BANARASI SAREE WEAVING SECTOR
OF
– A study of the working conditions of the unorganised
workers of these sectors.
@
PVCHR,
CONTENTS
|
Section 1 |
Introduction |
2 |
|
|
|
|
Objectives
of the Study |
|
|
Section 2 |
The
Banarasi Saree Sector of |
4 |
|
|
|
|
The
Structure of the Banarasi Saree Industry |
5 |
|
|
|
The
Process of Production |
6 |
|
|
|
The
Various Players and Their Inter-Relationships |
6 |
|
|
|
Role of
Weavers’ Cooperatives and Their Degeneration |
8 |
|
|
|
The Role and Situation of Women in the Banarasi Saree
Sector |
9 |
|
|
|
Some
Costs Transferred on to Women Weavers |
9 |
|
|
|
Remuneration
for the Weavers in the Banarasi Saree Sector |
10 |
|
|
|
Impact
of Globalisation on the Banarasi Saree Sector and wages |
11 |
|
|
|
Health
Status and Working Conditions |
13 |
|
|
|
Migration
to Other Cities / Trades |
13 |
|
|
|
Role
of Government and Other Social Partners |
14 |
|
|
|
Market Chain of
Banarasi Saree Work |
15 |
|
Section 3 |
Some Recommendations
|
17 |
|
|
|
|
Healthcare, welfare and education
|
18 |
|
|
|
Further studies to understand the sector better,
|
18 |
|
|
|
In the area of
market access
|
19 |
|
|
|
An online
portal on weaving
|
19 |
|
|
|
Further
understanding the needs of women weavers
|
19 |
|
|
|
A special cell
on the above sectors
|
19 |
|
|
|
A local museum
|
19 |
INTRODUCTION
#Banarasi
saree weaving is seen as one of the most exquisite crafts-forms of the country.
This craft is in great demand in the export market, and are high revenue
earners for the govt., exporters, middlemen and others who control the trade.
Two Indian cities -
The silk industry has been expanding rapidly over the last several years, with substantial movement and international subsidies for sericulture projects and marketing schemes. In addition to government promotion, major funds to the silk industry come from the World Bank. From 1980-89, the World Bank began active promotion of the silk industry as a means of development by loaning $54 million to support sericulture in Karnataka. In 1989, the World Bank provided two more loans totalling $177 million for the National Sericulture Project of which Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh were recipients. In total, the World Bank provided a $231 million for the expansion of the industry form 1980-89. In 1994 and 1995, the Bank provided a $3 million loan to modernise the Karnataka silk industry and provided further assistance on a $157 million project to upgrade the production and quality of Indian silk.
The
exquisite traditional arts and crafts in
This study
attempts to highlight the state of the Banarsi Saree Sector, working conditions
of artisans with special focus on women. It also seeks to look at possible
future directions for improvement of the situation of artisans in these sectors
in
The following were the broad objectives and scope of the Study:
Objectives of the Study
-
To study the working conditions
of women in the Banarasi sari weavers sector.
-
To examine the impact of global
and resulting national policy environment on women home based workers
specifically in Banarasi sari sector.
- To examine the market functioning and demand for the products in light of the changing global economic environment on these women workers.
The
following tasks helped achieve the above objectives:
-
Examining and listing of the
factors leading to the precariousness of women
workers’ employment in the Banarasi sari weavers sector.
-
Analysis of labour conditions
in relation to gender differentials, wage and employment conditions,
opportunities, and collective bargaining rights.
-
Study of changes in the nature
of their employment because of changes in policy environment at State and
National level due to globalisation (from 1991).
-
Analysis of different costs
facing a woman worker vs. the wage that she is paid.
-
A look at the costs that
governments and companies are shifting onto women workers through precarious
employment contracts.
- Tracing out the market supply chain of the products from the producer groups to the consumer.
The study was not expected to be an intensive study and focuses on a range of issues that are required for program development. Based on the findings, the program for Market Access and trade would be further developed around these sectors The study thus, touches upon the above-mentioned issues and areas, to be able to give insights and direction in which to delve deeper.
