On 23rd July, 2007 , there was a brain storming consultation on the issues of weavers, the consultation was chaired by honorable member of planning commission Dr. Syeda Hameed. In this consultation Assistant Development Commissioner Handlooms India Government, Dr. D. S. Gangwar, Mr. R. C. Jhamtani, Ms. Gulshannanda Chairperson of Craft council of India, Dr. Lenin, Convener of P.V.C.H.R., Ms. Arundhati Dhuru, Advisor to Food Commissioner of Supreme Court, Mr. Baddruddin, Leader, Weavers federation, Mr. Bijo Francis, South Asia Desk Officer, Asian Human Rights Commission Hong-Kong, Mr. Siddique Bhai, Convener of Bunkar-Dastkar Adhikar Manch, and many other delegates from weaving community and relevant government officers participated there in consultation. After the brain storming session, the declarations are under mentioned:
·Government has to declare emergency for weaving community in Varanasi and surrounding.
·Stop dealing the beneficiary schemes through private sector it should be implemented by government institutions.
·Government should Open sell depot of silk and provide credits.
·All handloom weavers in crisis are needy of Antyodaya cards government should provide cards to them as soon as possible.
·Strict implementation of Handloom and power loom marks (symbol of produce).
·Special schemes for women weavers would go a long way in encouraging higher and better contribution from women weavers/entrepreneurs and female members of weaver families.
·Revision and revive of cluster scheme in context pro-weavers and artisans.
·Government should check the import of readymade saris.
·Government has to organize clothes/silk carnival for promoting handloom products and advertisement of the handloom products.
·Government finance institute should provide soft loans to weavers.
·NIFT and NIFD have to open their branches nearby weaver's majority area.
·Government should open ICDS Centre as per the order of Supreme Court by priority to weavers.
·Government should allocate special budget for reviving weaving industry of handloom.
·Government should open new schools and health centers for the children of weaver's families.
·Implementation of recommendations of Sacchar committee.
·Registration of Varanasi weaving industry under Geographical indicator.
Essentially, the folk school approach is to improve equality in a society by improving the speech capacity of the poorer and the weaker section of the society. Improving their capacity to talk back and thereby creating a two-way discourse in the society is the way the concerns of the weak are brought to social discourse. The more silent the poor and the weak are, the less they will get from society.
Matters of justice depend very much on the capacity of concerned people to un-censor themselves and to speak out constantly. Normally there are many unwritten rules through which people censor themselves. For example, some topics may be considered taboo in some societies or sub sections of societies. For example, as an effect of feudal culture it is often observed that families of hunger victims hesitate and have subjective reservation to express themselves in respect of their acute poverty and hunger situations to which they have been going through. For example it may be an unwritten rule that some "lower class people" do not talk back to "higher class people". It may also be that some unwritten rules of censorship are enforced by punishments. For example some groups of people, if they talk about themselves and the wrongs that they bear they will be punished either physically or by other means. In all these instances the capacity to un- censor is an essential component of seeking justice. When a small group of people begins to un- censor themselves others watch and soon begin to un-censor themselves as well. In this manner taboos invariably dissolve. The initial stages of un-censoring require:
1.Location from which you can break the rules of censorship while assuring protection for yourself.
2.The will to break such rules of censorship.
3.Creating an audience for you, which may at the beginning, is small.
4.Keeping at it day in and day out until taboos slowly begin to dissolve.
Accumulate information and protect documentation. This is a very important area of trying to create a discourse on justice and human rights issues related to caste discrimination.
ALRC, a sister concern of Asian Human Rights Commission(AHRC) and People's Vigilance committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) organized a folk school for Musahars at Belwa village of Varanasi,India for three months.
In Belwa village Mushars ghetto till now only 8 malnourished children are identified and they have lost their lives against death. Till now they didn't see any thing in there life and fall in the hand of the death.
Mushars always kept away from the Government scheme because with the help of Government scheme their economic standard will improve and they will became self- independent and get release from the slavery of feudal landlord.
Under the planned politics they are kept untouchable for many years and called them as dalits of the village. Thousand of years Belwa Mushars are practicing the slavery system they will take some time to get rid of it.
Now this family engages with the elegance in folk school education. They are daily wages worker from 12 to 1 pm they come home to take lunch they directly come to folk school. Those who did not find work get ready earlier and sit on the platform.
