AP accounts for nearly 15% of the total production of leaves that goes on to make beedis (Indian Country Cigar). It is called as Abnus or Tunki leaves in the state. The leaves are also important to the state as they give the highest revenue among all forest produces. BL plucking generates 80 lakh person days of employment in the state that goes to mostly tribals and other weaker sections. In addition to this 500 lakh person days are generated through beedi making industries in a year. It can be said safely that more then 75% of the tribals are engaged in activities related to the leaf.

The forest areas of Khammam, Warangal, Adilabad and Nizamabad predominantly inhabited by the tribals are the major leaf producing areas.

Collection and Processing

The process of BL collection starts with pruning. Modu Narukuta as pruning is called in local language is done in the month of February so that the plants can give fresh and good quality of leaves. This is done in every village and all the members of a village participate. Normally a token amount for pruning is given by forest department to the village as a whole. The leaf is ready for plucking towards the last of April. If the growth of leaves is not good due to lack of pre-monsoon rains, the season is delayed a little bit and starts in the 2nd or 3rd week of May.

Nearly 4000 Kallams or collection centres of BL become operational (3770 in the year 1997) for collection of the leaves in the months of April to June. The Kalledar (person responsible at the collection centre) declares the date of opening of Kallam in advance in the village. Then one day before the starting of 'Kallam', the clan heads and other tribals get together in the village and go to the temple of local deity with a fowl and one pot full of toddy to offer to the deity. They sacrifice the fowl and offer the toddy to the deity and pray for a good season of BL. They also pray the deity to save them from snakebite or wild animal attack during the collection of leaves in the forest. Then they drink the toddy and eat the fowl after cooking it. They also pluck symbolically some BL from nearby bushes and distribute among the tribal families in the village.

The leaf pluckers, mostly women and children, go for collection of leaves in the early hours of the day of the season and come back to their homes with the leaves before the sun gets too hot. In afternoon the leaves are sorted and tied into bundles of 50 leaves each with a margin of 10% on either side. These bundles are brought to the nearest kallam in the evening for delivery to the kalledar appointed by the agent against cash payment at rates approved and fixed by the government. The bundles are checked at random for suitability for beedi manufacturing and the number of leaves per bundle. Only good leaf fit for making at least one Beedi is accepted. After checking, the bundles are either accepted or partially accepted by the kalledars making entries in prescribed forms showing the quantity of leaves accepted and the amount paid to individual labourer.

The leaves so purchased by the agent through kalledar are immediately handed over to the purchaser or his authorised agent obtaining his acknowledgement in the prescribed form. The leaves taken delivery of by the purchaser are cured and bagged, by loosening the bundles and exposing them to the sun, turning from one end to the other, for about seven to ten days. After proper drying, the leaves are packed in gunny bags to be sent to the place of Beedi processing.

Kalledars, an important person in the whole process are selected by the DFO/ Agent from amongst the local population sponsored by Tribal welfare, social welfare, and backward classes welfare or co-operation departments depending on the area. This helps unemployed, educated youth, tribals and other weaker sections in the villages that are appointed as Kalledars. Kalledars supervise collection, curing, bagging and transport of BL to godowns. In case of tribal areas, only tribals are being appointed as Kalledars. The security deposit normally required to be paid by 'kalledar' has been waived in 1989 in case of tribal kalledars.

The Kalledars get remuneration by way of commission from the agents/ forest department. Besides this, the Kalledar is eligible for one bundle of 100 leaves as gift from each seller on every visit. It is called as Gali Katta. It is a comparatively handsome remuneration in the area where BL is collected. So one finds that some of the educated tribal youth and students are engaging themselves as Kalledars.

Unlike GCC that collects forest produces under its monopoly from the tribals, the forest department collects BL from all populations, even in tribal areas. This encourages seasonal migration of non-tribals during the plucking operations, while the tribals do pruning almost exclusively. While tribals only pluck leaves, the non-tribals cut branches or remove the entire bush from the ground and take them to their houses and then only pluck the leaves. While the tribals carry old saris or other cloth material to bring small quantities of the leaves, the non-tribal collectors are seen carrying gunny bags to bring large quantities. In transporting the bundles to the Kallam, the non-tribals were seen using bicycles where as the tribals carry them on their heads. (Dr. Sastri et. al. 1991)

Production and pricing

The production of BL has been fluctuating year to year though it has shown an upward trend overall. So is the revenue, though its rise has been more due to rise in prices then due to increase in quantity of procurement. However if one analyses the trend of production from 1987-88, when forest department took BL operations under its direct control, it can be observed there was an increase in the initial years and then the production went down. The BL operations were later handed over to the contractors (except for wage payment to the collectors that is done by the FD) from the 1998 season.

The fig. below gives the production of BL in Standard Bags from 1987 season. One standard bag contains 1000 bundles; each bundle containing 50 leaves. The bundle size was halved from 100 to 50 leaves as it was felt that this would result in proper curing.

Figure : Production of Beedi Leaf

The figure below gives the collection rate and average sales price of BL. The average sales price has been arrived at from the gross revenue and BL collection figures for a year assuming that there has been no wastage and sales would average with production in the long run. Needless to say, the sales price would be still higher then what has been arrived, as there would definitely be some amount of reduction from production figures due to wastage.

The collection rates have increased every 2-3 years and are the highest in the country. The collection price as a % of sales price in case of BL in the state hovers around 50 - 60. Though it looks that there is scope for improvement in terms of higher wages to primary collectors, the collection wage as % of sales rate is higher (perhaps the highest in the country) in comparison to other 3 major BL producing states in the region i.e. Chhatisgarh, MP, and Orissa.

