AWARENESS OF WOMEN BEEDI WORKERS ON GOVERNMENT SCHEMES RELATED TO THE BEEDI WORKERS Dr. P. Devi *1, Dr. I. Prem Rose Thayammal 2. India. Nadu, India.

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1 ISSN: IJMRR/May 2017/ Volume 7/Issue 5/Article No-2/ Dr. I. Prem Rose Thayammal et. al., / International Journal of Management Research & Review AWARENESS OF WOMEN BEEDI WORKERS ON GOVERNMENT SCHEMES RELATED TO THE BEEDI WORKERS Dr. P. Devi *1, Dr. I. Prem Rose Thayammal 2 1 Asst. Prof, Dept. of P G Commerce, CSI Jayaraj Annapakiam College, Nallur, Tamil Nadu, India. 2 Asst. Prof & Head, Dept. of PG Commerce, CSI Jayaraj Annapakiam College, Nallur, Tamil ABSTRACT Nadu, India. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the awareness of women beedi workers on government schemes related to the beedi workers in Tirunelveli District. To achieve the purpose of the study, 600 women beedi workers in Tirunelveli district were selected as a sample by adopting the purposive sampling technique. The study adopted the relevant research designs, namely a descriptive and cross-sectional research design. A well structured and pre-tested interview schedule was used to collect the information required for the study and focused on the awareness of women beedi workers on government schemes related to the beedi workers. An appropriate statistical technique was applied for analyzing the awareness of the respondents on the government schemes related to the beedi workers. The primary data collected were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 21). The study indicated that most of the women beedi workers in the study area had expressed a moderate level of awareness on government schemes for beedi workers. The study proved that the awareness of women beedi workers on government schemes differed based on their age difference. The study suggested that the beedi workers welfare department should conduct awareness programs on various government schemes related to the beedi workers such as health schemes, social security schemes, educational schemes and recreational schemes to increase the awareness of women beedi workers. Keywords: Awareness; Government Schemes; Purposive Sampling Technique; Tirunelveli District; Women Beedi Workers. INTRODUCTION The beedi manufacturing is a traditional Agro-forest based industry in India, highly labour intensive and predominantly unorganized. The beedi industry is one of the largest employers of workers in India, after agriculture, handloom and construction. However, the estimates of the numbers of beedi workers engaged in this industry vary depending on who is making the estimates [2]. The beedi industry in Tamilnadu remains largely concentrated in the districts of Chennai, Chengalpattu, North Arcot, Tiruchirapalli and Tirunelveli and in relatively small numbers in Dharmapuri, Chidambaranar and Kanyakumari districts. In Tirunelveli district, Melapalayam areas of Tirunelveli town and Mukkudal in the rural Ambasamudram Taluk are the oldest centers of the beedi industry. At *Corresponding Author 559

2 present, there are more than 40 such trademark holding companies and around 1,100 contractors and subcontractors operating in Tirunelveli district [5]. There are varying estimates of female involvement in beedi rolling. One source estimated that women constitute 76 percent of the total employment in beedi manufacture [6]. The All India Beedi, Cigar, and Tobacco Workers Federation peg the figure at 90 percent to 95percent [8]. In some regions of India, beedi making is largely regarded as women s work, with the exception of young boys [3]. The Indian Government has provided the social security cover to most of the workers in the organized sector through the Employees Provident Fund Office and Employees State Insurance Corporation within the legal framework. However, no such social security cover has been provided to the workers in the unorganized sector who constitute 92 percent of the total workforce. The concept of Labour Welfare Fund was, therefore, evolved in order to extend a measure of social assistance to workers in the unorganized sector. Brief description of Welfare Schemes under Beedi Workers Welfare Fund are Permanent and mobile dispensary schemes, Maternity benefits scheme, Family Planning operation scheme, Scheme for paying costs of Spectacles, Heart ailment and Kidney treatment scheme, Scheme for home-based treatment of Tuberculosis, Scheme for Reservation of beds in Tuberculosis disease hospitals, Cancer treatment scheme, Leprosy treatment scheme, Mental illness treatment scheme, Educational schemes, Housing Schemes, Social Security scheme and Recreational scheme. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS The government of India has provided various welfare measures and schemes for the beedi workers like, Welfare measure for beedi workers, Health schemes, Education schemes, Housing scheme, Social security, etc. Even though the government is implementing various welfare measures, the beedi workers especially women beedi workers have not got sufficient awareness. The socioeconomic status, empowerments of the women beedi workers remain at low levels since the insufficient awareness of women beedi workers in Tirunelveli district. Keeping this point, the study intends to test the awareness of women beedi workers on various government schemes related to the beedi workers. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY To achieve the main objective of the study, the following specific objectives were framed. 1. To study the level of awareness of the respondents on the government schemes related to the beedi workers. 2. To examine the awareness of the respondents on the government schemes related to the beedi workers based on their age. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The researcher followed the descriptive and cross-sectional approach in conducting the research. To achieve the purpose of the study, the total of 600 women beedi workers in Tirunelveli district were selected for the study for collection of data by adopting the purposive sampling method. In the light of the specific objective set, all information and data Copyright 2017 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 560

