Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions.
Madhu is a 15-year old school dropout. She stopped going to school after failing in class VIII. Her father, a tailor, expired last year. He was suffering from tuberculosis. This made it necessary for the children and their mother to work. Her elder brother aged 17 years works in a grocery shop and the younger one aged 14 years is engaged in chocolate packaging. Madhu and her mother roll bidi. Madhu started rolling bidis at an early age and she enjoys it as it provides her the opportunity to sit close to her mother and other women and listen to their chat. She fills tobacco into the rolled tendu leaves. She spends most of her time in this activity apart from the time spent doing household chores. Due to long hours of sitting in the same posture daily, she suffers from backpain. Madhu wants to restart her schooling.
The bidi making industry uses the leaves of:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Tendu
Note: The passage is Box 5.7 of the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. The box has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26); the account of how bidis are made from tendu leaves is still there in the section on home-based work.
NCERT (2025-26): “5.6 Home-based work … Let us look at the bidi industry. The process of making bidis starts in forested villages where villagers pluck tendu leaves and sell it to the forest department or a private contractor who in turn sells it to the forest department. On average a person can collect 100 bundles (of 50 leaves each) a day. The government then auctions the leaves to bidi factory owners who give it to the contractors. The contractor in turn supplies tobacco and leaves to home-based workers.…”
Box 5.7, Life history of a bidi worker (Pre-rationalised NCERT) |