Women's also leave their work of making plate with leaves, women's take 1 hour more to learn and they are learning faster. Imitating elder, children also start going to PVCHRSchool, according to their own knowledge they are guiding their parent.
Folk school start every day with pledge, every people repeats pledge. E very people of folk school sign on the pledge. Their teacher is Sri Virendra Singh, Sri Lottu Prasad and Sri Subedar Prasad.
On 8/8/07 NDTV do recording of folk school to broadcast. In folk school conversation asked that in this age you people are getting education how you are feeling about it? Then Kismatti Mushar said that since my childhood I did not get the chance to go school, now we get the chance to learn and know about our law, right, we can also educate our child and not be further depend on any body for any information. If any paper come from Government is not of our use then we will return it.
Gahara Mushar said that in my childhood once time I went to school, one same day I hit a Singh boy on his head and from that date I never went to school, there is also a feeling of castesim, but now I get the chance and to be self- independent. I want that now our life should be away from the danger of leave plucking, this work is very dangerous. Now I am bored with this work if we find any new work we are ready to do it.
Raj Kumar Mushar said that we are facing caste discrimination, now we are reading then we will know about our right. Now I can read and write.
On every Sunday they will gather and get knowledge about laws like-- Bonded Labour, Sc and St, Child Marriage, women's right, Sexual harassment, so they can us this act for their own protection, in between they informed about dalit revolutionary like –Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Jyoti Ba Phule, Savitri Ba Phule, Kabir, Raidas, Gautam Buddha etc.
These pretend to seem that Mushars are very much optimistic about their study and want to know about every laws and rights. Now they start thinking about their future generation.
First time all male and female of Mushars ghetto look in full confidence.
PVCHR CONDEMNS POLICE VIOLENCE AND REPRESSION IN SONEBHADRA, UTTAR PRADESH
Calls on Government to Negotiate in Good Faith and On Basis of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006
People's Vigilance Committee on Human rights (PVCHR), is deeply concerned at recent reports of escalating police violence and state repression in Sonebhadra, Uttar Pradesh. The Campaign condemns such actions and calls on the government of Uttar Pradesh to settle the issue through negotiations, founded on the principle of respecting the rights of forest communities to their lands and livelihoods.
For several years now Sonebhadra district has been the site of a struggle between the Forest Department and the Kaimoor Kshetra Mahila Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (a member of the National Forum for Forest Peoples and Forest Workers). The Samiti has been fighting for the return of land that the local community claims as their traditional gram samaj land, which has been illegally taken over by the Forest Department. Repeated protests and clashes have ensued, while the Forest Department has reportedly refused to negotiate the issue or recognize the rights of local communities.
Over the past two weeks these clashes have escalated with the arrest of four activists – Roma, Shanta, Lalita Devi and Shyamlal Paswan – and a police assault on the Dalit village of Chanduli this last Friday (August 10th), in which a reported 15 women were beaten up and a number of houses demolished (with threats of further demolition). Recent rumours in the local press point to the imminent application of the National Security Act against the arrested activists.
The use of police forces and draconian laws against activists and people's organizations is highly condemnable. It is the duty of the State government to respond to a democratic agitation in a democratic manner, not by resorting to brutal repression. Moreover, with the passage of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, it is now legally clear that the Forest Department can no longer simply evict people or deny their rights on the basis of executive fiat, especially given that the said legislation provides both for rights over land under current occupation and for rights in case of past illegal evictions and denial of access to community resources. The UP government must allow this Act to be implemented locally and the rights of local communities to be settled as per its provisions, instead of engaging in actions that would subvert the purpose of the legislation.
PVCHR therefore demands the following:
·The release of arrested activists and a withdrawal of cases filed against them, as well as an immediate halt to efforts to apply the draconian National Security Act against the activists;
·Negotiation in good faith with the local community to settle the matter, in full recognition of the rights of forest dwellers and the procedure for settling them under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
On behalf of the Core Group
Note:But Roma's strategy is creating the a bad contradiction which is very dangerous for people's srtuggle.Please a evidence:
The facts given by you sounds very unfortunate. I have worked with Leninji since 2004 and seen marvellous development in the work done with him. I have never sensed any betrayal or fraud in his behaviour, in fact just the opposite. I am aware of the actionaid project, and also aware of the fact that Leninji sits in the Committee which restigated the coordinator. As our views are so different about the same person, I must just say that I will continue my work with Leninji, and gladly like to assist you in your work should there be any area which I can help you in.