3 were collected from the sample respondents through direct personal interviews employing structured interview schedule. The primary data was collected for six months from October 2012 to March An appropriate statistical technique was applied for analyzing the awareness of the respondents on the government schemes related to the beedi workers. The primary data collected were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 21). ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS The study took the effort to find out the level of awareness of women beedi workers on the government schemes. The study also attempted to find the awareness of the women beedi workers on the government schemes based on their age. The level of awareness of the respondents on government schemes related to the beedi workers is classified into three categories, namely high level, medium level and low level for analytical purpose. While the score value > ( ) and the score value < ( ) is classified as high-level awareness and low-level awareness respectively and the score values between ( ) and ( ) have been classified as medium level awareness [1]. and are the arithmetic mean and standard deviation of the score values of 600 respondents. The detail of scale to measure the level of awareness of each variable is shown separately in table 1. Table 1: Scale for Level of Awareness of Government Schemes Statistics Scale for Level of Awareness Variable Low Mean ( SD Level Moderate Level High Level Awareness of Health Schemes < to < Awareness of Social Security Scheme < to < Awareness of Educational Schemes < to < Awareness of Recreational Schemes < to < Source: Primary Data Table 1 shows the mean, standard deviation and scale to measure the level of awareness for each variable. The table reports that the values of the variable of Awareness of Health Schemes are classified into three levels of awareness as above 3.65 for high level, 3.07 to 3.65 for moderate level and below 3.07 for low level. It reports that the values of Awareness of Social Security Scheme are classified as above 4.58 for high level, 2.86 to 4.58 for moderate level and below 2.86 for low level. It reports that the values of Awareness of Educational Schemes are classified as above 4.47 for high level, 3.73 to 4.47 for moderate level and below 3.73 for low level. It reports that the values of Awareness of Recreational Schemes are classified as above 3.79 for high level, 2.55 to 3.79 for moderate level and below 2.55 for low level. The various levels of awareness of the respondents of the government schemes of each variable are given in table 2. Copyright 2017 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 561

4 Table 2: Level of Awareness of Government Schemes Variables of Awareness Level of Awareness Low Level Moderate level High Level Awareness of Health Schemes for Beedi Workers 85 (14.2%) 412 (68.7%) 103 (17.1%) Awareness of Social Security Schemes for Beedi Workers 126 (21.0%) 377 (62.8%) 97 (16.2%) Awareness of Educational Schemes for Beedi Workers 84 (14.0%) 204 (34.0%) 312 (52.0%) Awareness of Recreational Schemes for Beedi Workers 83 (13.8%) 431 (71.8%) 86 (14.4%) Source: Primary Data; Figures in brackets are percentages to total From table 2, it is clear that out of 600 women beedi workers mostly 412 (68.7%) of them were having a moderate level of awareness of health schemes for beedi workers, 103 (17.1%) of them were having a high level of awareness of health schemes for beedi workers and 85 (14.2%) of them were having a low level of awareness of health schemes for beedi workers. In other words, the women beedi workers of the study area mostly had a moderate level of awareness of the government schemes of health schemes for beedi workers. The table further shows that more than half of the women beedi workers (377, 62.8%) have expressed a moderate level of awareness on Social Security Schemes for beedi workers, 126 (21.0%) women beedi workers have expressed a low level of awareness of Social Security Schemes for beedi workers and 97 (16.2%) women beedi workers have expressed a high level of awareness on Social Security Schemes for beedi workers. In other words, the more than half of the women beedi workers in the study area had expressed a moderate level of awareness on Social Security Schemes for beedi workers. The table 2, further reveals that 312 (52.0%) women beedi workers have uttered high level of awareness on Educational Schemes for beedi workers, 204 (34.0%) women beedi workers have uttered a moderate level of awareness of Educational Schemes for beedi workers and 84 (14.0%) women beedi workers have uttered low level of awareness on Educational Schemes for beedi workers. In other words, the most of the women beedi workers in the study area had expressed the highest level of awareness on Educational Schemes for beedi workers. The above table explains that out of 600 women beedi workers, 431 (71.8%) women beedi workers reported as the moderate level of awareness on Recreational Schemes for beedi workers and 86 (14.4%) women beedi workers reported high level and 83women beedi workers (13.8%) reported low level of awareness on Recreational Schemes for beedi workers. In other words, the most of the women beedi workers in the study area had expressed the moderate level of awareness on Recreational Schemes for beedi workers. Further, an attempt was made to know the awareness of the women beedi workers in the government schemes related to the beedi workers based on their age. The age was classified as 21 and below, 21 30, 31 40, 41 50, and above 50. To analyze the awareness of the respondents in the government schemes related to the beedi workers based on their age, the following null hypothesis was proposed. Copyright 2017 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 562

