Besides agriculture, in most of the villages of Gauribidanur taluk, people are engaged in a variety of secondary occupations like making flower garlands, agarbathi-making and weaving dry leaves to make eco-friendly dinner plates.
People have adopted these secondary vocations as a means of livehood.
Years of practice
In D Palya, the families belonging to the Muslim and backward class communities are engaged in beedi rolling since the last several years.
Most of the people living in this village do not possess land and therefore cannot practice agriculture. Beedi rolling had become the primary occupation of the people who are economically and socially backward.
‘Work from home’
In practising this occupation people do not have to leave their home. They roll beedis side by side as they do their household work. Every member of the family from the elders to the children are engaged in this occupation.
The raw materials required for rolling beedis like the tobbacco and leaves come from different places such as Sira in Tumkur district. The raw materials are distributed among the people engaged in beedi rolling.
The beedis rolled and tied in bundles by the people are collected once a week, which are then labelled and sold by the contactor.
Nafeesa, one of the beedi rollers in the village says, “Each person on an average rolls 1,000 to 2,000 beedis a day. Even children contribute help in rolling beedis.
A bundle of 1,000 beedis fetches Rs 100 in labour. This is not enough for a livelihood. We are not literate. We do not find work. Beedi rolling is
our only source of earning a living.”
“The contactors who pack the beedis and label it make more money. We do not make much money.
In other places beedi workers have associations and can bargain for better wages. We do not have an association in our village. We are deprived of the government facilities extended to beedi workers”, she adds.