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Women work in Madhya Pradesh's bidi industry, but men get paid

Leela Bai gets up at the crack of the dawn to embark on her arduous journey to collect tendu-patta, a leaf used in rolling bidis.

Even before the sun makes its full presence felt, she treads on foot with her three children to collect as many leaves as possible and eke out a livelihood for herself and her family.

Back by noon, the family congregates to pile up the collected leaves into groups of hundreds or fifties to deposit it with the phagmunshis in the evening.

Leela Bai is among the more than 2.4 million pluckers in Madhya Pradesh, or MP, who spend at least 15 days a year collecting the leaves. "For nearly 12 hours' work a day, we get Rs 40 (slightly less than $ 1) for each 100-leaf bundle,'' she says.

The state is the biggest producer of tendu leaves in the country provides a natural platform for the bidi industry.

''There are days when I have to be satisfied with a mere three or four bundles,'' she says. The plucking season lasts only 10-12 days a year.

But her work in the jungle is not enough to earn an entry on the books of the phagmunshis, who instead register their husbands on the pay rolls.

"I toil, but get no monetary benefits,'' say a woman plucker of Dewas district in MP. The women are often taken for a ride by the authorities who exploit their inability to read and write.

The women walk long distances to deposit the leaves and sometimes sell them to a middleman at half the price when they can't walk. "We know we are being cheated, but there is no option," says one of the women.

Shakun Bai and her daughter-in-law Chanda Bai, who have been collecting tendu leaves for the past 20 years agree: "We are doing it because there is just no other job."

The government, they says, should extend the collection to other minor products also. ''This will give us jobs throughout the year.''

Women pluckers from eight districts of the state met here recently under the auspices of the Self-Employed Women's Association, or SEWA, a non-governmental organisation, to discuss their problems.

Says Manorama Joshi, general secretary of the MP chapter of SEWA, "Training of women pluckers should form an essential ingredient for their empowerment.''

Each plucker has to take care of her family of 4-12 members with her monthly income of less than Rs 1,000 (about $ 23). They live in appalling conditions, says Joshi, adding that most of them are illiterate.

In a memorandum submitted to MP Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, the SEWA spelled out the need to make the women pluckers self-reliant and independent.

It also demanded increasing their wages to Rs 50 per 100 bundles and reservation of 50 per cent of the phagmunshis' posts for women.

The bidi industry in the state was also not in a very good shape today. This is partly due to the poor quality of leaves and the co-operatives that cheat them, says Joshi.

She says the pluckers should be given cards on which the number of bundles and amount paid could be correctly entered. The cards should also bear the names of other family members.

The other demands include an office of groups responsible for keeping the accounts in each village and annual meetings of the groups attended by all members.

The SEWA has also demanded compensation and insurance payment to those injured in accidents while collecting leaves in the jungles.

The groups, Joshi says, should be given powers to sell the leaves and the phagmunshis given travel allowance, along with commission.

It has asked the government to increase the number of security guards for women pluckers in forests.

UNI

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