Bankura, West Bengal
Shyamdaspur village is inhabited by 300 families of whom over 200 are involved in making beedi. Each of these households has at least one woman who rolls beedi, (tobacco flakes rolled in a tendu leaf), for a living. Their menfolk migrate in search of work.
Forty-five-year old Purnima Das, who lives in this village in Bankura district of West Bengal, has rolled beedis for the past several decades. Despite hours of hard labour, she earns a pittance.
“I make 500 beedis a day and get paid ninety rupees for it. Even if I want to roll more, I cannot as I am given just enough raw materials to roll 500 beedis,” said Purnima Das. Her raw materials include tendu (also known as kendu) leaves, tobacco and yarn.
Despite her meagre daily wage, she feels she is a little better off as she works for a local cooperative named Bankura Cooperative Biri Factory. “Those who work for private traders get paid up to Rs 75 per 500 beedis they roll,” she said.
The Beedi Workers Welfare Organisation has several schemes housing, health, education, etc but many beedi workers, including the registered ones, are unable to access them.
There are close to a hundred thousand beedi workers in Purulia and Bankura districts of West Bengal. These districts are rich in tendu tree (Diospyros melanoxylon) forests.
Official records of the Beedi Workers Welfare Organisation peg the number of beedi workers as 70,000 in Purulia district and 15,000 in Bankura district. This welfare organisation comes under the Directorate General Labour Welfare of the Ministry of Labour & Employment.
“These are the workers who fall into the organised sector [linked to a cooperative]. They have been issued identity cards by the Beedi Workers Welfare Organisation after they have proved their skill in rolling the beedis,” Kamal Ranjan Singharay, the officer in charge of the welfare organisation in Bankura, told Gaon Connection. Before the identity cards are issued, the workers have to give a demo of their skill at the welfare office, he added.
But these official numbers are just a tip of the iceberg. A large number of beedi workers work for private traders and are exploited for their labour and cannot benefit from any of the government welfare schemes.
The Beedi Workers Welfare Organisation has several schemes — housing, health, education, etc — but many beedi workers, including the registered ones, are unable to access them.
According to Bhim Kumar, secretary of Purulia Zilla Birikarigar Union, which is an umbrella organisation of several beedi workers’ organisations, Purulia district alone has close to 130,000 workers.
Shyamdaspur village is inhabited by 300 families each of these households has at least one woman who rolls beedi for a living.
His counterpart in Bankura district, Bhriguram Karmakar, the secretary of Bankura Zilla Birikarigar Union, said his district has about 25,000 beedi workers. Thus, Purulia and Bankura alone have more than 150,000 beedi workers of which nearly 70 per cent are women.
Schemes only on paper
In 2017, the Beedi Workers Welfare Organisation, announced a subsidised housing scheme for beedi workers. It offered them one and a half lakh rupees to be paid in four installments of Rs 37,500 each. But after the initial instalment the rest is yet to be paid to the beneficiaries.
Bina Chandra and Purnima Das complain the installments have not been coming, forcing the beedi workers to borrow money from outside.
Six years ago, Purnima Das received Rs 37,500 as the first installment to build a house. She lost no time to start construction of her new home. But things ground to a halt when the second instalment proved to be elusive. After waiting for years, in despair, she took a high-interest loan from a local microfinance company at an interest rate of 18 per cent per annum and completed her small two-room house. Her husband has no fixed income and the onus of repaying the loan rests almost entirely with her.
Bina Chandra has had a similar experience. She had saved some money for the wedding of her older daughter Sanchita but it got used up for the construction of their house.
For many other beedi workers like 60-year-old Mamata Garai, Somapti Rajak, Anjala Gatai, and Binapani Garai, they have not received even the first installment of money to build their homes and continue to live in dilapidated ramshackle makeshift homes.
A big chunk of beedi workers who fall outside the organised beedi making enterprise have no identity cards and therefore are unable to take advantage of any of the government schemes
Many families living in Birudi and Cheta villages in Purulia are employed in beedi making. Nearly 80 per cent of the workers are women. Yet, many of them like 40-year-old Bishaka Kumar and 50-year-old Tuntuni Kumar from Birudi and Cheta respectively are yet to get any help for building their homes.
Benefits suspended
The Beedi Workers Welfare Organisation also provided financial assistance to the children of beedi workers up to the university level, as well as maternity allowances to women workers.
But, these benefits are all suspended from 2019, said the labour union leaders Bhiguram Karmakar and Bhim Kumar.
The workers also have no health support. Making beedis is detrimental to their health and many of them suffer from respiratory issues, spondylitis, tuberculosis, and skin diseases.
The mobile health centers once operated by the Beedi Workers Welfare Organisation are nearly non-existent. There is a Bankura Beedi Worker Health Centre that is managed by a nurse and a group D casual staff, but workers seldom go there, said Purnima Das.
“We are not entitled to ESIC [Employees’ State Insurance Corporation] facilities, and are forced to seek health care in private hospitals of the nearest government hospital,” the beedi worker added.
Kamal Ranjan Singharay, the officer incharge of the Beedi Workers Welfare Organisation in Bankura confirmed that these schemes for beedi workers had been suspended and refused to comment any further saying these are central government schemes.
A big chunk of beedi workers who fall outside the organised beedi making enterprise have no identity cards and therefore are unable to take advantage of any of the government schemes. They are vulnerable to exploitation by touts and unscrupulous private company owners.
The Beedi Workers Welfare Organisation also provided financial assistance to the children of beedi workers up to the university level, as well as maternity allowances to women workers.
Unlike Bankura, there is no beedi co-operative in Purulia district. Middlemen seek out women in remote villages, give them the raw materials and Rs 100 per one thousand beedis they roll. For lack of work and money, many women are forced to work for this pittance.
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“Further, the government has imposed a 28 per cent GST [Goods and Services Tax] on beedis. The situation worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the closure of many factories. Added to it was the suspension of MGNREGA [Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act] projects for nearly three years,” said Bhriguram Karmakar, the labour union leader in Bankura.
On being contacted, Tuhin Subhra Majumdar, assistant labour commissioner of Bankura district, told Gaon Connection that the state government has set a minimum wage of Rs 267 per thousand beedis, and that this had been announced three years ago.
But, according to union leaders Bhighuram Karmakar and Bhim Kumar, nothing has been done to enforce this and exploitation continues unabated.
