The Procurent And The " MARKETING " Process Of " TENDU LEAVES " :: The " REAL " Story And Truthful incident while dealing with the Forest Officials Along With A " PAKISTANI "

Pic :: Withering Tendu Leaves 

A Real And A Truthful incident while dealing with the Forest Officials Along With A Pakistani

Well this dates back to 1990 when I was transferred to Bhubaneshwar Offoce of the  TRIBAL CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING DEVLOPEMENT FEDRATION OF INDIA LIMITED ( TRIFED ) , a BULL-SHIT Government of India organization NOTHING but a SYMBOL of " JOKE "  and " IDIOCRACY "  which then was under the Minister of Commerce and was headed by Mr S.K.Chauhan, I.A.S and the Bhubaneshwar Office was headed by Mr Menon who later left TRIFED or maybe was asked to leave TRIFED, whatever the case might have been.

This was my FIRST exposure to Bhubaneshwar and at that occasion when I was a bachelor, my other cobbers at TRIFED asked me to join then where we were staying in a single room attached with  the toiler and a kitchen. We were as many as four who were staying at one place.

During that period all of a sudden , ONE DAY I saw  a gentleman by the name of Mr Sherwani stepping in the room and I was somewhat perplexed to see him dashing in the room without even knocking at the door or taking the permission to enter into the room where we stayed during that time . I turned back to Jagdish who was staying with me to ask him who was he and he replied that he was a Businessman and a VICE-PRESIDENT of  SINDH BIDI MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATION FROM PAKISTAN.

This was the THIRD Pakistani that I was meeting in my life. Earlier in 1981 I had met Mr Ishlauddin Siddiqui the WORLD-FAMED-HOCKEY star and Mr Muzahir Bari the National Hockey Commentator of Pakistan . Both were born at Meerut and Raipur but had shifted and migrated to Pakistan along with their family and more about them later. This was the one from Sindh at Pakistan and he had come to  collect the TENDU LEAVES .

The Tendu leaves are used for making the BEEDI. Beedi infact at one point of a time was the THIRD MOST EXPORTABLE ITEM of India. Now……. Well this article would describe it all.

I got myself introducedni by  by Mr Jagdish who now works as a Assistant Manager for Container Corporation Of India Limited and he is  based at Noida but during those days he was a Assistant at Trifed and he mostly was engaged to deliver the forest produce to the buyers at diifernt place at Orissa.

Jagdish introduced me to this gentleman from Pakistan. He had previously come here and had gone back empty handed to Pakistan only to come back again with a hope to garner and collect the Tendu leaves for his Sindi Bidi Manufacturing Association at Sindh.

He told me that he again after failing for the first time had come back with a HOPE to collect the Tendu leaves here at India and take it to Sindh at Pakistan  for Beedi making. It may be recalled here that during that time TRIFED under it’s umbrella did not have the right to procure or sell the Tendu leaves as that was not entrusted to TRIFED by the Government of India then.

However after seeking a SPECIAL permission from the Head Office of Trifed at Delhi, and it was because TRIFED was then only DEALING with MINOR FOREST PRODUCE AND SURPLUS AGRICULTURE PRODUCE ,  and Tendu leaves are NT the MFP  but with a SPECIAL PERMISSION,  it was me who was entrusted the task to move with this Pakistani VICE PRESIDENT of Sindh Bidi manufacturing Association to help him out with the procurement of Tendu leaves. . During that time the Tendu leaves in plenty was sold by the Tribal Devlopement Co-operative Corporation , Orissa and the Tibal Co-operative Development Federation of Bihar at places like Chaibasha, and it’s adjoining area as Bihar was then ruled by Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jharkhand as a state was NOT born then.

We moved from the pillars to the pillars, from post to the post and from HELL to HELL meeting all the Forest Officials of Orissa at Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Bhubaneshwar ,  and at places  likeIb Valley and it’s adjoin area at Orissa and inn places like Ranchi, Chaibasha, Jaggannathpur, Singbhum meeting all the Forest Officials from these places to procure the Tendu leaves BUT TO NO AVAIL.