It was really nice chatting to you. I again thought that i must provide more info to u regarding Lenin's activites. Just recently his action aid project was withdrawn for maybe misusing of the funds and not showinng results relating to hunger project. The project coordinator of this project in action aid was restigated this year. You can get more info directly from the Action Aid India director Babu Matthew. His cell no. is 9810606988. If u want u can give my reference also. but it is better if u collect info urself. secondly Lenin is doing European commission project with Henri, the National coordintor Sunila was working in one another organinzation NCAS in new delhi. NCAS rule is that if u want to leave a three month notice is required. She gave notice but she took salary from both NCAS and EU. The whole group is quite badnaam in India. Thirdly You can also find out from CRY about his dealings. Apart from this there are no. of other proofs that we possess. That we can provide u confidentially. He should not be aware that the info is being collected.
I know what kind of woman u r. I donot want that u should earn bad reputation in India. I am concerned. I am not either doing this to build up some programmatic relationship with u, there is no compulsion. But I certainly want to caution u as he has betrayed various movements for money. I will campaing against him everywhere.
VARANASI , India (Reuters) - Shiwajatan Rajbhar spends his days weaving golden and silver flowers across exquisite silk saris on a rickety handloom in his mud hut.
Once completed, the handloom sari -- traditionally a prized part of any Indian bride's trousseau -- will be sold for many times his monthly income.
The northern city of Varanasi is to handloom saris what Darjeeling is to tea. Yet despite producing some of the most coveted saris in the Indian subcontinent, the weavers -- said to number between 200,000 and 500,000 -- have never been rich.
Now, with the market flooded with cheap machine-made saris, they are poorer than ever with some turning to farming and manual labor and others resorting to begging.
The weavers are typical of the millions of Indians left behind by market forces even as parts of the country's metropolises enjoy increasing prosperity from a booming economy.
In the 1990s powerlooms became increasingly common, spitting out several saris in a day -- the same time it takes someone like Rajbhar to weave only the first yard of a classic six-meter sari on his wooden handloom, thread by thread.
Machine-made Chinese imitations have in recent years flooded the market, often sold by dishonest dealers as the real thing.
Varanasi 's weavers say they cannot compete, and so thousands of looms have fallen silent.
"They started closing down slowly, one or two at a time," remembers Munni Devi, who lives in Gaurakala village, once home to about 100 handlooms.
Now there are only two still running.
Many of the others have been trashed for firewood. The trenches dug in the floors of their homes to house the looms' pedals now resemble shallow graves.
Before, the families once earned so much they could build sturdy two-storey homes, grand by Indian village standards.
These days, the once proud artisans now slowly sell off ornaments for money and rent land to farm.
WAITING FOR HELP
Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi of local advocacy group PVCHR points out that almost all weavers are either low-caste Hindus or from India's Muslim minority -- communities that have often been marginalized -- and are mostly illiterate.
His group wants the government to follow through on its proposal to introduce a handloom mark of authenticity so that the weavers have a fairer shot at selling their coveted saris in the market.
Until then, if they cannot earn from their handlooms, the weavers must resort to menial jobs, such as driving rickshaws, selling vegetables, laying roads or begging.
In the last few years, around 50 adults and children from weaving families have either starved to death, or killed themselves rather than endure their poverty, according to PVCHR.
Many lack the government ration card to which the poor are entitled, which would give them discounted or free food.
Tuberculosis is also common. The weaver parents of Iqbal Khan, 15, were typical: they went to their graves not knowing they were entitled to free life-saving drugs from the government.
Khan now has the disease that made him an orphan and sleeps most of the day, while his 8-year-old sister shoulders the extra burden of work on their handloom alongside two aunts.
Ramauti Rajbhar, like many weavers, talks about her poverty and hunger with weary good humor.
Likewise, the children playing between the mud huts look happy enough, even if malnutrition has turned their black hair tawny yellow and left their skin visibly dry.
Most of Rajbhar's one-room home in Bhagwa Nala is taken up by two defunct handlooms. She now works as a casual laborer on building sites. If she gets hired in the morning, she takes home 60 rupees ($1.50) in the evening.