The study
entailed the following:
i)
Field meetings with workers to get a first hand
understanding of their problems. Case studies were undertaken to understand the
working and living conditions of workers.
ii)
Trade Unions and workers organisations were located
and meetings were held with them to get a better understanding of the sector
and issues surrounding the workers and the functioning of the Unions.
iii)
Meetings with NGOs, practitioners, academicians, and
others associated with the sector were arranged to understand the sector in a
wider context, especially the impact of the New Economic Policies on the
sector.
iv)
Meetings were held with the Labour Commissioner to
understand the perspective of the Government.
v)
Libraries, institutes and other organisations were
visited in the above cities and
THE BANARASI SAREE SECTOR OF
The
production technology more or less, has also remained ancient-pit type handloom
where the weaver sits with his legs in the pit. The textile industry here is
synonymous with silk sari industry as more than ninety five percent of the
products are silk saris. During the medieval period skilled Muslim weavers from
the West Asian countries came to
The fusion
of Hindu design pattern with the Muslim ones aided by the local climate
conducive to silk handloom weaving, put
Being a
pilgrimage city it attracted lots of tourists who provided market to the
produce. The
The sari
industry, which was thriving once with equity in profit for all sectors of
production, is now seeing mixed fortunes. With the change in time the buyer's
preferences changed. The demand for high valued intricately patterned heavy
silk sari, for which
Over time, designing aspect was separated from production. The continued use of the ancient production technology however proved to be a stumbling block in increasing the production. An improvement was made by incorporating a device in the handloom, which lifted the warp threads according to the design punched on paper cards so that the weft thread shuttle could weave through the design without any manual intervention. This device. Called Jacard, made it possible to reproduce any given design.
The designs are now given to the weavers for production, thus reducing the weaver's contribution to mere supply of skilled labour in the production process. They have been cut off from the market. It is now the traders who keep pace with changing fashion trends and dictate the production. These developments had a major economic implication for the weavers. They were reduced to the status of an ordinary skilled labourer in the industry and with their supply surpassing the demand, saw declining wages. This decline in wages to weavers in turn had serious implications for their family. To survive, all able-bodied family members including children have been drawn into the labour market.
No authoritative survey has been done so far to ascertain the number of looms and the weavers' thereof. According to a survey conducted by the U.P. Handloom Corporation in 1995-96, it reported 75,313 handlooms and 1758 power looms in the district with number of handloom weavers placed at 1,24,832 and 2645 power looms workers. However, as per industry sources, presently the number of looms and the weavers are many times more than the estimates of UP Handloom Corporation.
The Structure of the Banarasi Saree Industry
The sari
industry is a household industry spread over the entire
The designs are developed by skilled designers/weavers who are engaged in the trading or employed by the traders. The designs are sent to specialised shops that translate the design into a series of punch cards. These punch cards are given to the handlooms owners where the woman members sew the punch cards into the specified series and then these cards are installed on the Jacard device placed atop the loom.
There are two types of loom owners. One is an independent producer who buys the raw material and sells finished saris. The other type is one who is attached to a particular trader who provides design and raw material to loom owner. The payment in the case of the former is on the basis of price negotiation while in the case of latter it is a fixed conversion charge (piece rate). Many traders are also owners but they contract out their looms to weavers.
Sari
weaving has been followed as an occupation in most of the areas during the last
30 - 40 years. It was observed in one of the areas (Baghava Nala) that the
earlier generation of weavers used to go to the loom installed at the master's
or Gaddidar's house. Even now, some weavers go there and their earning is about
80 per cent to that earned by a weaver if the work is done at their own houses.
It may be noted that getting the work to homes is in the interest of the
weavers, as the entire family can be roped in - the women and the girl children
at nari hharai and the male children at dharki phenkna at the
looms.
The raw
material suppliers and the finished sari buyers are middlemen/traders/cooperatives.
The industry used Indian silk as also silk imported from
The Process of Production
Production of a sari on a handloom undergoes many processes. The silk yarn called Katan is reeled, bleached and dyed. The dyed yarn is prepared for Tana (warp) and Bana (weft). In case of warp reeling Tana Tanana four to five persons are needed. The length of yarn reeled on a five feet long warp cylinder is sufficient for six lengths of a saree (33 meters). Yarn for the weft is reeled on a small (few centimetres long) cylindrical object and the process is called Nari Bharna. Many such reels are needed to complete a saree. It is used in shuttle Dhirri as also to bring out the designs Buti on the sarees. Nari bharna is almost a continuous process so far the loom is running. All other processes are one-time set-up jobs. Once set-up, six sarees are produced in a row i.e. till the warp yarn is exhausted. The design set-up on Jacard lasts till next design is introduced.
The Various Players and Their Inter-Relationships
There are three kinds of weavers - Individual weaver, Master Weaver and Weaver of the Cooperative Society. The most exploited of them, the Individual weaver uses one’s own material, loom, design and colour. The most critical problem for him/her is the sale and marketing of his fabric, which he accomplishes directly or through the Gaddidar, the middleman or the trader. The Gaddidars control the production and marketing of silk fabrics and have considerable influence upon the social, cultural, economic and political life of the weaving community.
