Hand rolled cigarette units close stores in Tamil Nadu
Plenty of workers get involved in the beedi making, a low cost cigarette substitute, are on an unlimited strike against government decisions to print warning symbols on beedi packs.
Indigent and impoverished workers, mostly women, say the ban on smoking in public places has already shaken the tobacco industry and new directives would contribute to their woes.
We will pay much for this Central Government’s direction. No one will buy the beedis. It is my only profession. I will be absolutely ruined if I leave this. We as it is earn a stunted amount. So, the government should pay attention to our demands, like this, we will all die " said the workers.
Abdul Kapoor, the Secretary of the Beedi Workers Association responded the workers’ concern.
"If the pictorial warnings will be printed on the packs, the beedi sales and production will come lower. This will of course affect the employment among rural people who are employed in the beedi industry in thousands, especially in southern districts. In this, almost 90 percent of the population is rural women who are earning their lives through this," he told.
Beedi units maintain the livelihood of many people, the majority of whom live in utter poverty.
For rolling a thousand of beedis, these labourers get just rupees 20.
A woman worker, in addition to her household work, can make over 1,000 beedis daily, which contributes to the family income.
Having about two inches, each beedi is hand-rolled using the delicate leaves of the tendu plant, which grows in forests, and filled with specially grown and cured tobacco.
Moreover, the beedi industry provides job to farmers who grow the special tobacco and to people who deal with its marketing and distribution.
The beedi industry returns 145 million dollars in terms of excise revenue.
