The Manohar Joshi government announced recently that the minimum wages of bidi workers would be raised to Rs 39 per thousand bidis. The declaration was followed by the expected furore -- bidi manufacturers closed down their units expressing their inability to bear the hike, at which workers' unions rose in protest, demanding implementation of the decision.

One bidi manufacturer, incidentally, is close to the Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and is also an office bearer of the Bidi Manufacturers' Association. The next thing the industry knew the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (the trade union wing of the Sena) had launched an agitation against the wage hike!

Subsequently, after a round of talks, the government reversed its decision and the wage rate went back to Rs 36.70 per thousand.

The manufacturers have since decided to reopen their units on November 1. In any case, they reason, the original wage rate was higher than the rate in other states -- by Rs 2. They also claim that themanufacturer ends up with a cost Rs 44 on every worker.

Thanks are therefore in order -- from the manufacturers to Messrs Thackeray and Joshi -- for having `saved' the units from permanently downing their shutters and providing bread and butter for the workers who otherwise would have been jobless.

There's more: the manufacturers point out that it is impossible to hike the wages due to stiff competition within the industry and the preference for cigarettes and gutka. Smoking a bidi does not carry the ``status of a cigarette smoker'', they remind you; the bidi worker is considered `backward.'

Maybe the government can come up with a campaign to give bidi smoking the `status' it deserves.

Fading Colours

During the `Saffron Week' observed by the Shiv Sena in the state, the cities witnessed a higher degree of exuberance compared to the rural areas, what with flag marches and membership drives taking place by the dozen.

In stark contrast was Mharul village, about six km from Nashik city. This wasthe same village which saw Sena chief Bal Thackeray inaugurating a party shakha on April 25, 1984 -- then the 16th shakha in Nahik.

But Mharul remained untouched during Saffron Week. The city and district unit of the party did not bother to involve the village shakha in the campaign and office-bearers of the Mharul shakha, after a long wait for an intimation from Nashik, gave up the idea of participating in the campaign.

If the Mharul episode is any indication, the Sena needs more `Saffron Weeks' -- maybe even `Saffron Months' -- to consolidate its position in time for the next Assembly polls.

Onion Hoard

For Laxman Gabaji Warungase, a farmer from Dubera village in Sinnar Block, onions proved to be an unexpected bonanza this Diwali.

Laxman had grown onions last summer and had stored two tractor-trailer loads (about 60 quintals) inside a wooden structure. Little did he realise that the same onions would be his Diwali bonus. As the onion scarcity pushed up the prices, soon enough, traders begandropping in, trying o get him to part with his onions. He refused.

It was only towards Diwali that Laxman finally decided to sell his onions. And raked in a cool Rs 1.75 lakh.

unedited

One Blind Faith To Another

For the tribals of Kayre Sadadpada village in Peth taluka, the conversion to Christianity seems to be a transition from one blind faith to another. The converts -- as reported yesterday -- say they embraced Christianity to escape the uneconomical demands of the bhagat (witch doctor) calling for birds and animals for sacrifice. The conversion might have spared the lives of some birds and animals but doesn't seem to have liberated the tribals from blind faith. God, they claim, heals them when they are sick in return to a prayer. Some even claimed that when they were assaulted by Hindu tribals recently, they did not feel any pain as their God absorbed the impact of the sticks of the assailants. Acceptance of the new religion for equality, peace, nonviolence and compassion isunderstandable, but, the question remains that even a bhagat indulges in faith healing. Isn't it?