The Master weaver supplies material, design, colours, and the ideas. He engages wage earners and looks after the complete operation of the weaving process and the marketing of the fabric. The weaver (ordinary weaver – not the Master weaver) earns meagre wages for the preparation of sarees, which may take him 5-6 days to 12-15 days. Therefore, this weaver has no option but to work hard to weave a saree in a shorter duration to earn more. This renders weaving an activity in which weavers are exploited. While they work harder, they in fact contribute to the greater profit of the Master weavers. Gaddidars and Master Weavers have access to the market and the demand trends. The numbers of these traders are only around three hundred. Hindus dominate the trading community while weavers are mostly Muslims. The weaver is only concerned with the production and is cut off from the market. They depend upon the traders for design and sale of their produce. In the city, the looms owners are mostly Muslims of weaving community living in different pockets/mohallas.
The weaver has poor connections in the raw material market as well as the retail market of silk fabrics. If the weaver goes to Gaddidar with a finished product, he may point out many defects viz. stains, defective design or pattern, motifs, etc. After considerable haggling, the final deal is struck. The weaver is often given a post-dated cheque of a faraway bank. In need of immediate hard cash, the weaver goes to the commission agent with the cheque and gets money after paying 2-3 percent commission. The weaver, in need of hard cash, may sell his product directly, but is forced to accept a cheap rate.
Till
the recent past, the Banarasi Silk Saree trade was entirely in the hands of Hindu
traders belonging to the trading communities. Their shops are located in
Kunjgali locality in the city. Weaving was entirely in the hands of weaving
community among the Muslims. The traders had the capital and links to the
markets in
The weavers, cut off from the market, were not able to actively participate in the price negotiation of their produce and depended upon the trader's mercy. The traders had twin advantages-market information and mercantile capital. With the growth in the population of weavers, more and more skilled labour was added to the industry while there was little growth in the demand. Increasing supply of labour saw decreasing price/wages to the weavers. At the same time, the fluctuating prices of silk and artificial shortages created by the suppliers caught the weavers in a precarious situation. The increase in prices of silk also made it out of the reach of many poor weavers who switched over to cheap artificial fibres. This led them to start using relatively poor quality of raw material, where the piece rate earning is much less than those out of the weaving done by using the better quality of the raw material.
There is a slight difference in the earnings of an independent loom owner and those attached to a trader. Normally an independent loom owner should get a better price but lack of holding capacity and fluctuating raw material prices force them to compromise with the payment delaying tactics of the traders. This apart, the traders often find quality excuses on grounds of flaws in the quality of weaving to make deductions from even the agreed price. Due to such machinations of the trading community, the earnings of the weavers ultimately comes down to piece rate (conversion charges) irrespective of the status of a weaver - independent or attached. However, in majority of cases the payments to the weavers are made on a piece-rate basis. The normal piece rate varies from Rs.300 to Rs.I000 for a silk saree on handloom, depending upon the complexity of the design. The number of days it takes to complete a piece of saree depends upon the design and normally varies from three to 15 days. Some designs may even take a month.
The saree industry is not seeing much growth in demand whereas the growing population is adding more and more skilled labour on the production side. The reasons for such an influx of labour are obvious. The weaving skill is passed down from one generation to the next in the weaver's family. The weavers are often illiterate, have relatively less ‘security’ of survival of their kin due to lack of awareness / poor healthcare infrastructure, and are afflicted with myriad social problems characteristic to poor, marginalised communities. This makes them prone to having large families, and live under the illusion that there is assured employment in the weaving trade,. As the children of the weavers grow up, they set up their own looms or work as hired labour on others' loom. Lack of education and alternative employment opportunities force them to continue in their own traditional trade. Then migration of weavers from city to rural areas exposed the rural labour to this trade. The rural labour found this trade offering better returns compared to working as marginal agricultural labour and they too adopted weaving.
This mismatch between demand and supply of labour and consequent declining profits for the loom owners on the one hand and lack of alternative opportunities in other sectors of economy on the other hand proved to be a genesis to all sorts of social malaise in the industry. Weavers were being attached with Master Weavers for a little amount of loan (either in cash or in the form of raw material) incurred by them and likewise labour including child labour gets attached to loom owners. In other words, the industry has both bonded adult and child labour as well as bonded loom owners.
The worst sufferers are the children. Compelled with requirements to maintain their earnings, the weavers make their children sit on the looms. Their help in creating design pattern (Buti) and operating the shuttle (Dharki phekna) speeds up production process. If the weavers have looms more than what his family member could operate, hired lahour and hired children come in. Hired children can be sold and bought for a little amount or loan extended to their parents. A bonded person however can move from one owner to another provided the new looms owner pays off the outstanding debt to the first loom owner.
