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Indian weavers trying hard to make both ends meet

Weavers in Tamil Nadu are starving; those in Surat have been hit hard by fierce competition from powerlooms, while Andhra Pradesh has in the recent past been hit by a spate of suicides by weavers.

Various packages announced by the central government notwithstanding, over 6.5 million weavers all over the country continue to be in distress, social workers say noting hardly one-fourth of them are covered under various government welfare schemes. Piling stocks, lack of marketing avenues, delay in payments and mounting interest on loans have made their condition go from bad to worse, those in the trade say.

Agreeing that lifting of stocks by the government was an important issue, the textiles minister Mr Kashiram Rana says, “Nearly Rs 100 crore had been earmarked by the government towards special rebates for offloading stocks of handlooms under a programme announced by the prime minister recently.”

“Looms are the responsibility of state governments, but they have failed to help them out of the crisis. The onus has thus fallen on the Centre... We are coming up with various rebate schemes for the weavers as also opening up new avenues for marketing their products,” Mr Rana said.

“Besides setting up 16 urban ‘haats’ (markets) in different state capitals, the Centre has also roped in technical bodies to help modernise looms as also the designs according to the export requirements,” he informed. However, weavers feel that they can benefit only if they have direct access to the market and the dependence on middlemen ends. But unfortunately, as of today, only one-fourth of the weavers are covered by government schemes. The rest are outside the cooperative sector and depend on master weavers and traders for supply of hank yarn and other essential inputs and marketing of cloth, he says.

The powerloom sector, too offers stiff competition which is flooding the market with relatively cheap cloth. The independent weavers are unable to cope with this and are forced to make an occupational shift, says Ms Ritu Bahl, business promotion officer, Association of Corporation & Apex Societies of Handlooms.

However, various NGOs and organisations like UNIDO are taking up the cause of marginalised workers and are organising them in groups to help in designing, production and marketing, says Ms Bahl. These efforts have even helped revive some of the dying craft forms and traditions, she says, citing the case of Anekel, Paithani and Jamdani sarees. “Weaving one saree means long hours and involvement of the whole family for months. Because of the high cost of raw material and the intricate designing which goes into making these sarees, the cost factor becomes very high. But when it comes to selling in the market, there are very few buyers for such costly sarees,” according to Ms Bahl.

Thus, many craftsmen have stopped making these traditional sarees and are not even teaching the art to their children. Concerned by the trend, she says, they are approaching the weavers and telling them to manufacture for the export markets and are educating them about the quality requirements. In the South especially, the saree weavers are being revived, and the state government is giving them subsidy to compete with the export sector. “We are also organising various expos and exhibitions to showcase their art and make the younger generation aware of this tradition,” notes Ms Bahl.

Under the cluster development scheme, organisations like UNIDO are identifying villages where marginal weavers are being revived. The handloom commissioner’s office too is adopting clusters and providing them with technical knowhow and marketing avenues. Some NGOs are trying to market handloom products to fashion houses in metros and big cities. The All India Powerloom Board, meanwhile, has suggested to the Centre to start a modified workshed development scheme to improve the working condition of marginalised workers.