Ongoing demand in Handlooms- Possible end to Farmers and Weavers Problems?
- In Society
- 04:43 PM, Oct 08, 2016
- Satyendra Tripathi
Handloom and Khadi business constitutes an integral part of rural and semi rural livelihood in India. After the clarion call made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been a tremendous increase in production as well as increased exports in recent times. In comparison to the rest in the Indo-Pacific region, India has one of the largest array of working handlooms. In fact, 95% of world’s handlooms comes from India and handlooms continue to be one of the largest employers after agriculture. India could indeed become a very large ecosystem for pure textile industry with its multitudes of cotton farmers and weavers. With the ever growing demand for handmade goods and pure cotton across the world, India could as well become one of the largest cotton fabric supplier.
Various schemes have been launched recently focused on handloom weavers:
National Handloom Development Program concentrated on two components:
Revival, Reform and Restructuring (RRR) Package for the handloom sector.
Comprehensive Handlooms Development Scheme.
Handloom Weavers Comprehensive Welfare Scheme with two components:
Health Insurance Scheme for access to health care facilities
Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana for life insurance
Yarn Supply Scheme.
Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme (Mega Cluster Scheme).
National Handloom Development Program (NHDP) is also being implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Program for development of handlooms. Subsequent to the implementation of XIV Finance Commission recommendations, it has now been restructured as Central Sector Scheme in June, 2015. The scheme has the following components:
Revival, Reform & Restructuring (RRR) package for the handloom sector.
Comprehensive Handloom Development scheme (CHDS).
In the past, many farmers and a section of weavers either committed suicide or began leaving their traditional businesses. There are many reasons to correlate, but one of predominant ones was financial burden. Cotton farming had become a high-risk activity due to its dependency on climate. Also, due to the ever rising demand of spinning machinery companies, farmers were obliged to grow genetically modified variety, rather than indigenous varieties.
India’s diverse soil properties and micro-climates only facilitated native varieties; the genetically modified varieties failed to adapt to Indian climate. As a result of using genetically modified seeds, there was loss of production and that lead to a cascading effect on the risk takers finances.
There must be a cohesion and firm understanding between the industry and the farmer. Without this, supply and demand were completely mismatched and the ground realities of India overlooked. Plus, continued drought and lack of Government support added many more woes to an already weary and burdened farmer.
In the case of weavers, machines made copies of handloom fabrics (which was illegal !!) were cutting the demand of handloom in the market. The market values of copy cat fabrics are much lower than the handloom ones and this lead to decreased production across the board. A handwoven Varanasi Sari may cost 5000-10000 INR or more, while a printed machine made copy is available only for 1000-2000 INR !! While private/cooperative entities can afford to go to the court to protect their brands and interestes, individual handloom weaver communities are unable to do so.
After, the present Government took over in 2014, various financial schemes to improve the financial reach of the farmers and weavers have been set into motion. Plus, the insurance cover that will enable the risk takers to go forth and take more risks has been a welcome step.
The larger question is how can a farmer and/or weaver benefit from growing cotton and weaving cotton cloth?
In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, ‘This is not cloth, but a thought’. A small scale agricultural firm provides employment to four people directly and three indirectly. With some encouragement from society and the state, this could be the basis of decentralized, self-reliant and democratically managed cotton textile production.
Dattopant Bapurao Thengadi, noted RSS Pracharak, BMS Founder and an expert in social, economic and political issues, propounded in his book “The Third Way”, the terms of socioeconomic development based on ‘Sanatan Dharma”. He firmly asserted that the state and the society must join hands with the weavers to empower and enrich the nation. He was also in favor of village centric development model that gave the farmers, weavers and artisans the respect and the resources they truly deserve.
As per the 3rd Handlooms Census, carried out in 2009-10, out of the 38.47 lakh adult weavers and allied workers in the country, 77% are women and 23% male. 10% of the weavers are from scheduled castes (SCs), 18% of the weavers are from scheduled tribes (STs), 45% are from other backward classes (OBCs) and 27% are from other castes. Therefore, comprehensive reforms in the sector will truly become the harbinger of social security and will be truly representative of the diverse microcosm that India is !
Andhra Pradesh |
Assam |
Tamil Nadu |
Bihar |
West Bengal |
Manipur |
|
units |
1.8 |
12.4 |
1.9 |
25000 |
4.1 |
1.8 |
workers |
3.6 |
16.4 |
3.5 |
43000 |
7.8 |
2.2 |
looms |
1.25 |
11.1 |
1.5 |
15000 |
3.1 |
1.9 |
Social media was abuzz for many days when Minister of Textiles Mrs. Smriti Irani trended and went viral with #IWearHandloom. It was very interesting to notice that many youngsters participated in the campaign enthusiatically.
India’s ecosystem has the potential for ecologically sustainable cotton cloth-making even in the time of climate crisis. Hope the current Government continues to prioritize this sector for many years to come.
References:
http://handlooms.nic.in/Writereaddata/Handloom%20report.pdf
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