Role of weavers’ cooperatives and their degeneration
The plight of the weavers attracted the attention of the government, which intervened with the establishment of co-operative institutions. The objective was to end the isolation of weavers from the market and vertically integrate them with the source of supply of raw material on the one hand and with the actual market on the other. Aspects of micro-credit were also incorporated in their functioning.
Being plagued with mismanagement and corruption, cooperatives failed in their appointed task. Benefits failed to reach the poor weavers. A few resourceful persons among the weavers pocketed benefits by floating fictitious co-operatives. These handfuls of beneficiaries within the Muslim weavers emerged as another set of traders calling themselves as Master Weavers rather than Gaddidars. They use this terminology as a justification for obtaining continued benefits from the co-operatives. Thus the industry has now two sets of traders, Hindus as Gaddidars and Muslims as Master Weavers.
For the poor weavers, both Gaddidars and Master Weavers are one and the same and are being perceived as belonging to the same flock. The Gaddidars / Master Weavers get workers cards issued from the silk cooperatives, and obtain silk raw material from the cooperatives as workers. The cooperatives claim that after accounting for all the working expenses, the profit is distributed among the weavers at the end of the year. Unfortunately this is not the case.
Weavers share is used as a working capital, bank loans and for various other schemes. The members are supposed to be provided with insurance, and have access to the Thrift funds. The Master weavers, with the help of dummy memberships of the cooperatives, try to appropriate the benefits which are actually given by the Government to the cooperative societies. The provision of insurance and various other funds exist only on paper.
Therefore, instead of ameliorating the plight of the weavers, it can be inferred that the Govt. established cooperative institutions created further misery for them, by helping create another set of exploiters – the master weavers. The co-operative intervention has made a very conspicuous difference in their lives. It has created islands of affluence in an otherwise poor locality of weavers. One will find a sprinkling of palatial buildings sharply contrasting with the poor dilapidated houses of the weavers in the decaying Madanpura Muslim locality where most of the Master Weavers are living. Another fall out of this affluence was displacement of poor weavers living in the adjoining houses of the Master weavers. The locality is so dense that there is no place left for expansion. Thus the poor weavers were offered ‘attractive’ prices to sell their houses to their affluent neighbours. The displaced weavers migrated to rural areas. Lack of space to accommodate the growing population also lead to migration of weavers to rural areas.
The role and situation of women in the Banarasi Saree Sector
The involvement of women in the various processes of saree weaving is primarily a response to supplement the family incomes, particularly, if the family is not in a position to hire workers or to a small extent if the number of persons who could work on saree weaving is relatively less in the family. The latter, however, does not seem to be an important factor as the average family size was in the range of 6-8. The case of adult females working as hired labour in the saree industry is also less and it is only in select pockets such as Lohata - a village having a high concentration of saree weaving. The attempt to augment family incomes, given the low piece rate wages in nari bharai and also the financial constraints faced in setting up even a handloom appeared to be important push factors for adult females to move out of their homes and choose to work as hired labour, despite social constraints.
The roles that women in the Banarasi Saree weaving process play are critical in the process of weaving, but is neither given the recognition nor remuneration due to them. Most of the work done by women is strenuous, repetitive, and un-stimulating. The work of saree katran[3] is done by women. This work is done by continuously sitting for 6-7 hrs. The women, who do the cutting, earn Rs. 5 – 15/- per day by their work. These women are unorganised. The cutting work is usually carried out at home.
The
Gaddidar provides the sarees for the katran work. Anta and Nari filling[4]
and cutting work are carried out by women. It takes 7 to 15 days to produce
each saree. In the Silk saree-weaving sector, non-involvement of women is the
norm. Women are involved in the menial tasks such as the above mentioned ‘nari bharna’,
‘taana kheechna’, ‘anta bharna’, making holes in cardboards for jacards,
cutting of threads and finishing of the woven saree. There is no monetary
compensation for these tasks, which are conveniently ignored from the entire
saree weaving process. Women are not allowed to sit on the handlooms, as it is
seen that women are weak and cannot sit on these machines. There is no attempt
to adapt the looms in accordance with the needs of women. In addition, there is
a feeling that if the women were to come on the looms, men will lose their
jobs, and the cost of the saree will drop drastically.
Some costs transferred on to #women #weavers
In the #Banarasi #Saree Sector, the various players transfer costs to women, who bear the brunt of subsidising the production. In fact if the women did not do the menial jobs without getting any remuneration, the cost of the finished product would be much higher than what it is at present. By not providing adequate healthcare and welfare infrastructure for the women workers the Government is culpable of transferring this cost on to women, who often suffer silently or live considerably reduced life spans.
