Day 12: Animated discussions with the Handloom Weaver’s community and the Indian Institute of Carpet Technology at India’s Spiritual Capital: Varanasi

Arise! Awake! and stop not until the goal is reached. 

Swami Vivekananda

Prime Minister of India & Japan today took part in the Maha Aarti prayers at the ghats of Ganges at Varanasi 

Mentor On Road’s day started with an energetic discussion on a broad range of issues at the Handloom Weaver’s community of Varanasi. The handloom weaving industry plays a very imperative role in the India’s economy. In case of employment, it is the second largest sector next only to agriculture. Within the handloom weaving industry, the modern powerloom industry is the most significant form of industrialization in India and unquestionably one of the world's largest industries.

For more than thousand years, the city of Varanasi (Benaras) has been home to the largest number of handloom weavers in India. It is estimated that there are more than 125,000 weavers in this cluster and it is one of the largest geographical concentrations of handloom weavers in the country. The handloom and power-loom are also coexist side by side in Varanasi. All the weavers in the community are Muslim.

We had an exchange of free and frank talks with the handloom weaver community of Varanasi who run weaver societies. They make handloom products such as curtains, pillow covers, bed-sheets and most importantly Banarasi sarees.

The traditional Banarasi saree is done with lot of hard work and skillful work using the silk. The saree making is a cottage industry for about 12 lakh (1.2 million) people associated directly or indirectly with the hand loom silk industry of the region around Varanasi encompassing Gorakhpur, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Jaunpur and Azamgarh districts.

  

The production system of Varanasi runs through an established system. The system works under the principle that a weaver carry on their work of production either independently or under a mahajan/merchant’s jurisdiction with a superior base of assets. In Varanasi, the word ‘Gaddidar’ is very famous to identify as a mahajan.

The Gaddidar is the entrepreneurial class who often invest their money in several stages of weaving (production to marketing). These Gaddidar have adequate resource to support many (at least 20- 30 independent) production units at a time. The Gaddidars also play a key role in distribution and marketing of the items apart from their role in the process of production.

There are few Gaddidars who invest in big scale and are not directly associated with the process of production. Rather they run their business from the profit generated by marketing products. They employ several specialized personnel to perform the specific jobs for them. In Varanasi, such personnel are named as ‘Master Weaver’ or locally known as ‘Grihastha’. The master weaver is a small entrepreneurial group who supervise the production process in their own production units. The Master Weaver also invests their capital in trading but relatively lesser in comparison to the Gaddidars.

The daily wage of a weaver ranges between Rs 150-200. This paltry sum is insufficient to make one's ends meet. These weavers work for a strenuous 10-14 hours a day. The work that they do, can’t be compared to that of an ordinary laborer who has to put in brute physical effort. But these weavers need to think a lot on the job.

These weavers are highly skilled and dedicated craftsmen who sit on these handlooms and keep track of the microscopic silk thread spun in intricate patterns making exquisite saree designs. But, at the end of the day, they hardly make half the amount a rickshaw puller makes in a day in Varanasi.

Most of the weavers have now switched to powerlooms. Normally, it takes 7-10 days to manufacture a saree on a handloom. A powerloom can do that in less than a day.

The booming textile industry in Surat and Gujarat has also hit the Banarasi saree business. Patterns and designs are copied by traders and sent to Surat for mass production. Automated looms, with the availability of round-the-clock power and cheap labour, makes it possible for Surat to produce five times the volume that Varanasi can and that too at one-fourth of the cost.

Although the intricate and exclusive work of handlooms can’t be matched by that of a power or automated loom, the products of the same design from Surat come at a cheaper price. That is why they have got many takers.

The technology has arrived in Varanasi as well. Weaving on powerlooms is carried out in many parts of the city such as Bajardeeha, Lallapura, Alaipura, Kotwa, Lohta and Shivala. But, the powerlooms are also subjected to limitations.

The major challenge of this Handloom weaver’s community of Varanasi is marketing as they are dependent on the traders. Their second major challenge is finance. They also badly need a design centre in Varanasi.

PM of India Shri Narendra Bhai Modi has declared 7^th August as a national Handloom day. Zero defects zero effect kind of quality is needed to be made in Varanasi for coming out stronger and successful.

Several issues were raised by the weavers which Mentor On Road will be presenting to the PM.

Mentor On Road then moved on to meet students of the Indian Institute of Carpet Technology (IICT) at Bhadohi in Varanasi. These students are studying carpet and textile technology through B. Tech.

The Indian Institute of Carpet Technology popularly known as IICT, the only of its kind in Asia, has been set up by Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India to provide much needed support to Textile, Carpet and allied Industries. The Institute started functioning from 2001.

IICT is affiliated to U.P. Technical University, Lucknow and is approved by A.I.C.T.E. The institute is also a member of I.S.T.E. and CII and recognized by Textile Institute, Manchester, UK.

The main thrust areas of IICT are:

1.       Human Resource Development

2.       Design Creation and Development

3.       Research & Development

4.       Technical Support Services to the Industry

Mentor on Road motivated them to solve problems of the Bhadohi carpet industry and build businesses on a digital platform for them. Mentor on Road also encouraged them on self employment.

Varanasi is absolutely magical. It is said that everything here moves differently. Even Ganges flows from south to north in Varanasi. Even the famous Banarasi saree is not about fabrics but about designs which are based on pure imagination of weavers rather than being inspired by nature. You need the permission of the Shahar Kotwal (Kaal Bhairav - Sanskrit, "Terrible, Frightful" is a Hindu deity, a fierce manifestation of Shiva associated with annihilation) to live here!

Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being. 

Swami Vivekananda