Everywhere there was one or the other reason explained and said and the FALLACY were that if the TWO separate place if they fell into the same region, the explanation offered was and were different.

That was simply surprising and somewhat astonishing. Neither Mr Sherwani nor myself, we could understand and figure out as to WHAT WAS THE LACUNAE.

Trying out there in the field , going from offices to offices at last we met a HUMBLE and a HONEST Forest Ranger near to Chaibasha . We explained him all about our problems as well as the TIME and the MONEY that we were wasting in this operation. HURT by what we were facing he asked us to visit his place around evening and we were thre sharp at SIX at his house. A WARM welcome and a WARM cup of tea HOT and some BHAJIA getted us and the talks started.

 We explained him all about our problems and Mr Sherwani explained him all about the PROBLEMS that MOST and of course ALL would face at Sindh where they were in the process of making BIDI .The non-availabilty of the Tendu leaves over there as he said would KILL all the DAILY-WAGES workers, and the families, most of them would be on the roads or would be forced  to KILL themselves because of NO-WORK

After patiently hearing to us he said. DO YOU HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE OF ABOUT HOW THE TENDU LEAVES ARE SOLD AND MARKETED BY THE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.. no-i-said AND no-he-said. We reiterated THIS WAS OUR FIRST EXPERIENCE and this will be a FEATHER in our cap as we are NERW to this experience of procuring and buying the Tendu leaves. Well he said and went on- I’M TALKING TO YOU AS A THIRD PARTY WITHOUT REPRESENTING MY OFFICE. Listen carefully he added  -:

The tendu leaves are collected PURPOSELY in THREE different attempts in THREE different lots. It is PURPOSELY that during the first LOT collections which ranges for a month, WE COLLECT AND PROCURE THESE LEAVES ON THE BEHEST OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT. The money comes to us from the State treasuries.

It is the DIRECTION and the ORDERS-VERBALLY by the State Government that the collection of the Tendu leaves have to be done by us WITHOUT ACCOUNTING THE MONEY GIVEN TO THE INDIVIDUAL SELLERS THAT COMES FROM THE VILLAGES TO SELL THESE AT THE OPEN HAAT AT VARIOUS PLACE.

His FURTHER ADDITION completely UPROOTED us. He said after we procure the FIRST lot of the Kendu/Tendu leaves we are directed to sell these immediately to the ONE’S who but this from us without taking any receipt of the same and this money that we collect are with us in our personal account in our bank which are BENAMI ACCOUNT. The other thing that we do is  WE ARE PROVIDED WITH A VERY STRONG VAULTS WHICH ARE PRACTICALLY HARD TO BREAK. We keep most of the money SAFELY in those vault and these money accrued are rotated in the market and are purposely kept in those BENAMI account for a period of ONE to TWO years. The interest accrued and the money obtained from the bank in terms of the interest are very good.

Pics : Estimating The Size Of The Tendu Leaves, BIDI Manufactured And The Unaccounted Tendu Leaves 

Thereafter this amount is handed to the Treasury by us in a very CONFIDENTIAL and a SAFE manner ,  The RAMINDERS or the EXCESS of the amount which is obtained either rotating it in the open market and the interest that is obtained from the bank is distributed amongst the CAUCUS and we too take our share.

This is the way that the Offices of the Government which MANS the FORESTRY and the FOREST DEPARTMENT works and we are BOUND to work in this fashion. We may be anything and anyone but if we do not become a part off this system we are in for a lot of problems and troubles. We have our families, childrens and looking to them  WE WORK  IN THIS FASHION AND WE ARE FORCED AND BOUND TO WORK THIS WAY AND IN THIS MANNER.

