The Hindu : National : Roll out better life for them, says study

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 02, 2005

National

National

Roll out better life for them, says study

Aarti Dhar

``Women bidi workers have no access to schemes''

72% bidi workers in Murshidabad are women
Workers not aware of legal rights
Access to healthcare minimum

Wages fixed on piece-rate basis

— Photo: Reuters

MAINSTAY: A woman worker rolling bidis near Kolkata in this file photo. Women bidi workers in West Bengal earn around Rs. 25 a day.

NEW DELHI: As the world observes Labour Day, the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)-Bharat has drawn the attention of the Government towards the plight of bidi-rollers in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

It has sought registration of bidi-rollers, particularly women, as lack of identity cards prevented its members from having access to Government-funded schemes, a survey conducted by it on bidi-rollers of Murshidabad suggests.

Self-help groups

The study titled `Hands That Roll Bidi' is a socio-economic survey of bidi-rollers from Murshidabad where 72 per cent of the workers in the industry are women.

It also recommends that the district administration should also look for alternative jobs for them to improve their quality of life. The findings have been submitted to the Murshidabad District Magistrate.

It has pointed out that the workers were not aware of their legal rights and the Bidi Workers' Welfare Schemes and there was an urgent need to create awareness among them.

The survey has recommended promoting Self-help Groups (SHGs), cooperatives and even association of bidi-rollers to help them to gain access to financial credit and insurance.

Major share in income

The SHGs can be linked with Government training institutions for upgrading skill of various economic activities, the study points out.

"Bidi seems to be the major source of income of the surveyed households. It was found that the percentage of working women in total population of the surveyed households exceeds men and a majority of them are in the bidi industry while the remaining in agriculture.'' The study that also says that on an average, bidi-rollers contribute 55.41 per cent of the total income of the families studied. While the average size of the family was 6.87, average number of working members were 3.7 and average members working in bidi industry stood at 2.6.

The proportion of women in bidi rolling industry was 72.4 per cent as it was their primary occupation. As rolling could be done at their houses a woman could end up preparing 610 bidis a day. But the rate of minimum wages was fixed on a piece-rate basis — the traditional measure being 1,000 bidis. Though the State wage rate was Rs. 39 a 1,000 bidis, the rollers were actually paid Rs. 35.30 as contractors rejected bidis for lack of quality and specifications.

The report also says that the bidi rollers often suffered from posture-related problems and complained of pulmonary diseases due to inhaling of nicotine.

Their access to health facilities is minimum and there is a dearth of basic infrastructure in the clusters of Shamshergunj and Raghunathgunj blocks where the survey was conducted.

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