Bidi Making as A Livelihood Option in Murshidabad (W.B) in Relation To Socio-Economic and Health Status

Bidi industry occupies a prominent place in rural orthodox society by providing employment opportunities to large number of poor and uneducated people. In Murshidabad Bidi is the largest home based cottage industry. In this present study the investigator tried to find out the importance of bidi industry as a source of livelihood for the poor and illiterate people in relation to certain social, economic and health condition. For collecting data, the researcher used self-made questionnaire by applying simple random sampling technique throughdescriptive field survey. The investigator found that for poor, illiterate and landless people bidi industry is the main source of earning livelihood though it caused many life threatening diseases to the people. The result showed that about 80% bidi rollers are female and about 15% are child predominantly girl child. The investigator also found that socio-economic condition of bidi workers are below the average level, lacking of potable water, proper sanitation and medical facilities. The researcher found that most of the workers were not satisfied with their work.