File:A girl making beedis.jpg

English: This sketch is of an adolescent girl from a town in Rajasthan (India.) She rolls 500 bidis a day earning about 25 rupees. Beedis, to smoke tobacco, were possibly invented in the 17th century in southern Gujarat, a region where tobacco was initially cultivated. Laborers rolled tobacco leftover in broad leaves of certain trees. Compared to hookah (and later, Chillum), beedis provided easier and portable means for individuals to smoke tobacco that was also beyond the confines of castes. In the early part of the 20th century, the bidi industry expanded, benefiting from the popular rejection of ‘foreign’ cigarettes as part of the Swadeshi Movement. By the mid-20th century, factory-based production of bidis declined, and it became a cottage industry.

Bidis are primarily rolled by women and children in their households wherein they roll tobacco in cut tendu leaf and then tie it with a thread. The leaf is tucked in at the end using a sharp knife. Men are involved in other aspects of bidi production including being contractors. Children are preferred by contractors given their nimble fingers for rolling bidis. Bidi rolling has occupational hazards including body pain, postural health conditions and high incidence of lung diseases including bronchial asthma and tuberculosis due to inhalation of fine tobacco dust. Wages remain typically low, often below the minimum wages specified by governments and exploitation of workers by middlemen or contractors is also widely documented. Effective tobacco control requires provision of safer and viable alternatives to tobacco-based livelihoods.

This sketch is based on a photograph (CC License) by Jeffrey Leventhal/ILO.