The Hindu : Can parties ignore beedi workers?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 29, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Can parties ignore beedi workers?

By Raviprasad Kamila

MANGALORE, MARCH 28. Major political parties in Dakshina Kannada have not taken up the problems involved in the beedi industry as an election issue prominently.

But the representatives of many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who are closely associated with various social activities in villages say that many women workers in the industry feel the parties should address the issue.

According to an estimate, over eight lakh people are engaged in the industry in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. Half of them are in Dakshina Kannada, and a majority of them are women. Owing to various factors, the industry in the district is not doing well. As a result, women find it difficult to get work six days a week.

The beedi workers and their unions say the women get work (beedi rolling) only for two days a week. This has dealt a severe blow on the economic power of these lower-middle women. These women have been employed in the industry for over three decades.

They have not expected that one day, they may have to change profession and the industry, which had provided them economic stability to some extent, will collapse.

The representatives of NGOs say that many women in villages still preferred to get supplementary work associated with the beedi industry.

They find it difficult to understand the threat faced by the industry and the impact of globalisation. They say that political parties should do something so that they will get work for six days a week. They hesitate to take up alternative jobs owing to lack of confidence, skill and guidance. The NGO representatives say that some women are ready to take up alternative work. Only a couple of NGOs in the district have come to the rescue of such women by showing them alternative employment and arranging financial assistance through banks. Such women are mainly engaged in the preparation of condiments, tailoring, dairying, mini business activities and floriculture.

But so far, these women have not found out an alternative profession which can employ them en masse. No political party has come out with an alternative employment offer for them.

The NGOs also feel that an alternative to the beedi industry will become inevitable. This is because many factors indicate that the industry is unlikely to recover. The Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while addressing a conference of tobacco growers last year, said the Centre was unlikely to promote tobacco cultivation. He had asked the growers to shift to alternative crops. Moreover, India has shown interest in signing a treaty before the World Health Organisation (WHO) banning the cultivation of tobacco. The growing health awareness among people may severely affect the growth of tobacco industry, they say.

The Karnataka High Court, in its judgment on June 3, 2003, upheld a State Government notification issued in 1996 fixing minimum wages and dearness allowance for beedi workers. The owners of beedi industries have appealed to the Supreme Court against the High Court order and the matter is pending before the apex court.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have not come out with a feasible alternative employment scheme for such women. The two parties cannot brush aside the issue if they want to lure votes from the women workers.

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