International Labour Organization Ilo

India's Tobacco Girls

Davinder Kumar | Posted 11.08.2012 | UK
Davinder Kumar

Five-year-old Aliya thinks it is some kind of a game she must soon master to be a winner. From the time she wakes up till she goes to bed Aliya watches her mother and all girls and women in her neighbourhood consumed in a frantic race. They all make beedis - the traditional hand-rolled Indian cigarettes.