Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, September 11
There are many burning issues for the coming assembly elections in Bihar, but an unwarranted smokeless Beedi has now overshadowed others making it NDA vs INDIA.
Beedi row started from far south Kerala when a state Congress leader linked Bihar to Beedi after union finance minister, Nirmala Seetharaman announced GST on Beedi was slashed to 5 per cent from 40. While INDIA complained it was a favour to poll bound Bihar where Beedi is popular in the rural areas.
Beedi is a cottage industry in Bihar and neighbouring West Bengal and there are thousands of families who are engaged in its manufacture and for many families even in downtown Patna it is a family tradition. In Munger, Jamui and Nalanda districts, over two lakh families manufacture beedis of different brands. The Beedi labourers are paid between Rs 280 to Rs 400 per day as wages, but are prone to lungs diseases.
Gujarat tops the list of states where Beedi consumption is highest. Bihar stands fifth while states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra are among the high consumers list. In Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, western parts of UP and Jharkhand, another domestic tobacco Khaini is consumed.
In Bihar, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, neighbouring UP’s Mirzapur, tobacco cultivation as cash crop is popular. Leading tobacco manufacturing companies purchase tobacco leaves through their agents in the villages. Beedi and Khainj are labour intensive industries and attract labour at cheaper rates.
In states like Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, tendu pattas are used as raw material for Beedi manufacturing. In the Naxalites infested Bastar, Surguja, Raigarh in Chhattisgarh, Mandla and Dhar in MP, tendu pattas collection is a family tradition among the tribals.
The two states have made state forest development corporations as nodal agencies to collect, trade and market tendu leaves. The pluckers are paid handsome incentives in the form of annual bonus. Tendu patta was a great bone of contention between the government agencies and Naxalites who controlled its business and exploited both pluckers and traders.
Many top Congress and BJP leaders flourished in Chhattisgarh because of their control on the Beedi industry. Leaders and forest officers from Bastar have confirmed the GST decision will help control the economy of Maoists.
The Union Home Minister, Amit Shah who holds the co-operative portfolio will strengthen tendu patta and Beedi manufacturing and trade in the Maoists areas through co-op societies to promote Beedi industries and dismantle the economic powers of Left wingers by March 31 next year.
They claimed the GST cut decision was aimed at Chhattisgarh’s Bastar and Bihar was not in their mind.
