For years, Varanasi's handloom silk industry has served
millions of people: the industry has given livelihood to a large proportion of
the local and regional population, and it has provided for the needs of
consumers from all over the world for silk fabric. Recently, however, a number
of problems have emerged which have led to a decline in the industry and,
consequently, the lives of the handloom workers. These challenges facing the
community engaged in making handloom silk fabrics include the huge influx of
cheap Chinese silk material, the threat from the Surat silk market, the
changing tastes of the younger generation, and 7 inappropriate trade policies.
Discussions with handloom weavers living in Bazardiha locality of Varanasi
revealed their concerns. A major threat to their livelihood is the growth in
the number of power (electric) looms. Due to their weak economic condition,
many weavers are unable to shift from handloom to power loom and thus fall
behind in silk weaving and, thus, their daily earnings. Those using power loom
earn, on average, up to 10 times more in a day. The second problem relates to
the price at which design cards are sold in the market. Weavers use
computer-generated design cards to print innovative designs on the silk fabric.
Each card normally costs INR300 (US$ 4.73) and lasts for two to three years.
Many users say that the cards are being sold at a prohibitive price of INR 900
(US$ 14.18). The weavers maintain that these cards should be made available at
subsidised prices. Weaving by handloom workers is done within the house. The
weavers work continuously for long hours and are highly dependent on stable
supply of electricity. Often, though, power supply is erratic, leaving the work
at a standstill. A visit to some houses showed the weavers' harsh working
conditions, including poorly built and serviced structures situated in
unplanned areas. Dissatisfaction was also expressed over the progress of
government welfare schemes meant for handloom weavers. A handloom scheme was
announced by the government as far back as in 2008 but the benefits did not
reach the target groups. Again in 2014, an announcement was made for
establishment of a trade facilitation centre and crafts museum to revitalise
the traditional textile industry; this has yet to come to fruition. The workers
suggest that social audit practices be used to ensure that such government
schemes are implemented effectively
In Varanasi, government schemes aimed at the upliftment of
the lives of handloom weavers have largely failed. Despite these initiatives‑such
as granting identity cards, credit cards, and health insurance‑many workers are
struggling to make a living. First of all, weavers are often unaware of the
government schemes due to insufficient publicity. The city-based People's
Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (#PVCHR) has expressed concern over the
decline of the silk industry due to a variety of reasons, including unbearable
input costs and exploitation by middlemen. A situation analysis of the life led
by #handloom #weavers by PVCHR reveals presence of abject poverty, chronic
malnutrition, changes in profession, and incidence of suicides. It has also
been projected that if timely interventions are not made, the handloom silk
industry faces more 9 hardships in the coming years. Failure in ensuring proper
access to entitlements by the concerned authorities creates a general feeling
of distrust in government. Such distrust can lead to unrest. This has been
observed in Ahmedabad, for example, where the situation became extremely tense
at the time of the slum demolition along the Sabarmati river because many
families were not given a place to go prior to eviction. Anticipating conflict,
the authorities 10 deployed a huge police force. With respect to Pune, Cantú
has identified a number of factors that, if left ignored, could generate
spatial civic conflict, such as failure of government in reserving and/or
acquiring land for low cost housing, slum demolitions and relocation to provide
space for road expansion and parking, and lack of social inclusion provisions
in the city's development plan. And in Varanasi, human rights activists caution
that fundamentalist groups could exploit the unrest among handloom silk weavers
to foment ethnic conflict.
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