She can afford to feed her children only a bowl or two of plain rice and some bread each day. Sometimes they get nothing.
"Tell me, with 100 rupees, what shall I do? Should I spend it on bread, or on medicines or on educating my children?" asked Rajbhar, saying her eldest daughter was about to become a full-time dishwasher.
"I have little hope for the future," she added, her eyes bloodshot and hooded from fatigue.
An Ancient Indian Craft Left in Tatters Sari Weavers Struggle amid Economic Boom
By Emily Wax Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, June 6, 2007; A01
VARANASI, India -- Deep in a labyrinth of stucco buildings, in a dark, cavelike warehouse, Mohamed Javen, 18, switched on a light bulb, sat before his rickety loom and began working on what was once the prize possession of every Indian bride: the hand-woven silk sari.
His feet operated the bamboo pedals, making a rhythmic clopping sound. He carefully positioned hair-thin strands of gold thread into green silk, crafting a glittery lattice of leaves, elephants and birds that unfolded like a painting.
This sari design, which has been in Javen's family for 100 years, can take up to two months to weave. Patterns like these have been a source of Indian pride for more than 2,000 years, with India's version of haute couture adorning wealthy women of the empires ofRome, Egypt and Persia. Until recently, weaving was India's second-most-common occupation, behind farming.
But in this ancient city along the Ganges, Hinduism's holiest river, an estimated 1 million sari weavers are facing almost certain ruin. Cheaper, machine-made saris -- many of which are copied from Varanasi's famous patterns -- are being pumped out of China and from newer factories in India's western Gujarat state. Adding to the weavers' woes, changing fashions and global trade rules have opened the Indian market to foreign competitors, leaving many once-prosperous sari weavers and their families in desperate poverty.
"This loom will be in a museum," said Javen's despairing uncle, Nazir Ahmed, 30, whose family was forced to shut down 12 of their 14 looms. "We would have never predicted this. We were India's artists. Now we are living in poverty."
The new India is home to smooth highways and shiny high-rises, all the accouterments of the developed world. But millions of craftsmen, manual laborers and rural workers are being left out of the economic boom. Nearly 70 percent of India's population lives on less than $2 a day, and with more than 40 percent of its young malnourished, India is worse off than Africa in terms of children's health, according to the United Nations .
India also lacks a social security system, leaving weavers , farmers and others vulnerable to market forces. It is a gaping hole in India's rush to become a developed country that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pledged to fix.
"This is the ugly, painful side of globalization. It's a real crisis. If India is booming, you don't see it among weavers or farmers or other rural laborers, which is to say most of the country," said Lenin Raghuvanshi, head of the People's Vigilance Committee for Human Rights, an aid group here. "Helping those left behind is India's greatest challenge."
Few professions in South Asia were as esteemed as that of the sari weaver -- part artist, part craftsman. Using simple foot-powered looms, weavers for generations have fashioned elaborate patterns and scenes of weddings, mango groves and Mughal processions, replete with elephants and horse-drawn carriages. Their canvases are billowing sunflower and saffron silks, each six yards long.
The father of independent India, Mohandas Gandhi , clad in his homespun loincloth, launched his nationalist movement to defy colonialism by encouraging Indians to stop wearing cheap British machine-made cloth in favor of Indian-made fabrics, partly as a gesture of self-reliance. The hand-loomed saris from Varanasi became a national symbol for India's independence.
But today, the decline of the sari industry has had tragic consequences. In the eastern villages and cities ofUttar Pradesh state, 175 weavers committed suicide last year, despondent over their recent change in fortunes, according to the People's Vigilance Committee. About 70 percent ofweavers' children are malnourished, aid groups estimate. The weavers also cannot afford basic medical care for their children, much less themselves.
That's how Razia Khatoon, the wife of a once-prominent weaver, last year ended up a stranded widow with nine children to feed.
In her village just outside Varanasi, Khatoon said customers stopped buying handmade saris several years ago. She had to sell the gold she received at her wedding, the Indian equivalent of hocking a diamond engagement ring. Soon after, she married off her two oldest daughters "just so that they could be fed somewhere else," she said.
Her husband, Mohammad Ismail, 50, became more and more distressed as profits from weaving continued to dwindle. He also had contracted tuberculosis and was unable to pay for the medicines needed to treat the disease.
"The saris he wove were meant for queens and princesses," she said. "But everything changed. He started to wish he taught his sons more useful skills."
