Introduction The exploitation, poor conditions, and precarity in the bidi (hand-rolled leaf cigarette) industry in India make it ripe for the application of the FCTC's Article 17, "Provision of support for economically viable alternative activities". "Bottom-up", participatory approaches give scope to explore bidi rollers' own circumstances, experiences, and aspirations. Methods A team of six community health volunteers using a participatory research orientation developed a questionnaire-based semi-structured interview tool. Forty-six bidi rolling women were interviewed by pairs of volunteers in two northern Tamil Nadu cities. Two follow-up focus groups were also held. A panel of 11 bidi rollers attended a workshop at which the findings from the interviews and focus groups were presented, further significant points were made and possible alternatives to bidi rolling were discussed. Results Bidi workers are aware of the adverse impact of their occupation on them and their families, as well as the major risks posed by the product itself for the health of consumers. However, they need alternative livelihoods that offer equivalent remuneration, convenience, and (in some cases) dignity. Alternative livelihoods, and campaigns for better rights for bidi workers while they remain in the industry, serve to undercut industry arguments against tobacco control. Responses need to be diverse and specific to local situations, i.e. "bottom-up" as much as "top-down", which can make the issue of scaling up problematic. Conclusion Participatory approaches involving bidi workers themselves in discussions about their circumstances and aspirations have opened up new possibilities for alternative livelihoods to tobacco. Implications Progress with the FCTC's Article 17 has generally been slow and has focussed on tobacco cultivation rather than later stages in the production process. The bidi industry in India is ripe for the application of an alternative livelihoods approach. This study is one of the first to use participatory methods to investigate the circumstances, experiences, and aspirations of bidi workers themselves.
While there is a burgeoning literature on the benefits of research collaboration for development, it tends to promote the idea of the "partnership" as a bounded site in which interventions to improve collaborative practice can be made. This article draws on complexity theory and systems thinking to argue that such an assumption is problematic, divorcing collaboration from wider systems of research and practice. Instead, a systemic framework for understanding and evaluating collaboration is proposed. This framework is used to reflect on a set of principles for fair and equitable research collaboration that emerged from a programme of strategic research and capacity strengthening conducted by the Rethinking Research Collaborative (RRC) for the United Kingdom (UK)'s primary research funder: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The article concludes that a systemic conceptualisation of collaboration is more responsive than a "partnership" approach, both to the principles of fairness and equity and also to uncertain futures.
The paper focuses on lived experiences of De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribe (DNT) population groups with a focus on the challenges faced in efforts towards collectivizing these diverse identities into a 'community'. In this participatory action research process, people were involved throughout; including in finalizing research objectives and defining a set of indicators for the data collection process. The data were analysed through a Ground-Level Panel-a collective analysis process using in-depth discussion and participatory tools. The process aimed to test out a model for participatory monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals, which would in turn strengthen 'social accountability' systems for those most marginalized and facing multiple inequalities. Throughout the research it became central to understand the kind of challenges that arise from building a collective identity. It was found that so-called communities are often diverse 'within' not only in terms of marginalization but also in terms of ideologies; this hinders any strategic engagement in collectivizing under a common banner. These fissures within the communities and under-representation in positions of power, further deny DNTs equitable opportunities to access entitlements, which reproduces the vicious cycle of marginalization.
This study represents one of the most methodologically rigorous attempts at estimating the prevalence, in the Indian state of Bihar, of the worst forms of child labor, defined broadly as coerced labor detrimental physically or psychologically to the development of a child. Based on samples collected through a combination of spatial random sampling and link-tracing strategies, and applying population-based calibrations, we find that the worst the forms of child labor are widespread and pervasive among child workers in urban Bihar, irrespective of whether we apply the Indian legal framework or the international convention. Such pervasive exploitation and abuse of child labor in one Indian state suggest the need to develop solutions that must address the fundamental social forces that compel children to work in slave-like conditions, such as basic livable wages for adult laborers and greater enforcement of existing child protection laws to ensure proper scrutiny of places where children are employed. It will take a long-term commitment from the Indian government as well as the civil society to tackle such a large-scale social problem, and interventions aiming to bring about significant social changes, such as improved enforcement of existing child labor law, public education and awareness campaign, financial as well as legal punishment of egregious employers.
