In most of the houses ET visited in Malda’s remotest parts–from Achintala to Sujapur–women roll bidis at home. They have been doing it for years.”Yes, we get ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’; my daughters get ‘Kanyasree’ for education; but bidi-making is a form of livelihood for me,” said Mousamad Bibi, a resident of Debipur-Hajipur in Kaliachak block.She said she makes bidis apart from doing the household work. “Running around here and there for SIR documents has made us lose so much money every day,” she said. “I have come to the hearing centre and stood in the queue for hearing. All these have impacted my earnings.”
Bidis are made of Kendu leaves. The work largely comes under the unorganised sector.A bidi maker earns between Rs 150 and Rs 200 for 1,000 bidis rolled. The leaves are either procured from factories in a centralised place or from some households that collect and prepare the leaves.
Bidi-making is a well-known means of livelihood in the region. To woo voters, Trinamool Congress’ Sabina Yasmin, the sitting legislator from Mothabari who is contesting from Sujapur, was seen sitting in a village making bidis with local women as part of her campaign.
Taheba Bibi, from Jagdishpur area, runs a grocery shop at her home. “I get Rs 200 per 1,000 bidis I make. We have been doing this for years,” said Taheba Bibi, sitting next to a handmade basket with dry kendu leaves.
In Sujapur, off national highway 12, where name deletion in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had people worried, all the women who gathered to speak with ET’s reporter are also engaged in bidi-making. Sujapur recently saw a ten-hour long blockade over SIR deletions. In the alleys, women discuss the matter during adjudications.
“We had to stand in hearing queues for hours and our livelihood got affected. We also bind the bidis every day,” said a group of women in Sujapur.”The harassment has been extreme for the last few months due to SIR. But we don’t depend on ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ or ‘Yuva Sathi'(recently) but are engaged in bidi-making,” said another woman.
According to a source, generally bidi factories provide 550 gm leaves and 300 gm of tobacco products to a contractor, who then delivers the leaves and tobacco products to a bidi roller.
“We have health hazards also as we deal with tobacco for bidi rolling,” said another woman.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who heads the Trinamool Congress, had started the flagship welfare scheme ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ five years ago. The party swept to power in the state, riding on women’s votes, ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ and other women-focused social welfare schemes.
Women beneficiaries from the general category started receiving Rs 1,200 from April 1 this year-up from Rs 500–as allocated by the Trinamool government in the last budget. The amount for women of the backward communities (SC, ST & OBC) is Rs 1,200.
