L. M. S. Baghel , Anjali Gupta

Abstract

Bidi Industry occupies the key place among the small scale forest based cottage industries of Madhya Pradesh. The industry , which is basicaJIy labour intensive , absorbs the highest proportion of workers in total industrial workforce of the State. Bidi industry had the highest proportion of Gross Value Added to the Total Value Added as industrial sector as a whole. Madhya Pradesh has a vast forest area along with Tendu leaves area and is known for its vast Tendu leaves production. The prospects of the Bidi industry in Madhya Pradesh are quite high provided attention is paid to this industry as the close substitute to Bidi are the machine made cigarettes by the large giants like MNCs. The present study aims at finding out the extent of technical change and growth pattern of productivity in the Bidi Industry of Madhya Pradesh with the help of ASI data for the period of 1973-74 to 1992-93. On the basis of results , it can be concluded that labour is the major source of output growth as compared to capital. The time trend coefficient is either found negative or insignificant in most of the cases and suggests inferences in favour of technological retrogression. Thus , it can be concluded that there is a need of review the mechanical , managerial and technological aspects with a view to promote R & D efforts in this industry otherwise this industry will also ride on the same track as the industrial sector of country ps well as State.

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L. M. S. Baghel , Anjali Gupta , R. K. Verma , N. G. Totey

Abstract

Basods' socio-economic status was studied in Bamhani block constituting of five villages namely Bamhani, Kamta, Kapotbahra, Tilai and Chhapri lying in Mandla District of Madhya Pradesh. There are 31 Basod families in this tract consisting of 72 males and 71 females with total persons of 143 where male: female ratio varies from 792 to 1500. Literacy is very low of the order of 36.36%. Demand of green bamboos (about 78%) is mostly met through adjoining bamboo forests by illegal means and the collection goes all the year around. Per capita income of Basod varies from Rs. 1765 to Rs. 3474. Basods make several articles depending upon seasonal requirement. 73% articles are mostly disposed of through individual efforts and 27% articles are sold through middlemen. 28% of the articles are consumed in villages. 28% are sold in local markets. Town markets are important in Bamhani area where 38% of articles are consumed. The remaining 6% articles are shifted to city market. Basods in this region have developed expertise to manufacture decorative items which fetch good price. Each article fetches a different price depending upon total bamboo consumed and mandays put up for manufacture of articles. Net profit per manday varies from Rs. 8.32 to Rs. 35.53 on general commodities. On decorative articles net profit per manday is from Rs. 40.82 to Rs. 48.89. On goods to be used in marriages, net profit per manday is from Rs. 3.32 to Rs. 21.65. Assuming that Basods work for 200 days in a year making certain articles, per day earning turns out to be Rs. 19.18. This is however improved if decorative items are sold. Articles used in marriages do not yield substantially. Bamboo requirement in Bamhani area is of the order of 29000 bamboo culms for 200 days if 2 bamboos are used by a male Basod and one bamboo by a female Basod daily. Main problems of Basod community in this region are (1) non availability of green bamboos; (2) improper marketing and selling of articles and (3) non-availability of finances. In addition to many other suggestions, initiation of Basod Co-operative Society will be a step further in improvement of socio-economic status of Basods.

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