Ismail died in July 2006, Khatoon said. Traumatized by her grief and her new financial pressures, she sat with his body through the night, as her children hugged her.
"I was afraid of the future," whispered Khatoon, 45, red-eyed as she recalled Ismail's death. "Then everything got worse."
Early this May, her pretty 20-year-old daughter, Ruksana, also died of tuberculosis. Now the disease is set to claim her 16-year-old daughter, Salma, who rests limply on a straw mat outside her family's shanty.
What makes the deaths of Ismail and his daughter so surprising is that the weaver's family was always self-sufficient.
Likewise, Ramzam Ali, 32, is the first weaver in five generations to have trouble feeding his family. "I rush every morning to find work as a rickshaw driver or as a day laborer, but there are already so many people already doing those things," Ali said. "If I can't manage to even feed my children, how will I mange to educate them in a different trade?"
Part of the problem is that Ali has a fifth-grade education and no other skills. His father taught him how to weave intricate patterns of lotus flowers and animal motifs onto silk. That's all he ever thought he would need. Now, he joins more than 370 million other Indians in the informal jobs sector, many of them illiterate, unskilled and in dire need of work, according to government studies.
Aid workers trying to help the weavers say the industry desperately needs a marketing campaign. They are talking to Bollywood stars about showcasing handmade Varanasi saris on film while also trying to market the handmade sari to the middle and upper classes as the "little black dress of India" in fashion magazines.
But the campaign has been slow, partly because of greater interest in Western fashion.
In the new Indian metropolis, casual, machine-made cotton kurtas, or shirts, have become the preferred attire of the young; long and colorful, the shirts can be worn over jeans. But as India's markets open, Western fashion outlets like United Colors of Benetton are being flooded by India's young middle class, eager to show the urbane hipness that distinguishes them from their parents.
Despite the boom in many information technology hubs in southern Indian cities, Varanasi 's weaver quarters look like a ghetto, with men sleeping under broken-down looms strung with cobwebs, rutted streets with trash fuming at every turn and donkeys hauling in water for cooking and bathing, tugged along by barefoot urchins.
"I hardly care about booming India when I have no food or money," said Poochland Dash, 60, a white-haired grandfather and a once-wealthy weaver who said through tears that he is considering suicide. He is trying to sell the house he built during the golden years of the sari-weaving industry, with his saris featuring embroidery of men atop animals in rich indigos and reds.
"If a buyer insults me with a too-low price, I swear I will kill myself," Dash said.
Listening nearby, his wife started crying. "If he takes his life, I will take my life, too," she said, staring at the ground.
Special correspondent Indrani Ghosh Nangia contributed to this report.
Dear Lenin Sir, As per the suggestions received from Anil Gupta Sir, we would also like to bring to your notice the possibility of using the 'handloom mark' released by Ministry of Textiles, to meet the menace of counterfeit products, that threatens the livelihood of thousands of economically poor, but creatively rich weavers.
The handloom mark is intended to provide a collective identity to the handloom products and also to serve as a guarantee to the buyer that the product being purchased is genuinely hand woven and not power loom made or counterfeit. This effort in turn is intended to give economic prosperity to our weavers.
Handloom mark scheme works with the help of existing IPR laws and Contract Laws. The Textiles Committee- Mumbai, is the Implementation Agency for Handloom Mark scheme across the country and the services are provided through 31 offices located across the country.
To prevent the misuse of the handloom mark, registration will be done only after onsite verification of individual weavers, master weavers, apex and primary handloom weavers' co- operative societies, handloom development corporations, handloom retailers and exporters, as the case may be. After verification, they will be granted registration on payment of a requisite fee. An agreement will also have to be signed by the user at that time. [Fee for registration: Individual handloom weaver- Rs. 100/ per annum; Master handloom weaver: Rs.2000/ p.a.; Primary handloom weavers Co-Op society: Rs. 2000/ p.a.]. The price of the label is 60 paise(per label). Each label is coded on its backside for easy identification/classification. For example, Code DF followed by coded number will be used for domestic sale and EF followed by coded number for export sales. Handloom mark labels will be supplied on the basis of estimated annual production and sale. In case of exporters, the initial verification will be based on Chartered Accountant's certificate on previous year's performances. The registered users are also required to submit monthly returns.
