Saving India's tobacco girls

From the time she wakes up till she goes to bed Aliya watches her mother and all girls and women in her neighbourhood consumed in a frantic race. They all make beedis –the traditional hand-rolled Indian cigarettes.

For each beedi, the roller painstakingly places tobacco inside a dried leaf sourced from a local ebony tree; tightly rolls and secures it with a thread; and then closes the tips using a sharp knife. For anything between 10 and 14 hours, regardless of how long it takes, Aliya’s mother and others must all roll at least a 1,000 beedis to earn a paltry sum of less than US$2 (Bt63) paid by the middleman. The beedi manufacturers, however, make billions of dollars.

The cigarettes are taken to warehouses of large manufacturers, packaged and sold in the market for a much higher price. The beedis make for nearly half of India’s entire tobacco market. But behind the country’s unorganised domestic tobacco sector lie invisible millions who are trapped in economic slavery.

In Aliya’s town of Kadiri in Andhra Pradesh alone, hundreds of families have for generations relied on beedi rolling as their only means of survival. The labyrinthine, congested lanes of Kadiri slums are home to an assembly line of humans functioning like robots. Young girls and women alike can be seen rolling cigarettes in groups out in the open. Some sway, some rock back and forth appearing entranced, while others have developed odd muscular motions as they push their work speed to the edge of human limits.

For most, if they do not roll enough beedis each day there will not be food on the plate. “The pressure to keep up with the speed and meet the target is so intense that many skip their meals and even avoid drinking water so they do not need to go to the toilet,” says Shanu, a community volunteer.

Almost all beedi workers in Kadiri, like the other beedi manufacturing pockets in India, are female and a large of number of them young girls. The home-based process is preferred by men over sending women and girls outside for work. Aliya has already started her lessons and is practising rolling beedis using cuttings of plain paper.

“I want to roll beedis and give money to my mother,” she says.

A study released three years ago estimated that more than 1.7 million children worked in India’s beedi rolling industry.

“Formally, it is the women who take on the orders from the contractors. However, behind the scenes given the pressures these women face in terms of huge volumes, invariably children, mainly girls, get pulled in to support their families in beedi rolling,” says Anita Kumar of Plan India.

As part of its global campaign “Because I am Girl”, the child rights organisation has started a programme focused on girl child labour in Andhra Pradesh, including girls involved in beedi making. The project aims to release 1,500 girls from labour over three years.

But children trapped in beedi work will need a rescue effort on a much larger scale. “We are aiming to create a model by working with communities and the local government structures ensuring that children are prevented from falling into this cycle of labour,” says Kumar.

From unhealthy living conditions to exploitative wages, slave-like working conditions and severe health consequences, the situation of beedi workers involves violation of their fundamental rights and freedoms on many levels. 

Youngest among four siblings, 11-year-old Salma dropped out of school last year. “I wanted to continue going to school but we are very poor and must find a way to pay the rent,” she says as she struggles to draw breath.

Salma is suffering from jaundice and is so frail she can barely sit straight. Yet, she is tasked with rolling up to 1,500 beedis a day to support her family. Squatting on the floor and hunched up, she rolls cigarettes for over 12 hours every day for just over $2. She is in dire need of medical attention but visiting a local hospital would cost a day off work and a day’s wage in transport. Her parents cannot afford either.

The health impact on beedi workers is visible in all age groups. Tuberculosis, asthma, body pain and postural problems related with hips and joints are most common. 

In summer as the temperatures reach 45 degrees Celsius, streets in Kadiri are engulfed in a stifling cloud of tobacco dust. Infants play among heaps of tobacco leaves. Covered in a pool of sweat, young girls roll beedis with their eyes transfixed on the tobacco tray. Older women who cannot roll any more help with trimming the ebony leaves. The work continues till late in the night just to secure the next day’s meal and to keep a roof above their heads.

Next morning, and for most every single morning for rest of their lives, it is exactly the same story. The breathless race to 1,000 starts at one all over again.

 

Davinder Kumar is a journalist and press officer for child rights organisation Plan International.