Project report on

Group Members:
(Section k)

Ritvik Garg (17BSP2241)

Pragye Sharma (17BSP3471)
Shubham Singhal (17BSP2703)
Sanyyam Jain (17BSP2446)
Soma Maji (17BSP3440)
Aman Tyagi (17BSP0291)

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 Table of contents

1. Introduction……………………………………………………….2
2. Objectives…………………………………………………………..6
3. Methodology………………………………………………………6
4. Analysis……………………………………………………………….8
5. Findings…….……………………………………………………….11

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 INTRODUCTION

“Bidis” or “beedis” are slim, hand-rolled, unfiltered cigarettes. They are

also called “beeris” in countries such as Bangladesh. A bidi consists of
about 0.2 gram of sun-dried and processed tobacco flakes, rolled in a
tendu leaf and held together by a cotton thread. The tobacco rolled in
bidis is different from that used in cigarettes and is referred to as bidi
tobacco. Dark and sun-dried tobacco varieties are used in bidi
production. Bidis are available branded and unbranded. One study
found that bidis produced approximately three times the amount of
carbon monoxide and nicotine and approximately five times the amount
of tar as cigarettes. In India, a bidi costs as little as 15 paise (100 paise =
one rupee) and a bundle of 25 bidis costs three to four rupees (1 US
dollar = Indian rupees 46.15). Thus bidis are known as the “poor man’s
cigarettes”, as they are smaller and cheaper than cigarettes.

Emergence of Bidis in India

Tribal people of ancient India used to smoke tobacco in a pipe made

from leaves of trees, from whence the practice of wrapping tobacco in a
leaf probably originated. Bidi smoking was mentioned as early as 1711.
The description referred to a product the size of the little finger,
containing a small quantity of tobacco wrapped in the leaf of a tree and
sold in bundles. Bidis first appeared along the east coast of India in the
early part of the eighteenth century and were sold in bundles of 20 to
30.

There is no definite information as to when and how manufacture of

bidis started in India. According to a report of the Labor Investigation
Committee appointed by the Government of India in 1946, merchants
from Gujarat introduced manufacture of bidis in Madya Pradesh in the
first 1.1 History and Culture of Bidis in India: History and Culture of Bidis
in India: History and Culture of Bidis in India: Production, Emplo

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oduction, Employment, Marketing and ting and Regulations Regulations
Shoba John 2 Bidi Smoking and Public Health decade of the twentieth
century. The Court of Inquiry into Labor Conditions in Bidi report
published by the Government of Madras in 1947 says the oldest bidi-
making unit was established as early as 1887. This agrees with the
International Labor Organization’s estimate that the Indian bidi industry
started around 1900.

Use in India

About 19% of tobacco consumption in India is in the form of cigarettes,

while 53% is smoked as bidis. The rest is used mainly in smokeless form.
Roughly eight bidis are sold for every cigarette. The total number of bidi
smokers was estimated to be around 100 million in 1994, the majority of
whom were adult males. In 1996, the annual bidi consumption was
estimated to be around 700 billion sticks. National Sample Survey (NSS)
data from 1987 to 2000 indicate a downward trend in overall bidi
consumption, but less so in the rural areas. While the rural per capita
consumption decreased by nearly 23%, the fall in the urban
consumption was 43%.18 Bidis tend to be smoked by the lower
economic classes and those with limited funds, such as college students,
but not by the upper classes.

Production Process

Processing of bidi tobacco does not require much technology and

involves four stages: drying, flaking, storing, and blending. First the
farmer sun-dries the tobacco leaves. Agents begin to purchase dried
tobacco leaves in February and March. Tobacco processors, usually
women, tear the stalks out of the leaves, after which the tobacco is
pounded into flakes and winnowed to separate out the ribs. In factories,
machines pound the leaves. Otherwise, women manually beat the dried
leaves into flakes. The crushed leaves are sieved to obtain various sizes
of flakes. The agent stores the processed tobacco for 6-

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12 months for ageing. Before dispatching the flakes to the bidi
manufacturer, the processor blends tobacco flakes from different
cultivars and grades them in fixed proportions according to the
manufacturer’s requirements for the desired composition and flavor. A
small amount of crushed stems and ribs is added to improve
combustibility. Bidi making essentially involves six steps. The first three
are wetting, drying and cutting the tendu leaves. These are followed by
placing tobacco inside the tendu leaf, rolling the leaf and securing it with
a thread.