WHERE WILL BE MY FAMILY, MY CHILDREN IF ANYTHING IS DONE TO ME IF I DO NOT ADHERE TO THE WICKED AND UNLAWFUL PREPOSITION AND PROPOSITION OF THESE SO CALLED THE ILL- WICKED ADMINISTRATORS WHO ARE ADMINISTERIN THE STATE AND THE FOREST MINISTRY AND IT'S DEPARTMENT. He further added we have to fall onto the villianous orders only to keep our job and the family afloat and this is what the entire Bihar is 

Every year CRORES of money is collected by every Forest Official working in the Government Department which and who are engaged in the business of Tendu leaves and CRORES of money is this what we share it amongst ourself and the beneficiaries are the Minister from the TOP to the Officials at the BOTTOM. If we DO NOT DO THIS our job is at stake.

The FIRST HEAP of collection is the MOST important. This leaves which comes in the FIRST HEAP are the BEST and the BEST of all that comes in the market. These leaves are of HIGH QUALITY, are very SOFT and TENDER and it makes the BEST of the BIDIS . The second which comes are PRICED at bit lower as these are NOT of that BRILLIANT quality and it lacks in the STRENGTH and the SUSTAINABILTY as well .We make it very fast to sell it and OFTEN we sell it at even a LOWER rate.

Then comes the  LAST LOT and this is perhaps the LOT that you will see at every place now. This does not sells  the way it should. We  sell it to them who are forced to buy these. Most of the times the last lot remains unsold and we put it in out stock to show that  THESE HAVE BEEN THE COLLATERAL AND THE COLLOSAL LOSS IN TERMS OF PROCRUING AND SELLING THE TENDU LEAVES.

In this business of GIVE-AND-TAKE all the Government Officials which includes everybody at the HOT SEAT and at the HELMS are included and everybody has his share including we the OFFICIALS.

He went on to say that the FIRST HEAP that comes in the market are SOLD to them who have been the MOST PARTICULAR AND PREFERRED BUYER known to the HIGHER UPS and who have a strong BUSINESS BONDINGS with the higher ups. For decades they come here on a particular date, load the lorries with the leaves , pay the money at our BENAMI ACCOUNT, hand us over the RECEIPTS of the same certifying that the amount has been deposited at our BENAMI ACCOUNT and go away. We DO NOT SELL THE FIRST HEAP TO ANYBODY EXCEPT HESE SO CALLED THE BUYERS- “ KHASAM-KHAAS ”  or “ KK ”  as we call them.

This was enough for us to know and learn about the MARKETING OF TENDU LEAVES AT INDIA. We thereafter decided that IT WAS ENOUGH FOR US TO WASTE OUR TIME PROCURING THESE LEAVES. We decided to pack and MOVE to Bhubaneshwar.

On the journey back to Bhubaneshwar Mr Sherwani was very upset and uprooted. Every time he would say- KHATAM HAI HAMARA PARIVAAR AUR HAMARA KHANA PEENA. We are DESTRUCTED and WE ARE DEAD NOW. The last HOPE was India to keep ourself AFLOAT but now that everything is CLEAR we are DEAD and AS GOOD AS DEAD.

TENDU LEAVES SALE :: MANY BUSINESS HOUSE HAVE BEEN UPROOTED AND FINISHED

Well that was in 1990. I left TRIFED in 1995 after THROWING AWAY MY RESIGNATION ON THE FACE OF THE GENERAL MANAGER- PERSONNEL.

It was the YEAR 2006.I was at Jabalpur for some OFFICIAL DUTY with a Business Administration  course imparting College, that I happened to pass through the HOUSE OF THE PATEL at Jabalpur.IT WAS A “ HAVELI ” . Reminiscence of Yatin Patel who was my classmate at the Christ Church Boys’ Higher Secondary School , Jabalpur and whose house was this Haveli, flashed across my eye. I decided to meet him and I stepped into his house. We parted ie he left the school in 1974 and we were facing each other in 2006 after a gap of 32 years. HE COULD NOT RECOGNISE ME AT ALL.