To prevent the misuse of the Handloom Mark, the ministry has been careful to embed penalty clauses in the agreement between Textiles Committee and the Registered user. The first clause says about cancellation of the registration of the users after preliminary investigation, which also would lead to immediate stopping of further supplies of labels. The second clause attracts action against persons / entities as per the provisions given in Chapter XII of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 which includes imprisonment for a term between six months and three years and a fine between fifty thousand rupees and two lakh rupees. There will be enhanced penalty on second and consequent convictions. The third clause in the Agreement says that it would attract action against persons / entities as per the provisions given in Chapter XIII of the Copyright Act, 1957. The nature of punishment will be same as that of Trade Marks Act, 1999.
In situations wherein consumer has doubts regarding the authenticity of a product labeled with Handloom Mark, he/she is entitled to approach the Textiles Committee along with the copy of the bill and the code number.
But all this doesn't mean that it would be a cent percent successful mechanism to meet our problems. A strong vigilance against those counterfeit products and proper legal actions against those counterfeit producers and distributors are a must do to save our weavers. Educating the public about selecting genuine handloom products is also a necessity.
If you require any further clarifications in this regard, please feel free to write to us. We are with you in your efforts to protect our creatively rich weavers.
Lucknow, June 28: A foreign hand has now extended support to the weaversofVaranasi. Sri lankan economist Dr Darin Gunesekera was in the city on Thursday to discuss the condition and rehabilitation of the Varanasiweavers.
Convener of the People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights Dr Lenin also joined him and said that it was upto the state government to save the losing art form.
"Around 50 weavers have died of hunger or have committed suicide in the last two years. Out of total five lakh weavers, two lakhs have given up the work," said Lenin. "They are living in extreme penury. If the situation is not controlled now, the art form will be lost and it will have serious repercussions all over the country," he added. He said that VaranasiWeavers' Trust was constituted in 2004 for the upliftment of the weavers and development of the Varanasi Saree Industry. A meeting of around 500 weaver leaders was held in April 2007 where various issues and plans were discussed, he said.
Dr Lenin said that they will present a list of demands to the government for approval. " It's not possible to sustain any scheme without full government support," he said. Dr Darin said that the World Trade Organisation policies have not only taken away the jobs from weavers but also from many other small scale industries employees. "The formation of the trust is one step in resistance of the WTO policies. It will enhance the collective bargaining power of the weavers," he said.
"It should be realised that Varanasiweavers and their industry are a valuable resource to India, a country that's undergoing globalisation. So, we need to plan its future very carefully. Weaving is an ancient and major element of art. Weavers can excel if they are given a market. There is no dearth of talent," Darin said.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Weavers fall prey to adverse conditions 24 Jul 2007, 0444 hrs IST ,TNN
LUCKNOW: Deep in the labyrinth of stucco buildings, in a dark cave like warehouse, Mohammed Javen once spent his days weaving golden and silver flowers across exquisite silk sarees in Sarai Mahona weavers locality of Varanasi.
Today he carries bricks at a construction site in city suburbs.
"Javen is brave enough to bid adieu to his family business, as many who reached their end soon after failing to find a job in the silk producing units of Varanasi," said Aftab Ansari of Bunkar-Dastkar Adhikaar Manch. Take the example of sixty-year-old Quasim, who was known for the finesse in zari borders on silk sarees. The man had been a weaver since the age of ten but went virtually jobless since early in 2007.
For over five months he and his family survived by selling whatever belongings and utensils they had. One night in May this year, Quasim and his family could not stand hunger. "Unable to bear the pain of his children, Quasim went out of his house never to return home again. His family filed an FIR. Quasim's body was found later in the nearby well," he recalled with tears in his eyes.
A 20-year-old Neeraj Patel, too, consumed poison failing to find a job, said another weaver Siddique Hasan. This native of Lallahpur weavers's locality, had the burden of two younger brothers, an ailing mother and father.
"For over two months he went out in search of a job. Once, he was humiliated by the gaddidaar (weaver exporter). The boy was shattered and bought a toxic substance on his way back home. He quietly consumed the poison to relieve himself from the humiliation," Hasan confided.
"Silk from the dragon land has invaded our territory and we are striving hard to meet two ends," rued Aftab Ansari, adding, "technology and fashion, too, are our enemy. The burden of credit makes matters worse." Notably, there are three categories of weavers - gaddidars or rich weavers, weavers (those who take a loom on rent for weaving) and weaver labourers. Among all, weaver labourers are the worst affected.
