Workers suffer producing India’s bidi cigarettes

The National
  • Muhammad Zaid, 50, looks on as he collects the bundles of bidis which he rolled, at his home in Kannauj.
    Muhammad Zaid, 50, looks on as he collects the bundles of bidis which he rolled, at his home in Kannauj.
  • Women sit with a basket filled with tobacco flakes and cotton thread, materials used to roll bidis.
    Women sit with a basket filled with tobacco flakes and cotton thread, materials used to roll bidis.
  • Labourers work at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj.
    Labourers work at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj.
  • Twelve year old Indian villager Tarannum Alvi sits with materials as she tries to roll bidi's in Kannauj.
    Twelve year old Indian villager Tarannum Alvi sits with materials as she tries to roll bidi's in Kannauj.
  • Marjina Bano,18, sits with a basket filled with tobacco flakes and cotton thread, rolling bidis.
    Marjina Bano,18, sits with a basket filled with tobacco flakes and cotton thread, rolling bidis.
  • Managing Director of The New Sarkar Bidi Factory, Quazi Naseem Ahmed, works in his office.
    Managing Director of The New Sarkar Bidi Factory, Quazi Naseem Ahmed, works in his office.
  • A factory worker puts a tray containing bundles of bidis, in a hot brick oven, to dry at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj.
    A factory worker puts a tray containing bundles of bidis, in a hot brick oven, to dry at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj.
  • Labourers gather and arrange bidis into bundles for packaging at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj.
    Labourers gather and arrange bidis into bundles for packaging at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj.
  • An Indian labourer sits and smokes bidis during a break at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory.
    An Indian labourer sits and smokes bidis during a break at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory.
  • A young labourer packs bidis into colourful conical packets and boxes at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj, some 200kms south-east of New Delhi.
    A young labourer packs bidis into colourful conical packets and boxes at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj, some 200kms south-east of New Delhi.
  • A female labourer shows a bundle of bidis which she rolled.
    A female labourer shows a bundle of bidis which she rolled.
  • A young labourer looks on as he sits in near darkness packing bidis into colourful conical packets and boxes at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj.
    A young labourer looks on as he sits in near darkness packing bidis into colourful conical packets and boxes at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj.
  • Workers smoke during a break at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj.
    Workers smoke during a break at The New Sarkar Bidi Factory in Kannauj.