Figure : Collection Rate and Avg. Sales Price of Beedi Leaf (in Rs./SB)

Within the state there are two tiers of prices as per quality of leaves. Higher rates are given in Bhadrachalam area due to larger size and good texture of the leaves available in the area. The weight of the standard bag varies from 71 KG in Nizamabad, Warangal and Hyedrabad circles to 110 KGs in Bhadrachalam. Similarly the BL tree owners get higher price then the wage rates for which they have to register themselves with the FD.

Important trade aspects

BL collection has been under the control of the state since 1956. There are in all 366 beedi leaf units spread over all the 10 districts comprising of 22 divisions of Telangana in 5 territorial circles. The process after the collection from the pluckers has undergone change thrice after nationalisation. While BL contractors played a prominent role prior to 1986 and are doing so since 1997, in between the forest department had taken complete control of the BL operation.

Until 1980, nationalisation and the above procedure moved on without much of a problem, when the Naxalite issue took shape. The Naxalites started harassing the agents involved in the BL operations by demanding more prices then that fixed by the government and would not allow working if their demand was not met. The Naxalites also took this as an issue as it involved a huge tribal population and got support of the people. Some factions also took money from the agents before letting them work. This resulted in lower tender prices offered by the agents in the affected area. In 1986 season, the FD could not sell some units for this reason and consequently decided to work these units departmentally. In the next year it decided to go for departmental operation through out the state. The main objectives of such a step were to -

• Contain extremist activity and prevent unsocial elements from taking undue advantage from BL purchaser
• Provide employment to unemployed educated youth, particularly tribals, who are otherwise attracted by extremists
• Motivate villagers and tribals to take up BL collection, curing and bagging by fixing attractive wage rates
• Ensure prompt payment of fair wages to the labours engaged in BL operations
• Remove the middlemen i.e. the purchasers and their agents and to collect the leaves through kalledars selected from amongst the local people, paying reasonable remuneration

All BL operations were carried out departmentally in this period and the purchasers were delivered cured, processed and bagged leaves at the godowns. APFDC was made the agent for the purpose of collection and processing under this system as it only could borrow money from the commercial banks to carry out the work. But in absence of its field staff, the forest department used to carry out the field operations. APFDC financed the scheme with Margin Money provided by the government and at the end of the financial year remitted to the government, all the net revenue after repayment of Bank Loans with interest and meeting the relevant components of expenditure as per the scheme. Thus from the year 1988-89, the government accounts showed only the net revenue realised by the department against the normal gross revenue figures shown till 1987-88.
A separate State Trading Circle was created under the charge of a Chief Conservator of Forests at Hyderabad. A number of posts were created both at the headquarters and the district/ division levels to organise, control and work under the scheme of state trading in tendu leaves.

Despite the above arrangements, many untoward incidents took place during the course of departmental collection. The Naxalites physically prevented the villagers from plucking the leaves. They also assaulted the forest department staff and burnt leaf bags and vehicles carrying them. The collection amount took a dip in the later years of departmental collection. Departmental collection continued upto 1997 season. Since 1998 the policy was again revised for collection of BL in Telangana region where in at present the green leaf is collected and handed over to the purchasers. All operations like pruning, collection, curing, bagging, transportation to godowns and its subsequent weighment are done by purchaser as per the tender conditions. In 1998, in order to ensure smooth operation in view of the reason for which the department took up the work, a co-ordination committee headed by the district collector with CF, DFOs and the Superintendent of Police as its member was formed.

However after this change, there are still some units that are left unsold due to apprehension of interference by the Naxalites. This has another aspect - the price offered by the purchasers is also lower in the area where interference of the Naxals is high.

The government extends insurance protection to the primary collectors and staff engaged in beedi leaf collection. Whereas the staff are insured for Rs. 1 lakh each, in the event of death of insured collectors, the nominee would be paid Rs. 3000/- in case of natural death and Rs. 6000/- in case of accidental death.

The Government has taken a decision to share 50% of the net income obtained from Beedi-leaf collection with the VSS for village and Forest Department. Out of total VSS of 2,840 in Telangana area, 1504 VSSs are involved in collection of beedi-leaf. Out of a total beedi leaf of 6.39 lakhs of Standard Bags collected, the VSS collected 3.45 lakhs of beedi-leaf that constituted 54% of beedi-leaf collected. As per the provision the VSS Members are likely to be benefited approximately by 6 Crores.

Government have allotted 114 unsold beedi-leaf units to the VSS and the net profits obtained from the collection by the VSS will go for the development of villages and adjoining forests.

The government has benefited immensely from the state trading in beedi leaf, particularly under the departmental collection. Between 1987 to 1991, the department earned a net revenue of Rs. 223.73 per standard bag of leaves. Beedi leaf became the mainstay of the forest department with about half of its revenue coming from it. Though the wage rate in the state has been higher then the neighbouring states, the rate of increase of the collection rates has been slower then the sale rate. But the wage rate in the process of handling, curing and bagging has been very low and the payment is not made promptly. With nationalisation and department functioning, it has been observed that proportion of expenses on account of wages to the gross revenue has been decreasing. In 2 years from 1987-88 to 1989-90, the ratio declined from 76.2% to 34.3 to again rebound to the levels of 50 - 60%. Thus the state government has benefited more then the labourers by nationalising the trade.