Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

3
Transgressing Political Spaces and
Claiming Citizenship
The Case of Women Kendu Leaf-Pluckers
and the Community Forestry Federation,
Ranpur, Orissa
Neera M. Singh
‘Ama peta jaluchhi, ame jaha kahibu, sambhalibaku padibo’ (Our bellies
are on fire; what we say will have to be honoured).
— K. Nahak
A day after the world celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March
2005, women from Ranpur block sat in dharna in front of the Orissa
State Legislative Assembly. They were in the state capital, Bhubaneswar,
to press for their demand for opening state collection centres for kendu
leaves (KL) in their area.
The leaves of kendu (Diospyrus melaxylon), also known as tendu or
timbru in other parts of India, are used for wrapping beedis; the sale of
KL is a major source of livelihood for local people in central India. In
Orissa, the trade in KL is the monopoly of the state; the ‘Kendu leaf wing’
of the Orissa Forest Department procures KL through government collection
centres, called KL phadis. Ranpur block in Nayagarh district is
among those areas where, despite the availability of KL, there is no government
collection centre. In the absence of KL phadis, women are at the
mercy of private traders who operate ‘illegally’, offering only a fraction of
the prices fixed for KL by the state government.
Women from Ranpur have been demanding collection centres for
kendu leaves since 2000. After repeated attempts to place their demands