Women working for long hours, in the absence of crèche or day care facilities for the children implies a lost childhood for the children of weavers. This is an unfortunate cost that is thrust upon the children and women of the weaving communities. The children pay in terms of a lost childhood, no or less education, poor parenting and suffer consequences when they attain adulthood. Many children are drawn towards drugs, criminal elements and indulge in other undesirable / anti-social activities.
Gaddidars and master weavers along with the male weavers / members of a family transfer significant production costs (eg. Nari bharai) on the women members of the household. This cost goes un-accounted for while deciding the market price of the finished product. Measuring the financial implications on the transfer of the above costs on to women of the sector needs further attention.
Remuneration for the weavers in the Banarasi Saree Sector
There are no other employment opportunities. Most of the adult weavers reported to have started working in the industry right from their early days of childhood. As regards wages, they are able to weave a saree in nearly 10 days and for this get something around Rs. 350-400, the actual sum depending upon the quality of the weaving. An average weaver in this area was reported to be working for nearly 12 hours a day. During the marriage season when the demand for Banarasi sarees increase and also during the Id festivals when the need for ready cash is more, most of the weavers reported to increase their working hours to nearly 16 hours a day.
In the context of wage determination, regarding what is the basis of this settlement- what kind of bargaining and negotiating mechanisms are used in the entire process, it is the dismal truth that there is no system of a written contract, the weavers go and buy raw silk from the market or from the Gaddidars. If it is the latter, then it is an advance by the Gaddidars to the weavers and when the weavers have finally woven the saree, the Gaddidars generally take it. Till the time the saree is not sold in the market, the weavers do not get anything. The other arrangement is that a weaver gets the design and silk from the Gaddidars and then weaves a sari, (the weaving normally is spread on an average between 7-10 days) and the saree is then given back to the Gaddidars. The weaver gets a wage payment, only when the saree is sold. In order to manage his cash requirements, in the intervening period, he, may have to resort to taking advances from the Gaddidars - the weavers enters into a form of bondage with the creditor. Such practices are also common in the saree industry. The possibility of additional wage earnings, coupled with no assistance from the weaver's co-operatives forces the weavers to take their children out of school and ask them to work at homes in saree weaving.
It came as a surprise that in saree weaving areas though a large number of weavers' families have been into this occupation for the last two to three generations (such as in Baghava Nala), most of them do not have a completely owned loom. All looms are on contract and are owned by Gaddidars of Bari Bazaar, who provide the weavers with the necessary raw materials. The weavers, we were told, are capable of earning about Rs. 400-500 for a saree, which in turn requires about 8-10 days to be completed. There has been virtually no increase in the wages for the past five years. Most of the women folk of the family are involved in nari bharai and children work for nearly 16-20 hours over a period of a week.
The weavers, it appeared have come to terms to live with such low wages and refrain from making any effort to set up their own looms, whereby they could ask their terms and conditions to be met vis-a-vis the Gaddidars. This is because the weavers feel that, if they set up their own looms, then their own funds would get blocked. This is because their ‘staying capacity’ is too low to sustain during the lead-time when the saree is given to the Gaddidar and payment is received. During the financial crisis, most of the weavers tend to take an advance from the Gaddidars. They are not willing to incur any loan from the local moneylenders. In Baghva Nala again, the weavers manage to get a minimum of Rs.500/- in addition to the amount they have "saved" with the Gaddidar. The repayment of this is done in equal instalments of Rs. 50/- at the time when completed sari is given to the Gaddidar. Only in a few selected places such as Baghava Nala, were the weavers found to be able to perceive that by taking advance or loan from the Gaddidars they actually get into some sort of bondage, till the entire loan is repaid.
For most of others, the element of indebtedness is not there because no interest is paid on the amount taken from the Gaddidar. At times, they might feel harassed at the hands of these Gaddidars. On such occasions, the weavers look for a new master/Gaddidar, who pays the loan incurred by the weaver. In this way, the weavers keep on working for one master/Gaddidar or another. The form of bondage remains the same, only hands change.
Impact of globalisation on the Banarasi Saree Sector and wages
The demand of finished sarees has gone down over the years. Since the 1990s’ the labour wages have declined to about half of what they were earlier. The saree quality has gone up, compared to what they were those days. Also, in earlier days, the sarees used to be of 5 metres, but now they are 6 metres, while wages have not shown any commensurate increase. Also, the power looms are snatching the work from the laps of the weavers. Middlemen and Gaddidars are living like parasites on their earnings.
Shopkeepers on the one hand give difficult designs to weavers and on the other claim that there are no buyers for the finished products. Such excuses using the vulnerability of weavers are often used to further tighten the noose on the necks of the weavers, as any cutbacks in number of orders has a crippling effect on their already precarious economic status. Thus weavers assume a greater onus of getting the work. Also they have additional tasks these days, such as cutting of jacard cardboard designs, which was earlier, not their responsibility.