The incident of the School and the HOUSE that he was in THE DARLING HOUSE made him realise  that I was a CHURCHIAN and the talk started .  THIS WAS THE HOUSE WHICH WAS AN INDIAN FAMED NAME IN THE TRADE OF BIDI . This house also gave a Ranji cricketer to Madhya Pradesh then, Mr Mukesh Patel who later was a M.L.A in the Ministry of Congress from Jabalpur

Pics :: The Saga Of The Ganesh Brand " 501 "  Bidi - The Picture Tells The Tale 

With my EXPERIENCE of the TENDU LEAVES of 1990 I just asked him- DHANDAA-PAANI KAISE CHAL RAHA HAI which means HOW IS THE BUSINESS GOING, Yatin ,  and the TEARS rolled from his eye. I was STUNNED to hear from him that – WE ARE PLANNING TO SELL ALL OUR LAND ADJOINING JABALPUR AND KHAMARIA. The reason was  THE BUSINESS OF THE BIDI HAD  GONE TO THE DOGS AND FROM THERE TO THE DEEP END OF THE SEA OR OCEAN.

Added Yatin- All the ages we were doing the business of BIDI. Out FOUR generation was involved in this business. However NOW neither can we get the Tendu leaves like before  without any hitch or any difficulty nor can at this AGE we can think of selling the SWEETS or the VEGETABLES for sustaining thyself, our self  and our lives. There is nothing left for us in this business now and  it is because the corruption has completely damaged the business  We WERE THE WORLD AND INDIA LEADER IN THE BUSINESS OF BIDI. Now we are as GOOD as a BEGGAR. The proceed from the sale  of the land and the agricultural land , will help us to LIVE with the bank interest that  would come in or we will have to seal this haveli and try to SELL it ,  and the land on which it is constructed. For that is our fate. TEARS WERE ROLLING FROM HIS EYE. TEARS WERE THEN ROLLING FROM THE EYE OF THAT PAKISTANI, Mr SHERWANI.

I took the permission from him to move forward. That was that which I saw THAT.

Every minute words and every minute info that I have written is covered by me in the article of FOREST. I have SOMETHING more to write  and I put it over here and this is FOR the GOVERNMENT AND LEVEL-HEADED people to read and learn.

There are some experience that I wish  to narrate here. During my tenure at Jagdalpur at TRIFED , I got many an opportunity to visit the jungle for procuring the CASHEW KERNEL that grew at the Bastar region at Bastar and one such moment was my visit to Keshkal.  THRE THE EXPERIENCE THAT I GOT TO LEARN COMPLETELY FRZE ME THEN.

One of th MOST acclaimed MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT from Jagdalpur and from a TRIBAL community, who was the CHAIRMAN of TRIFED then, ws the PROPRIETOR of the entire JUNGLE of Keshkal then and many at the region at the strtch between Jagdalpur to the famous CHITRAKUT FALL .

I was told by the one's who were  the ADIVASI’S who resided at the jungle then that the entire trees at this jungle belongs to that Chairman-cum-the –Member Of Parliament. He was then the CHAIRMAN of TRIFED ,  He had given TWO to THREE trees to these TRIBES as a SHELTER and as a HOME to them ie an individual Tribe and his family were given two to three trees for them to look after. This was their shelter and this was the tree or were trees which belonged to them till they were alive and the fruits as well as the leaves till they were alive would be their’s to sell them in the market for their survival. This way that CHAIRMAN who was seated on the chair of TRIFED without the CHAIRS having  any ARM was making the TREES to survive as  his own personal property though these trees were planted by the Madhya Pradesh State Government then. The entire property of the  state had become his personal property and  THIS IS HOW THE STATE AND IT’S RESOURCES ARE LOOTED BY THE POLITICIANS AND THESE ARE THE EXAMPLES OF HOW THE POLITICIANS MAKE THE COUNTRY AND IT’S PROPERTY AS THEIR FATHER’S PROPERTY.

