-

1. Find out the present socio-economic status of women beedi-workers.

2. Analyze patterns types of tobacco related occupational health hazards
faced by the beedi-workers.
3. Examine the relationship in between length of work, work load and
severity of tobacco related occupational health hazards faced by the
workers.
4. To study the housing conditions of the Workers.
5. To study the family problems of the Workers.
6. To study the community life of the Workers.
7. To study the interests and future plans of the Workers.
8. To know the mental problems of the workers
9. To suggest suitable measures to improve the condition of the workers.
10. To study whether any alternate work can be given to bidi workers.

RIGHTS OF BEEDI AND CIGAR WORKERS

A few state governments have indeed made efforts to ensure social justice
to the workers by enacting special laws for regulating the conditions or
work of these laborers, but these laws are ineffective because of the highly
mobile nature of the industry producers who move from the area where
any such law is in force to places where no such law exists. The ability of
these two sets of law in ensuring the welfare of the workers has thus been
far from satisfactory. To fill the void, union government felt it necessary to
formulate a central legislation that would deal exclusively with the
worker's welfare and by uprooting exploitation found to be exiting in the
society. In order to achieve this objective following laws came into
existence-
The Beedi and Cigar Workers(Conditions of Employment) Act 1966
The Beedi Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1976
The Beedi Workers Welfare Fund Act 1976
Amongst the other laws having a bearing on beedi workers are, the
Minimum Wages Act, 1948, and Industrial Employment (Standing Orders)
Act 1946, and the Maternity benefits Act, 1961.
The salient features of the Acts are:
Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966. It
provides for coverage regarding daily hours of work, weekly rest, leave
with wages, maternity leave, benefits and welfare amenities such as
drinking water, toilet facilities, canteen, etc. Although the term worker
includes home workers as well, in practice these provisions apply only to
the factory/ common shed workers.
The Beedi Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1976 aims to collect taxes by way of
cess or by imposing excise duty on manufactured beedi.
The Beedi Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1976 was passed with the objective
to promote financial assistance to the workers. The beedi Workers Welfare
Fund Rules, 1978 specify that the owner of an establishment or a factory
or contractor should maintain a register of works and provide statistics and
other information as required by the government from time to time. The
main significance of the welfare measures is in the health sector as the
beedi workers as a category of workers is involved in health hazardous
occupations.