A weaver
sits from 8:00 AM till 6:00 PM for 10 to 12 days and earns approximately Rs.
350/- on one saree, which gets produced in this much time. During this period,
he takes help for all the Nari, Dharki and Anta filling needed for the job,
from his family – primarily the womenfolk in the household, thus reducing them
to the status of unpaid workers. Though important, these tasks are not given
the status and value that they deserve, and are usually not included when the
pricing of the saree / labour wage fixing is done. According to activist and
thinker Ms. Muniza Khan of the Gandhian Institute of Studies,
The story of the raw material is no better. As regards the availability of raw silk, it appears that the industry is going through a phase of crisis. There is often an artificial scarcity of raw material created by traders. If a small weaver was to go to the market to buy silk, then it would be difficult for him/her to buy in larger quantities, by way of buying a gathia (bundle)- which normally has 5-6 kilograms of raw silk. The smaller weavers cannot buy in such huge quantities, because they do not have the purchasing power and because they do not have enough business in which the raw silk, if purchased could be used. This indicates that the interventions by the government co-operatives or community cooperatives in helping the weavers to gain easy access to the most important raw material i.e. silk, has been not of much positive consequence, as the small and marginal weavers are left out in the bargain. They also do not have enough money at their disposal to block it by way of purchase of raw silk at the so-called subsidised rates offered by the cooperative. It is apparent that, the whole structure of the co-operatives is to allow the bigger weavers to take the advantage of the subsidy offered.
The low economic status of the weavers is due to a number of
factors. When the product is substandard
or the product loses its demand in the market, the weaver has to sell it at a
price that may not even cover his labour cost.
In the weaving industry, imitation is not valued. The product with a
unique design, pattern and texture commands a high price. As soon as the design is copied, the product
gets devalued. The weaver has to bear
this loss. Change of product invariably involves substantial investment that
affects the weavers adversely. Power operated looms also compound the problem,
as an electricity connection is not easy to come by. Moreover, continued declared and undeclared
power cuts add to the agony.
Health status and working conditions
Weavers sit on hand loom machines to weave the sarees. As most of the looms are situated at the residence where there is no adequate ventilation and provision of light, it results in weavers being afflicted by weak eyesight and serious respiratory ailments including byssinosis[5], which is an occupational disease, and is often inadequately diagnosed as TB. The nature of the machinery requires the loom system to be partially embedded into the ground, and for a worker to sit, one needs to make a pit for the weaver to be able to keep his legs. In the pit where the temperature is different resulting in the numbness of the lower portion of the body. In fact in the words of Arjun, a weaver, “Handlooms today are the graves of living people.”
In addition, the reduction of labour wages has had a direct, negative impact on their nutritional status. They fall sick easily, and diseases such as TB, Pneumoconiosis, swelling of their legs, stomach ailments, backache, anaemia, weakness and debility etc. which are common ailments, as far as Banarasi silk weavers are concerned.
As wages are poor, an average worker does not consider health to be a major priority. Food, housing, transport, loan repayment and other expenses have a greater priority in the lives of the weavers. Women do not go to seek medical advice unless they are bedridden. Even in such circumstances, they feel guilty of ‘using the precarious family financial resources on oneself.’
Weavers look forward to much better healthcare facilities than what exist today. In the words of Abdulla Ansari[6] “The weavers suffer from ailments, which need special attention, as they are in any case weak and fall ill easily owing to their poor living and working conditions. Private medical practitioners only look at earning money from the poor weavers and their families, while the Govt. neglects them. It would be ideal to have govt. run medical facilities for the workers and their families, and such a facility could be run on the lines of the ESIC hospitals.”
#Migration to other cities / trades
The
exploitation in the sector has reached such serious proportions, the many
skilled artisans have left weaving and begun to do other work, such as pulling
rickshaws, making incense sticks, peeling and selling green chanas (seasonal
work), and the women have begun to do domestic labour in the homes of middle
class families in their neighbourhood. In addition, weavers are leaving
Role of
government and other social partners
On the availability of various government services, the most talked about issue was that of loans and credits from banks. Though a section of the weavers are of the view that the government has been concerned towards their plight and was trying to do things at the policy level and was willing to advance loans at subsidised rates, the blame mainly lies with the delivery mechanism and the agencies involved in the implementation of these support systems. It was learnt that most of the time the banks deduct up to 40 per cent of the sanctioned amount. Such a state of affairs, makes the weavers wary of any government financial help and thus they prefer not to take any financial help, whatsoever from the government.
Some weavers also revealed that some loan facility had been announced about 10-12 years back and in fact some weavers had also got some benefit under it - but the whole issue of repayment has been mired in controversy, at the level of administration and the politicians- whether the loan should be waived or not.
