Women, children rolling Indian cigarettes denied minimum wages

NEW DELHI

On the eve of World Smoking Cessation Day marked on Wednesday, experts in India stressed the government must frame strict laws to protect the interests of those engaged in making beedis, an Indian cigarette made of loose tobacco wrapped in leaves from the tendu tree.

As beedi workers usually work from homes, the beedi industry takes advantage of that and benefits at the cost of workers.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ajeet Kumar Jain, the leader of a labor union in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, said workers in the industry do not get minimum wage and provident funds.

“The workers from this sector do not have access to provident funds accounts, loans, and gratuity,” said Jain.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), there are roughly 4.5 million beedi workers in India. Of these, 90 percent are women who work from home.

A large number of children are also involved in the work, with trade unions claiming that if those engaged in collecting tendu leaves are also included then the figure will exceed 7 million.

In Madhya Pradesh, the rate of 100 Indian rupees ($1.4) per 1,000 beedis is fixed but the workers get around Rs 70 ($0.95) for making 1,000 beedis. A family can make a maximum of thousand beedis in a day.

Jain, who has been fighting for the rights of beedi workers for almost 40 years, says that earlier this industry was male-dominated but now the income is so little that only women do this work.

Folding beedis also has health risks, with workers complaining of shortness of breath, tuberculosis, asthma, poor vision, and anemia.

Making a living

Savita Raje lives with her three daughters in Jabalpur, a city in Madhya Pradesh.

She rolls beedis for a living taking help from her daughters.

The woman says she suffers from breathlessness due to prolonged exposure to tobacco.

According to the global public health organization Vital Strategies, one in every three Indian adults -- over 274 million people -- consume tobacco.

Nearly half of tobacco users consume the cheap, locally-made beedi.

Smokeless tobacco, also popular, is used by one in four adults.

Another social worker, Haroon Khan said that beedi workers are easily exploited as the majority of them are not registered and you cannot hold employers responsible.

Brijendra Pratap Singh, the labor minister of Madhya Pradesh said: "The welfare of workers comes first for the government.”

“We have various schemes under which we are registering workers so that they can get maximum benefits from the employers,” Singh told Anadolu Agency.