Bidi Workers Want Alternative Employment

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 10/08/2012

Bidi workers in Bangladesh want the government to find them alternative employment if its policy of raising taxes on bidis to discourage smoking is successful, according to a story in the Dhaka Daily Star. Speaking during a discussion in Dhaka at the end of last week, one worker said that many people had no choice but to work in bidi factories because their communities offered no other forms of employment. The discussion, under the title, Bidi workers and government policy, was organised by the Research and Development Collective (RDC) and held at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city. Delivering the keynote paper, an RDC researcher, Nilufar Banu, said her organization was not in favor of smoking or tobacco use. "We also want smoking to be discouraged," she said. "But we do not want these workers to become unemployed and cigarette factory owners to find more profit from the government's policy to discourage smoking." Enditem