The issue of power problem was clearly seen. This holds even for the handloom weavers, for the fact that wherever the looms are installed, no natural light is available, and thus the lack of adequate power supply hampers the work of the weavers. The burden of electricity. bills is very high and the weavers are facing problems in clearing those outstanding bills. For them, even if a loan were to be offered to clear these bills, they would not go for it, as they feel that would again be caught in the same quagmire of rising burden of loans.
Some 90 per cent of the weavers have not been able to pay their electricity bills, which is ranging between Rs.50,000 to Rs.1,50,000/- for a large number of families. Many families (about 150 in Jamaluddinpura) sold their houses for payment of their electricity bills and have gone to the other localities (such as Chaubeypur and Kanwarpur). It was also said that while the 90 per cent of them are burdened with over dues in terms of payment for electricity bills, the remaining 10 per cent do not have enough money to get a connection - they are thus stealing electricity.
On the
issue of silk price, it generally hovers in the range of Rs. 1100-1600 per
kilogram. In fact, some of the weavers said that a few months back the price in
the government co-operatives had been higher than the price in the open market.
Generally, the government price is + or - Rs. 50-60 when compared to the open
market price. When a large quantity of silk is imported from
On the issue of interventions made by co-operatives, we learnt that almost every locality in the urban areas has weavers' co-operatives. However, the general feeling is that the weavers are antagonistic to the style of functioning of these co-operatives. Most of the benefits from these co-operatives have only accrued to a select few. "Co-operatives are basically a one man beneficiary. However, during periods of shortages or silk supply there are a few occasions when some more weavers (who are in the good books of the committee members) do get some raw material.
As regards,
loans for setting up a handlooms, which requires about Rs. 8000-10000, bank
loans are preferable to those offered by the co-operatives. In fact, most of
the loanable funds available with the co-operatives have been reportedly used
by the functionaries of the co-operatives. There is an apparent lack of
community participation to ask for loans from government sources. This is
despite the fact that the weavers are aware of the various government schemes.
The weavers are wary of taking any loans from such sources, whereby they would
again be caught in complex web of loan related problems.
MARKET CHAIN OF BANARASI SAREE WORK
In the market chain of Banarasi Saree work as seen in the diagram – 1, there are multiple and complicated stages that the raw material undergoes, before it comes out as a finished Banarasi Saree. The process is long, and the end product reaches the Gaddidar / Grahastha, who have the overall control on the process. The workers are usually at the mercy of the Gaddidar / Grahastha, as they decide the returns that the weavers and other artisans get at the end of their work, and are firmly under the grip of the Gaddidar / Grahastha.
The arrows
in the diagram represent the flow of raw material. After the arrival of the raw
material from
Each value
addition stage from the taaniwala to the dyeing process (shown by small arrows)
is handled by artisans, who are experts in their trade. Finally the woven saree
goes back to the handloom owner / powerloom owner, in case the raw material was
taken from them (depicted by thick arrows). The finished saree reaches the
market via the Gaddidar / grahastha / kothedar. The finishing of the saree is
done at the level of the Gaddidar / grahastha / kothedar (small 2 sided arrows
depict this exchange of finished products).then the workers groups and improve the lot of unorganised
sector workers, especially women, concentrated efforts are needed from multi-stakeholders,
including civil society organisations, govt., workers’ unions, media, corporate
sector and others. 
Given in Table – 1, is the summary of the main problems affecting
the Banarasi Saree Weaving Sector. At a glance, we can also understand the
problems, the larger issue involved, the affected sections, the perpetrators
and some recommendations to deal with the problems. Detailed recommendations
follow the table.