Bad to state and write but to take a LEAF out of the page, WHY CAN’T THE GOVERNMENT PLANT THE TREES AND REGISTER IT WITH THESE TRIBES TO LOOK AFTER THEM. ATLEAST THE TREES WOULD BE SAVED, THE FRUITS AND THE LEAVES OF THE TREES WOULD BE THE RIGHT OF THESE TRIBES TO SELL IT FOR THEIR INCOME AND LIVING, AND THE JUNGLE WOULD BE SAVED.

The trees planted atleast would be the Government's and that it would be saved from the CHOPS or the CUTS, that the AXE might do to these trees.

Every tree planted could be registered  or every plant planted should be registered with the Government body, the trees when they grow up could be given or impressed upon with the REGISTRATION NUMBER and the owners would be these adivasis.

The land where these trees are planted will be the State Government’s but the produce that would be collected and sold would be the money for the state and the Centre which they can sager to share  it on a percentage basis  depending upon a common understanding.

IT HELPS THAT WAY. Say for example the LAC . The produce could be purchased by the State or the centre from these Tribes and it could be stored in the godowns of the state government as the Centre does not possesses any godowns except the godowns of the FCI or the Central Warehousing Corporation.

Now if required the Centre can purchase the entire proceed from the state and sell it to the client who and which requires them. It could be as reversed as well if the State finds a good client. After the sale the money could be shared between the centre and the state in proportion as decided or that could be decided upon.

This  will give the income to the Tribe who would sell it either to the centre or to the state , will give the income to the State or the centre as the case may be, would give the tax to the centre as well as beside providing the income to the tribes who saves the tree, will save and enhance the life of the trees.

It ought to be borne   in mind that the COMPLAINTS of the TRIBES ouht to be taken seriously and the culprits ought to be booked and brought under the purview of the law beside giving full assurance to the FOREST INSPECTORS, FOREST POLICE and the likes of them from any THREAT that they receive of the LIFE which covers their DEATH from the threat that emancipates out of the same.

There has been a CLUTTER and a UNENDING DEATHS of many , many and many a FOREST OFFICIALS that fell in the category of the Forest rangers, Forest Police , and those who are entrusted to save the forest resources all over India.

The RESULT is so crucifying and so appalling that from the 1990 when I first entered in the forest area for procurement of the COCOONS at Jagdalpur to the CASHEW KERNELS to the procurement of the SAL SEED at Ranchi and at the area of Orissa the number of the death that took place that I heard was more than 3000 for the SIX YEARS that I served at TRIFED. In other words every year there would be atleast 500 personnel's serving the Forest  for their livelihood would be slayed and the political back up would save those who murdered these personnel's.

The cutting and the chopping of the trees would be the reason beside the poaching of the animals. Whenever some body would resist and if the matter grew awesome in terms of the LAW wrestling with the hands of the SAVIOURS of the FOREST and it’s produces or the wild life that resides at the forest, the LIFE would be taken away by the poachers or by those for whom the TREES were the major item of LOOT.

It is this fear and the fear of their families going on the roads afterwards for begging has taken these Forest Officials and the personnel's employed to take a BACKWARD STANCE of LET IT GO.

This ought to be taken an STUDIED very carefully. The problem does not ends herein and  the case of the MFP, the SAP ( Surplus Agriculture Produce ) and in certain cases the food items like the CHHAR as we call it or the CHIRONJEE, the HONEY etc which these adivasis or the villagers that they bring it to sell in the HAAT or the FOREST MARKET, these innocents are HALTED  and stopped with the produce that they bring in to sell, much ahead at the area from where they enter the forest haat to sell those produce  . Their produces are taken away forcibly by the MIDDLEMAN or by the EXPLOITERS who have a SOLID backing of the politicians at a very cheap rate and are sold at a price very exhorbitant..

There were 114 FOREST PRODUCE when I was working a TRIFED and of them there were atleast 25 in which we were dealing. Actually saying there are more than 250 forest produce and could be even more than that, JUST IMAGINE HOW MUCH OF THE INCOME CAN THE COUNTRY GET OF IT.

The TOTAL OUTLAY OF INCOME then when we calculated then was more than THREE-PERCENTAGE of the GDP.