There are over two lakh weavers in and around Varanasi. But less than 55,000 get a job in a year leaving the remaining 1.5 lakh weavers jobless.
"Almost all weavers are either low caste Hindus or Muslims — the two communities which have been marginalised by the upper caste. Illiteracy is another problem which pushes the weavers to seek help from money lenders and credit-giving gaddidars. Not to forget the evil of government apathy," Lenin Raghuvanshi, an activist working for the upliftment of weavers, says.
People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) which has been following the issue closely found that in the last three years, over 50 adults and children from weaving families have starved to death instead of enduring poverty. With each passing day, the skilled hands of weavers are being engaged in other jobs such as driving rickshaw, selling vegetables, laying roads and even begging.
Weaver's aren't alone to bear the brunt, the condition of their family is worse. "Tuberculosis and malnutrition is common," Uttkarsh a research scholar studying 'quality of life of weavers in Varanasi' said. An typical example is the case of Iqbal's parents who went to their graves not knowing that they were entitled to free anti-tubercular medicines.
That's not all, 50 percent of children in weaver families are malnutritioned, concluded pilot survey conducted NGOs in some of the weaver communities. "In blatant violation of Supreme Court orders, a number of children can be seen tosurvive on a mere bowl or two of plain rice and some bread. Some times they get nothing at all," said an activist.
Under such circumstances, education is a distant dream. "What do you expect a weaver to do with such a meagre earning of Rs 35-40 per day? Buy medicines, food or send his children to school," asked Aftab. But after a few seconds, he said, "I just pray that things will improve."
07/30/2007 12:33 INDIA Textile industry on its knees, State help is needed by Nirmala Carvalho The economic Boom coupled with Chinese competition have accentuated the crises in the countries traditional economic sector. Suicide cases among workers reduced to absolute poverty.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) – Economic boom and foreign competition, in particular from China have placed the Indian textile industry: in order to better comprehend the future development of the sector on July 23rd, the People's Vigilance committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), along with other NGO's and the Asian Human Rights Commission(AHRC),Hong Kong organized a state level consultation entitled " weavers and artisans in era of Globalization", in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, believed that hand spinning, combined with weaving on hand looms, was the only logical way for the people of India to become self-sufficient Mahatma Gandhi weaving his own clothes in protest of British control of the Indian textile industry, launched his nationalist movement to defy colonialism and also partly as a gesture of self-reliance.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Lenin Raghuvanshi, Head of the Varanasi based PVCHR, and the recipient of the '2007 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights' affirms that the meeting was organised to "highlight the pitiable condition of handloom weavers of Varanasi" Until recently, weaving was the second-most-common occupation in India behind farming. There are over two lakh weavers in and around the holy city of Varanasi. "But less than 55,000 get a job in a year leaving the remaining 1.5 lakh weavers jobless". "The high unemployment level is worsened by the fact that Almost all weavers are either low caste Hindus or Muslims — the two communities which have been marginalised by the upper caste. Illiteracy is another problem which pushes the weavers to seek help from money lenders and credit-giving gaddidars. Not to forget the evil of government apathy".
In the last three years, over 50 adults and children from weaving families have starved to death instead of enduring poverty. With each passing day, the skilled hands of weavers are being engaged in other jobs such as driving rickshaw, selling vegetables, laying roads and even begging. Weaver's aren't alone to bear the brunt, the condition of their family is worse. 50 percent of children in weaver families are malnourished, in blatant violation of Supreme Court orders, a number of children can be seen to survive on a mere bowl or two of plain rice and some bread. Some times they get nothing at all. About 70 percent of weavers' children are malnourished. The weavers also cannot afford basic medical care for their children, much less themselves.
India's global integration is devastating this artisan class.-this traditional silk industries are facing problems and challenges thrown by liberalization of trade. Dumping of cheap silk and silk-woven garments from China has further aggravated this problem. Due to this, 70-80 per cent of handlooms have been virtually closed down and the weavers are committing suicide. "India is riding the crest of the economic boom –concludes Raghuvanshi - whilst on the other, millions of craftsmen, manual labourers and rural workers are being left out of the economic boom. Helping those left behind is India's greatest challenge".
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