April 21, 2026
‘One day, one day, the women will go out to protest…’
A day in the life of two union leaders fighting for fair working conditions in Karnataka’s beedi industry and for the rights of their community.
Nageena Banu is a member of the executive committee of the Neralu Beedi Workers' Union and member-president of the Mehnath Muslim Mahila Alpasankyathara Souharda Sahakari Niyamita (a cooperative bank), based in Davanagere, Karnataka. For more than a decade, Nageena has been organising women working in the informal beedi rolling industry in her area to demand fairer wages and working conditions. As part of the union, she has also worked extensively on issues including access to healthcare, education, and government entitlements for people in her community.