STUDY OF ECONOMICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH STATUS AMONG THE FEMALE BIDI WORKERS IN VILLAGE AREA OF ANGUL DISTRICT OF ODISHA
*H. Pradhan
ABSTRACT
Residential environment can influence our health in many ways.
Health can be adversely affected by poor water quality, bad sanitation
condition, types of houses, housing using fuels and nature of works
done by the dwellers for earning the bread. Housing environment can
influence our health in many ways. Health can be adversely affected by
poor water quality, bad sanitation condition, nature of houses, housing
using fuels and nature of works done by the dwellers for earning the
bread. bidi is also called poor man’s cigarette, made up of coarse
uncured tobacco, tied with a string at one end. The bidi rolling is mainly a labour-intensive
industry in India, coming under the category of un-organized sector, the lion share being
women. The principle objective of this paper is to understand and analyze the quality of
housing environment and status of health among the bidi workers. Angul district of Odisha,
(India) has been selected as a study area, famous for mango cultivation and vegetable
activities. The study is based on primary and secondary sources of data. Health is the most
serious problems of workers in bidi industry. The working places of bidi industry are
unhygienic, dingy and overcrowded, having little facilities of drinking water, even toilet
facility and first aid. During the entire working time the bidi workers are exposed to tobacco
fumes, thus these incidences create serious diseases (major and minor). The study also
provoked that among the major diseases cough and cold diseases are mostly found (33.33 per
cent) and Tuberculosis disease is at the lowest (9.00 per cent). The researchers suggested that
there is an urgent need to issue the Health Card to the workers for treatment and curing of
various diseases at government hospitals at subsidy rate.
Keywords: Bidi rolling, Tobacco, Diseases, Unhygienic, Health Card.
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