However the country hardly gets about 1.50% though they claim it to be 1.70% which is NOT the case at all. From 1965 to 2020 the actual income from the forest that ought to contribute to the GDP ought to be 3%X 55 years= 165% but the actual or the REAL income was 1.50%x55 = 82.50% which CLEARLY reflects the SHORTAGE by 82.50%.

 IT CLEARLY MEANS THAT THE FOREST DEPARTMENT OF INDIA PERFORMS AT HALF-THE-CAPACITY Fine. What about the salary and the other expenses that the Government has borne out for the same maybe by the state or by the centre.

REMEMBER-  AN ADDITIONAL PERCENT OF GDP OVER EIGHT PERCENT AS ENVISAGED BY THE COUNTRY CAN PROVIDE JOBS TO ONE-CRORE OF PEOPLE.

Lastly-  RECENTLY THE UNION GOVERNMENT HAD PASSED THE AGRICULTURE BILL FOR WHICH THE ENTIRE OPPOSITION HAS AND HAD COME OUT AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT PROTESTING THE COUNTRY TO HOLD AT AT STAKE AND UPROOT THE FABRICATION OF THE FARMERS AND THE SELLERS OF THE PRODUCES IN THE COUNTRY.

This the Government did it to WARD-OFF the middleman and the one’s who under the cover of the POLITICIANS and their MUSCLEMAN to save the one’s who come to the market to sell their produce.

I have explained all about the ARM-TWISTING of the EXPLOITERS over here and I’m sure those who have read it must have UNDERSTOOD the GRAVIOUS-GRAVITY of the situation.

I ASK- HAS THE UNION GOVERNMENT DONE ANYHTHING WRONG BY PASSING THAT KIND OF A BILL THAT RELATES TO THE FOREST AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE OR THE FARM-FARMERS-PRODUCE

INTELLIGENT THAT RESIDES AT THE NOOK AND THE CORNERS OF THIS WORLD MAY DECIDE UPON IT PLEASE.

This is HOW the NATION is being put to RANSOM who just BELIEVE that “ LOOT ” IS THEIR  AS IF THEIR    “ BIRTH RIGHT ”.

Ever since the Modi Government and the NDA has taken over from 2014 the opposition just does one thing in particular- HOLD THE NATION TO RANSOM BY HOLDING RALLIES AND STRIKES.

They do it because THEY CANNOT LOOT ANYMORE THE WAY THEY WERE LOOTING IT FOR EVER.

Actually as it is and as they say-:

HONESTY IS THE BEST " POLICY "  BUT IT DOES NOT  " FITS "  INTO MANY A POCKETS 

It is the Government of the day and the law which has to RISE and take the things into their account to put the things back into the GROOVE  . 

Delay will now BRUISE and DEMOLISH the GREAT RESOURCE- the FOREST that India possesses.

Once again I write before I conclude-:

 HONESTY IS THE BEST " POLICY "  BUT IT DOES NOT  " FITS "  INTO MANY A POCKETS 

 Well , that is it

Regards and Thanks

Pics

Shyamal Bhattacharjee 

Mr Shyamal Bhattacharjee, the author was born at West Chirimiri Colliery at District Surguja, Chattisgarh on July 6th 1959 He received his early education at Carmel Convent School Bishrampur and later at Christ Church Boys' Higher Secondary School at Jabalpur. He later joined Hislop College at Nagpur and completed his graduation in Science and he also added a degree in    B A thereafter. He joined the HITAVADA, a leading dailies of Central India at Nagpur as a      Sub-Editor ( Sports ) but gave up to complete his MBA in 1984 He thereafter added a Diploma In Export Management. He has authored THREE books namely Notable Quotes and Noble Thought published by Pustak Mahal in 2001 Indian Cricket : Faces That Changed It  published by Manas Publications in 2009 and Essential Of Office Management published by NBCA, Kolkatta  in 2012. He has a experience of about 35 years in Marketing

 

Signature Of Shyamal Bhattacharjee