5 H 0 : Awareness in the government schemes related to the beedi workers does not differ based on the age of the respondents. Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted to analyze the awareness of the respondents in the government schemes related to the beedi workers based on their age and test the proposed hypothesis. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test is reported in table 3. Table 3: Kruskal-Wallis Test: Awareness of Government Schemes Based on Age Variables Awareness of Health Schemes for Beedi Workers Awareness of Social Security Schemes for Beedi Workers Awareness of Educational Schemes for Beedi Workers Awareness of Recreational Schemes for Beedi Workers **Significant at 0.05 level Chi- Square χ 2 P value Mean ranks 20 and below 21 to to to 50 Above ** ** ** ** From the table 3, it is clear that the significance level of all the variables of awareness based on age is less than Based on the significant level, the table also confirms that, awareness of health schemes for beedi workers (χ 2 = , p= ), awareness of social security for beedi workers (χ 2 = 66.48, p= ), awareness on educational schemes for beedi workers (χ 2 = , p= ) and awareness of recreational schemes for beedi workers (χ 2 = 92.27, p= ) significantly differs by age of the respondents. Since the p-value is less than 0.05, the null hypothesis (H 0 ) is rejected at the 5% level of significance with regard to the above variables. Hence, there is a significant difference between the age of the respondents in the awareness of health schemes for beedi workers, awareness of social security for beedi workers, awareness on educational schemes for beedi workers and awareness of recreational schemes for beedi workers. In addition, the researcher attempted to analyze which age category of the women beedi workers have had the high awareness of the government schemes for beedi workers. From a theoretical point of view, age wise data shows that the women beedi workers belonging to an age between years have had the high awareness of the health schemes (MR = ), social security schemes (MR = ) and the recreational schemes (MR = ) than others. The women beedi workers belonging to an age between years are more aware of educational schemes (MR = ) than others. DISCUSSION ON FINDINGS The study reports that most of the women beedi workers in the study area had expressed a moderate level of awareness on government schemes for beedi workers. Although this finding is in agreement with Pankaj V. Dolas [4] (2010) who reported in his study that Copyright 2017 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 563

6 majority of beedi workers have referred that they own their house as they have got it under central government housing scheme for bidi workers, it disagrees with several other studies. The study proves that the awareness of women beedi workers on government schemes differed based on their age difference. This finding is in disagree with Vinod Sen [7] (2011) who reported in his study that lack of proper awareness irrespective of age difference about different welfare schemes and location of health dispensaries at far-off places appeared to be the other important factors coming in the way of women beedi workers to access the benefits. CONCLUSION The beedi workers welfare department should conduct awareness programs on various government schemes related to the beedi workers such as health schemes, social security schemes, educational schemes and recreational schemes to increase the awareness of women beedi workers. The state government has to take up the Taluk-wise action plan to increase the awareness of women beedi workers on various laws and schemes of government related to the beedi workers. If the aforesaid suggestions are carried out, the conditions of women beedi workers will further improve not only in Tirunelveli district but in the entire country. REFERENCES [1] Gupta. Statistical Methods, Sultan Chand & Sons, New Delhi, 1991; [2] Ministry of Labour. Annual Report, ( ); 109. [3] Pais P, Gerstei, Zachariah. Risk Factors for Acute Myocardial Infarction in Indians: A Case-Control Study. Lancet, 1996; 348, [4] Dolas PV. A Study of Socio-Economic Conditions among Bidi Workers in Solapur. UGC Minor Research Project, [5] Das SK. A Better Deal for Beedi Workers. Report for Ministry of Labour Department of India, 2011; [6] Sankaranarayanan D, Nair P, Padmanabhan. Risk factors for cancer of the esophagus in Kerala, India. International Journal of Cancer 1991; 4(9): [7] Sen V. The impact of social security schemes and welfare programmes on Beedi Rollers. Journal of Social Cohesion and Development 2011; 6(2): [8] While, Kelly, Huang, Charlton. Cigarette Advertising and the onset of Smoking in Children: Questionnaire Survey. British Medical Journal 1996; 3(13): Copyright 2017 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 564