Tobacco
A type of tobacco is made from the nicotiana species of leaves and
drying the substance. Actually tobacco is a sweet poison, a slow
poison. This guy takes the life of a man. The government may not even
know that tobacco is to get that revenue, that is correct, but it is also
true that the amount of money spent on the treatment of tobacco-
borne diseases is less than that. The biggest thing is that consuming
tobacco also diminishes the power of life. The person is aware that the
consumption of tobacco is harmful, but after the release of lakhs, this
addiction does not leave. So gradually it reduces the power of life and in
itself gives it to destruction in a way.

Types of tobacco used in India

It is well known that tobacco is misused in the world as a cigarette . In

India it is also used in other forms. Such
as bidis , hookahs , Gul , Gudhaku , tobacco , Kimam , chewing
tobacco , gutka etc. Tobacco should be used in any form, it has a bad
effect on the body.
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There are several types of tobacco used in India: -
Smokeless tobacco

1. Tobacco Pan
2. Pan masala
3. Combination of tobacco, betel nut and lime
4. Mainpuri Tobacco
5. Mawa

Smoking tobacco

1. Beidi
2. cigarette
3. Cigar
4. Pipe
5. Hukli
6. Chilm
7. Hookah

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 OBJECTIVES
Following are the objectives of the present study.

 This survey questions in this guide assess key aspects of tobacco

use surveillance.
 Estimates on tobacco use, exposure to secondhand smoke, and
quit attempts among adult across countries and indirectly measure
in the impact of tobacco control and prevention initiatives.
 To analyse trends and pattern of beedi smokers in India.

Data Base and Methodology

Data for the study have been collected from primary as well as
secondary sources, they are as follows.
Secondary Data
The secondary data is collected from all the Government publications
and research articles published in various journals, like Economic and
Political weekly, Social Welfare, Census Data, Social Change, etc. The
information about the beedi industry in Nipani is collected from the
Tobacco Research Center and Labour Welfare office, Nipani and labour
office Belgaum, labour office Ramdurga.

Primary Data
The primary data is collected from the field survey. A systematic,
multistage, purposive, quota sampling technique is employed to collect
the data.

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In 21st century India is very famous for production of tobacco. Total
world tobacco production was 6352 thousand tons in 2002. Now a day’s
tobacco is used primarily for domestic consumption in different forms
including beedies, cheroots and hookas etc.
According to Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. India is the
second largest producer of tobacco in the world in the year 2002.
Hence, India is considered as the base for selecting the study area for
this particular research study at the first stage.
In India 19 states produces tobacco, but different states produces
different types of tobacco such as hooka, lanka, chewing, cheroot,
beedi, cigarette, cigar, oriented, kentuky and burley etc. Among all these
states in Karnataka state 46 thousand tons of beedi, cigare and chewing
tobacco is produced during 2007 and 2008. It may be noted that beedies
are produced from only one variety of tobacco i.e. beedi tobacco only.

Source : District labour office, Belgaum (2010) Labour office Nipani

(2010) CITU (2010)
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Analysis

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 Findings
1. Nearly 73.3 percentage of people started smoking
beedi and tobacco under the age of 18 year.
2. Most of the people likely to smoke beedi and tobacco
on daily basis.
3. Pataka brand of beedi is famous amongst the group of
smokers.
4. Half of the people tried to quit smoking during the past
12 months.
5. An important findings of this study is that, irrespective
of the fact that smoking is not good for their health
they wishes to continue.
6. Most of them smoke 10 or less beedi in a day.
7. More than half (53.3 percentage) of smokers take care
of price while selecting brand of beedi or tabacco.
8. Majorly people buy 1 packet of beedi or tabacco at a
time. They don’t do bulk buying.
9. More than 80 percentage of smokers have you noticed
information or T.V commercial about the dangers of
smoking bidi or chewing tambaku?
10. Nearly 50 percentage of people don’t agree
statement ‘All tobacco products are dangerous’?

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