|
Problem |
Issue |
Affected |
Perpetrator |
Recommendations |
|
Poor Wages for weavers, No wages to women for tasks appearing
‘menial’ |
Fair Trade |
Weavers and their families. |
· Gaddidars / Master Weaver. · society at large. · other traders. |
· Establishment / revival of trade unions, cooperatives and other
workers organisations. · Campaign on fair trade amongst patrons. · Portal of weavers for direct access. · Direct market access mechanisms, such as ‘artisan haats’ at local
and National level |
|
Poor Health of weavers and their families |
· Health and welfare · Govern-ance. |
Weavers/ families. Severity of Impact varies across gender / age /
occupation |
· Employers · Govt. |
· Establishment of specialised health care mechanisms. · Crèches and day care centres. · Preventive and promotive health programmes / awareness generation. · Framework to study and deal with occupational health issues. |
|
Poor working conditions |
· Welfare. · Enforce-ment of labour laws. |
Weavers – impact varies across gender. |
· Gaddidar · Traders. |
· Establishment / revival of trade unions, cooperatives and other
workers organisations. · Sensitisation of Govt. office(s) especially enforcement wings of
labour commissioners office(s). |
|
Inadequate / costly raw material |
Fair Trade |
Weavers |
· International Trade . · Local Traders. · Govt. |
· Establishment of silk depots for weavers. · Reforms and transparency in licensing mechanisms. |
|
Low dignity of work, non-recognition of contribution of weavers as
‘artisans’ |
Dignity |
Weavers and their families. |
· Society at large. · Govt. · Gaddidars and traders. |
· Museum at local and National levels, giving history of Banarasi
Saree weaving. · Educational programmes on mass media. |
|
Poor electric supply |
Governance |
Weavers and their families. |
Government. |
· Establishment / revival of trade unions, cooperatives and other
workers organisations and then- · Sustained petitioning with the concerned dept. – UPSEB. |
Crèches and educational / nutritional facilities for children of working mothers would need to be established, to ensure participation of women, and proper care of their children during their absence from home. Organisations such as the Mobile Crèches, who have experience of working with the children of the unorganised sector could be contacted for trainings / running of the centres.
Learning exposure programmes for weavers, who could go to states like AP, Tamil Nadu etc. to learn about the workers struggles and best practices in these states. This programme could be run on an exchange basis. Establishment of night schools to enhance literacy amongst weavers could be of immense help, to tackle the issue of illiteracy amongst the weavers.
Further studies to understand the sector better, and map best practices for learning, even from other states are needed. For example, the framework of the Bharat Bunkar Kendra, established by the Govt. during the 1960s needs to be studied, and revitalised. This could help weavers even today. Similarly silk licensing mechanism needs to be understood, as politics of licensing is of critical relevance to the upliftment single weaver.
In the area of market access,
establishment of professionally managed cooperatives will help in the
establishments of middlemen free distribution facilities for the artisans to
sell their products. Establishment of a
cooperative bank / Thrift and Credit Society of weavers could help in making
capital accessible to weavers at low interest rates, thus helping them to
become free of moneylenders and middlemen. Establishment of ‘haats’ and
exhibitions in
An online portal on weaving could go a long way in spreading awareness and to promote the sectors, with facilities for sales. The online portal could dramatically enhance direct market access to weavers, and for the purpose, a dynamic section, having frequent update facility of an online directory of weavers could be of immense use.
Further understanding the needs of women weavers and creation of special enabling mechanisms to help facilitate their role in the industry is needed. These could include designing special looms built with their needs in mind. Special fund for women weavers could help them becoming economically independent.
A special cell on the above sectors needs to be established in the office of the handicrafts commissioner, for any grievances and complaints. Information regarding this cell and its functions would need to be disseminated for its successful functioning.
A local museum needs to be established,
to document the various practices in the concerned sectors. This museum could
go a long way in helping the artisans understand practices in different sectors
and regions. It could also help in making different sections of the population
aware of the sector, and appreciate the nuances of production, which is taken
for granted. This effort could go a long way in helping artisans know and
appreciate their past heritage, instilling pride and ownership.
Some other recommendations
- Study of other weaving systems used in the North – Eastern states and in other countries needs to be undertaken to improve loom design, especially with reference to women’s needs.
- Special shops selling the products ‘directly from weavers’ need to be established, to ensure better prices to weavers. Establishment of ‘silk depots’ for easy availability of raw material.
- Better electricity supply could ensure better lighting.
-
Standardisation mechanisms for
some sarees can be explored.
[1] Tyabji
Laila (2003) ‘The Problem’ in ‘Celebrating
Craft’ Seminar Issue #523,
[2] While markets are increasing for crafts as well as for mass produced factory products, they are increasing at a much greater rate for the latter, thus resulting in the loss in relative terms for the market share of the former.
[3] Cutting.
[4] Winding of different spools used in the weaving process.
[5] An occupational respiratory disease characterised by shortness of
breath, cough and wheezing. The condition is an allergic reaction to dust and
fungi in cotton, flax and hemp fibres. Prolonged exposure of many years results
in chronic airway obstruction, bronchitis, and emphysema with fibrosis, leading
to respiratory failure, pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale. [Glanze
Walter D. (1993) Mosby’s Medical Dictionary, Galgotia Publications Pvt.
Limited,
[6] Abdulla Ansari is an Office Bearer of the Bunkar Sewa Samiti,
[7]
[8] CMSS is a Trade Union of miners in Dalli Rajhara. It is known for
its work with notable contribution of Late Sh. Shankar Guha Neogi, the landmark
Trade Unionist. The Trade Union runs various welfare schemes including a
hospital for workers and their families to look after their specialised
Medicare needs.
No comments:
Post a Comment