2000 Beedis/day = 1 Marriage

Will you be surprised if someone tells “marriage, for over one lakh women, depends on the number of beedis they roll per day.”  Although its shocking, its true.  In the rural villages of Tirunelveli and Tuticorin Districts, more than five lakh women - young, old, school-going girls, small children - are engaged in this hazardous industry.  We all know that smoking is injurious to health.  Then imagine how dangerous it is for the women who roll beedis with tobacco, who live their life - day and night - with tobacco.  When me, along with my team, started working among palmyrah tree toddy tappers among the above said districts, we realized the fact that women, who are not able to access their lands and who are not able to continue their trade in the palmyrah palm fields due to several reasons like debts, poverty, and illiteracy are forced to work in this industry.  They are all aware that rolling beedi will cause asthma, tuberculosis and it may even affect the reproductive system; but they have no other go for their survival and livelihood.  The pity is girl children at the early age of 5, are trained in this life-killing craft of rolling beedis.  They can go to schools only in their dreams.  Our law strictly prohibited child labour, but it is only in black & white, and not in practice.  When the girls are ready for marriage, bridegroom and their parents will verify whether they can roll minimum 2000 beedis per day.  They check the book given by the beedi shop to confirm the number of beedis the girl can roll.

The tobacco smell and the frustrated smile on their face is indelible in their life. The villages witness even deaths of women, but another surprise or shock is, for more than 5-lakh beedi rolling women, there is only one hospital located in Mukkoodal, that too, has been opened after a long struggle.  We want to bring out the dark side of women, who live with smoke, to the light.  Hence, me, along with my project  coordinator, Samson, and few students, traveled to remote villages, interacted, discussed and interviewed them.  I am in the process of producing a 20-minute documentary on the life and struggle of these women with the help of Samson.  In the first phase, we made a small newsreel for viewers who can come up with their own valuable ideas:

Trees: A good news and a bad news

It is quite a contrast to witness conflicting news on a same day. One of the Tamilnadu ministers announced in a program held in Avadi that 64000 saplings will be planted throughout Tamilnadu on the eve of celebration of 64th birthday of our Chief Minister, Dr. J. Jayalalitha. This is really a happy and good news to anyone who would like to save nature and create a healthy environment. On the same day that I heard this good news, I happened to read an article in Dinamalar, Tamil daily, which describes that 1000s of palmyrah trees are cut for the use of brick industry. It is a detailed report on the destruction of palmyrah trees in Krishnagiri district. This is an appeal to our state government as well as people of Tamilnadu. The article illustrates that the palmyrah toddy tappers, who are affected due to the seasonal employment, nature of the risky job, and the occupational hazards, do not want to continue the enterprise. So they cut and sell the celestial tree just for Rs.500/-. The worst factor is that owners of brick industry even go to an extent of destroying palm forests, which belong to the government. Cutting down trees from a land, not their own is not just unethical, also illegal. It is our duty to bring it to the notice of our government so that destruction of our state tree could be prevented.

Our team member, Mr. Sundaramoorthy, along with few other volunteers visited few rural villages of Virudhunagar District, where he witnessed the cutting of lots of palmyrah trees by palmyrah toddy tappers themselves. He narrated that in villages, particularly, in Vatthiraairuppu and Maelappatti, this is happening in great numbers. Followed by his report, we personally contacted the people from that locality and interacted with them to analyze the reasons for their indifferent attitude to the palmyrah tree. It is not only a seasonal unemployment, but also the tappers had forgotten the traditional techniques in growing the multipurpose tree which has lead to their poverty.

Its an absolute fact that palmyrah trees take 10 to 15 years to grow and yield products like ice apple, palm fruit, neera etc. Hence our ancestors had the scientific practice of growing intercrops along with these trees so that they could earn sustainable income. Moreover, palmyrah trees will only need water for one year. We conveniently forgot all these facts and all techniques are gone with the wind. The Dinamalar newspaper states that palmyrah trees grown on their own near the river banks prevent soil erosion are cut mercilessly. Tamilnadu and Puduchery recently encountered with the cyclone Thane. We have lost crores worth of wealth and loss of life. While we panic over this natural calamity, we could recall and refer the 2004 Tsunami, which struck the shores of Tamilnadu when Palmyrah trees on the seashore resist the force of Tsunami and save coastal villages like Manapadu in southern Tamilnadu. Whether flood or famine, palmyrah tree always play a vital role in saving the possession of people. For eg. some decades back, when Tamilnadu was affected by great famine, people as well as animal were fed by palmyrah stump.

Now we are involved in imparting the traditional knowledge of growing intercrops like plantain trees, millets in the palm grove so that the tappers could get sustainable income which paves way for reforestation.

The declaration of United Nations insist that any country should have one-third forest, but we have only 21% forest in our country.  Even in small countries like Japan, which have industrial developments possess 60% forest.  This is the right time to act by planting and saving trees, particularly, palmyrah tree, which does not require water, fertilizer, but has abundance of utility.  It is not only a tree, but an industry, which produces oxygen.


There are lots of people who are unable to afford basic amenities like food and shelter.  It is every man and woman's dream to have their own house.  Eco-friendly and cost-effective houses can be built with palmyrah leaves, wood, which is as strong as steel rods and beams.  It is good for tropical region like India since it moderates the temperature.