Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme India

24
May

Tendu patta Collection and Wages : A Background Narrative from Rajasthan

Astha is a voluntary agency established in 1986 and imparting work-oriented skills to the tribal people in the Kotra Block of Rajasthan. Due to Astha’s earlier endeavors a people’s organization, with representation from all panchayats and like-minded bodies, had evolved. This was the Adivasi Vikas Manch, and it helped in organizing the tendu patta wage struggle, and later formed a collectors cooperative.

In the first three years several groups were formed at the village level which worked on diverse concerns of the people. The tendu patta wage issue came to the fore during a routine discussion. It was found that people had worked for 15 to 16 hours a day for a wage of Rs 7/-, even though the minimum government wage for an 8 hour day was Rs 14/-. It was realized that the struggle would be against the contractors and the government: the lauch of the struggle was in 1990, in the entire Block.

It was a herculean task to organize people for a struggle. The preparations included the formation of a tendu patta struggle committee at the block level; the committee met district level officials, secretaries in related departments, and ministers; rallies and dharnas were organized. The contractors tried their level best to break the struggle but the issue reached the chief minister. After 17 days an agreement was reached that in 11 units of Kotra Block the wages would be Rs13.50 per 100 packs, (Rs 3.50 more than the government rate). Within 15 days, 25,000 tendu patta collectors received over Rs 13 lakh.

Collection Process

Tendu patta is also known as beedi patta, as it is used as a wrap for the Indian cigarette. It grows in most parts of central India including Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. In southeast Rajasthan, bordering Gujarat & Madhya Pradesh, there are 13 districts where the tendu trees are aplenty. In this zone there are 1247 collection centres spread over 226 tendu patta units, where 3,75, 000 men and women are the primary collectors. About 2,55,000 standard bags of tendu patta are produced in Rajasthan, which is only 2.2 % of the total production in the country. The collectors usually begin their work each day by about 4 a.m and return at noon; they then make the bundles, each pack containing 50 leaves, until 4 p.m. They then take these packs to the centres for sale, returning home at about 7 or 8 p.m.

People usually sell tendu leaves to private contractors or to cooperative societies. These contractors and cooperative societies contract tendu patta units, in specific geographical areas, on a tender basis, after paying due royalty to the forest department. After collection, the contractors dry the leaves for 8-10 days. At night water is sprinkled over the leaves (which are in piles) for curing. Then the wet leaves are packed and dried in sacks for four to five days. These sacks are then transported to the beedi companies where beedis are made.

Historic Struggle

13.Tendupatta treeWhen the 1990 struggle in Kotra Block was evaluated by the tendu patta sangharsh samiti it was decided to extend it to other tendu patta producing areas. The issue was first explained to voluntary organizations and later to people’s organizations in the southern part of Rajasthan. It was decided that the struggle for better wages had to be taken up simultaneously both with the state government and the private contractors. A Tendupatta Samanwaya Samiti (“tendupatta coordination group”) was formed and by 1991 the struggle was extended to Chittorgarh, Dungarpur and Banswara. At the state level the Samanwaya Samiti had discussions with the chief minister, the forest minister and administrative secretaries. The state government fixed the minimum buying rate of tendupatta at Rs 20 per 100 packs, but it was not acceptable to the Tendupatta Samanwaya Samiti and the fight went on, the Samiti asking for Rs 30 per 100 packs. After 7 days of hard bargaining the contractors negotiated for Rs. 26 per 100 packs.

Despite the contractors’ agreement the government was not ready to concede to the people’s demand for a better wage. The authorities claimed that tendu patta collection was a “side business” for the people and that it did not take much effort or time. In order to verify the contention, it was decided to study the time and labour required to collect 100 packs of leaves.

Cooperative Society & Tendupatta

In 1990, after the evaluation of the “tendu patta struggle committee” based in Kotra, it was realized that the contractors cornered millions of rupees from this business. The tribal people, who sweated for hours collecting the leaves, received only a fraction of it; it was also true that the forests belonged to them. It was decided that the money flowing out of the area should be available for the development of the area, and also used to give reasonable wages to the people of Kotra. It was this idea that led to the registration of the Adivasi Tendupatta Collectors, Kotra Ltd.

6. Making Cash Payment to CollectorsIn 1991, the Cooperative Society succeeded in taking over, through tender, two units of the Kotra area. The cooperative took its working capital of Rs 14,50,000/- as a loan from the Rajasthan Tribal Area Development Cooperative Federation (RTADCF- Rajas Sangh) at 6 % interest and earned a net profit of Rs. 6.5 lakh , after clearing the loan. That season the government’s buying rate was Rs 20/- whereas the cooperative paid Rs 26/- per 100 packs.

As a result of this success in south Rajasthan several cooperative societies have been registered since; in 1992 in Chittorgarh with the cooperation of Prayas Sansthan; and in Banswara district through a local people’s organization besides one in Udaipur. During the year the forest department reserved 6 units for all the 3 cooperative societies through the Rajas Sangh, which provided a loan at 13 per cent interest and added a clause for profit sharing at the ratio of 35:65 under an agreement. But that year all the cooperatives suffered heavy losses due to Rajas Sangh’s centralized selling policy, as written in the agreement with primary cooperatives. The loss was also due to a slump in the market, as well as the decision not being taken at the proper time. However, all the cooperative paid Rs 30/- or Rs 31/- per 100 bundles to the tribal collectors when the minimum collection rate was Rs 22/-.

In 1993, cooperatives in Banswara (Gatol), Chittorgarh (Pratapgarh) and Udaipur (Kotra) continued to function and no new cooperative were formed. The forest department set aside 7 units in the name of the Rajas Sangh for the Tribal Primary Cooperatives and financed them, some at 13 % interest and some at 15 % (2 per cent more then what Rajas Sangh had received from the government). The Kotra cooperative paid Rs 31/ per 100 bundles to collectors; the other 2 cooperatives paid the minimum rate of Rs 22/. The minimum collection rate in the state was Rs. 22.

11.Transport to GodownResults of the tendu leave cooperative societies

The formation of the tendu patta collector’s cooperatives in south Rajasthan led to several conclusions. These are that:

  1. The poor tribal and backward peoples can create an organized structure which can safeguard their interests. The entire process that has made this possible has also given these people a new confidence and they now feel empowered to fight exploitation.
  2. The tendu patta wage struggles and the functioning of the tribal peoples’ cooperatives have influenced the Rajasthan government; in the last 5 years the collectors’ wages (government rates) has gone from Rs. 7 to 25 per 100 bundles.
  3. The Government has now come to consider tendu patta as an important issue and the chief minister of Rajasthan has acknowledged the fact in his 1992 budget speech; he mentioned that the wage rate for tendu patta collectors was raised through the struggle of the primary cooperative societies.
  4. A network of organizations and people’s groups has been formed and this network is now advancing further the rights of the people on other minor forest produce.
  5. The formation of tendu patta collector’s cooperative societies has drastically cut the exploitation of the forest dwellers by private contractors.
  6. By providing more than the minimum wage rate to the collectors, the cooperative societies have been able to influence the wage rate given by private contractors. This has helped thousands of collectors.

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