Ajija Bibi (35) was just 12 years old when she rolled her first bidi (cigarette). She grew up, and today lives in Murshidabad, West Bengal, which has emerged as a prominent centre for the bidi industry in India. Women in every household spend their days rolling bidis and have become so proficient at the task, that they can roll up to 3000 bidis a day!

With money in her hands back then, Ajija left school at the age of 16 and soon after, got married. The first question her in-laws asked when considering her for their son, was ‘How many bidis can you roll in a day?’ 

But unbeknownst to most, bidi rolling comes at a high price. With most bidi rolling work done by women from homes, women and their families are continuously exposed to nicotine, tar, unburnt tobacco dust, and other toxic particles that pass through the skin or are inhaled. According to BMJ Global Health, women bidi workers, suffer from respiratory diseases like TB, decreased fertility, increased frequency of miscarriages and a higher risk of cervical cancer. Pregnant bidi workers are at risk of higher frequency of neonatal deaths, still and premature births in comparison to non-bidi workers. Not only that, their children suffer from low birth weight and stunted growth.

In 2014, Ambuja Foundation was looking for women as Sakhis (community health volunteers) in the community, and Ajija put her hand up for the role - continuing to roll bidi in her spare time. It was during her training as a Sakhi that she learned about the adverse effects of tobacco, which motivated her to improve her health and she quit bidi rolling in 2015.

Today, she spends her days promoting maternal and child health and has reached out to 350 pregnant and lactating mothers - ensuring 100% institutional deliveries. She is a staunch advocate against bidi rolling - asking women and men to compare their meagre income to the cost of their health expenses, and see how much money they were losing each month!

It’s tough work, given how deeply ingrained the practice of bidi rolling is in the largely marginalised community. But reaching out to over 1000 women, she managed to convince 150 women and their households to walk away from bidi rolling – guiding them to kickstart goatery, poultry or small businesses.

A recent household survey highlighted the fact that in almost every single household, one family member has been diagnosed with cancer. 

Since then, and with support from Ajija, there has been a 67% reduction in bidi rolling, with many women reducing from rolling 3000 bidis per day to just 1000. And as a result, women are now stepping out of their homes, exploring other income generation activities. There is still a long way to go, but the journey has begun. 

Ajija has become a community role model – having transformed from bidi roller to Health Worker, and she finally completed her secondary education through distance learning! 

So confident and self-assured has Ajija become, that when one of the head honchos from a leading Indian industrial company visited the community, Ajija told him point blank, “You need to stop smoking – it’s ruining your health!”