Indian Weavers Set For Revival
Indian Weaving Industry has been the most long- established sector, which is responsible for mass employment before independence and after independence. After agriculture, Indian Textile Industry which includes weavers, embroiders, fabricators etc is the second largest sector and supplier of man power and machine power. Also it is a self- dependent industry, not depending on government which includes the training of young weavers. Abundance of homegrown raw material, in-house cheap labour, domestic demand and better technologies makes it affluent for the artisans and workers.
Weaving has begun — A weaver working with cotton threads to bring out a fabric. PIN IT
Weavers of India have not been well recognized by the world as they play imperative role in the journey from cultivation to final garment, thus there is for Indian weavers to be set on revival. Speculations move around the decline of the weavers and their industry due to less recognition and less payment output in their profession. Comparable from 1980’s to 2018, graphs have shown decline as most of the Indian weavers migrated to other professions. Weavers were in critical positions in mid 1980’s till 1990’s as the number of handlooms fell from 5.29 lakhs in 1985 to 2.2 lakhs in 1998.
The North Eastern tribal hand weave, the traditional crafts men besides their beautiful work suffer less market demands and low wages.PIN IT
There have been many reasons post independence in the decline of their profession. Initially the living conditions like living below the poverty line as their annual income recorded was INR 3687, which was low as BPL records at an average of INR 4819 per household. From 1980 till 2017–2018, working conditions have improved but yet not reached to the desired. Other factors which led to the decline, were the coming of power looms which reduced the man power and thus their income. The most prominent incident in 1990 of government policies which imposed taxes on poor and pampered the rich, lost many weavers especially in the drought areas.
Weaving is the technique of “production of fabric by interlacing two sets of yarns so that they cross each other, normally at right angles, usually accomplished with a hand-or-power- operated loom” as stated on the internet. For them it is an art, which has been inculcated in them since childbirth and is passed on as tradition. They are the masters of their art and portray it exquisitely through cotton, silk, linen and Khadi fabrics which are used for garments, furniture, carpets and other household products. Even after it being an art that has been passed on traditionally, today the scenario being that the Indian weavers are set for revival.
Weavers of the mountains, The ladies there weave beautiful traditional outfits and shawls. PIN IT
Indian weavers are totally dependent on this technique for their livelihood. Men, women, children and old age people are equally participating in the work to resonate with a good income for the family. Women are more concentrated towards their work as they are also handling household along with it. On counting the ratio of men to women, men are larger in number as women are not allowed to work in the concentrated areas. Younger weavers age between 11- 40 are more efficient as compared to the weavers working in the age above 40.
Carpet weaving traditional to the colder climates, are now taking over other parts too. PIN IT
Abandonment of looms due to deterioration of incomes and set up of powerlooms has brought the plight of weavers into the eyes of honorable prime minister, NarendraModi. His initiative towards the revival of Indian weavers has led the designers to incorporate the need. Bringing the sustainability back into the fashion with the cotton, khadi and linen clothing from new launched brands like Nicobar, Doodlage, Upasana and No Nasties have contributed a lot for their revivals. Some designers are promoting it by the use of local handloom fabrics. Making handloom a global textile, they are incorporating the local fabrics into their high end couture collections. Some took their own cotton yarn to the locals for more authentication and purity. Brand’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) forces them to forefront the growing movement and help socially. By helping the weavers through their spinning wheel and handloom they are trying well, to restore the Indian Handloom Industry.
A viewers delight the hues and colours are woven to bring the best to the people. PIN IT
Despite the brands and designer’s efforts, weavers are still dwelling with their social and economic conditions. Roja Ramani Mohanraj, weaver of Tamil Nadu told to The News Minute “It takes three days to weave a saree and we get INR 800–1000 for weaving. The labour charges varies with the design”. Weavers are working day and night and weaving out of trouble but still found their lives miserable. Their monthly income varies from INR 5,000- 10,000 depending on the choice of fabric and the design as they only get INR 200–500 per cloth which takes days to weave. Weaving millions and tons of cloth annually and hard working to the core, results into the inadequate incomes which is hard to sustain with in present scenario but initiatives from government and designers would help them to recover and grow.
I Knock Fashion through this is initiating to spread awareness about the plight and conditions of the weavers. Many such initiatives are being made to revive the weavers art by Indian designers, government and NGO’s too.
Source: https://www.iknockfashion.com/indian-weavers-set-for-revival/
