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Meagre pay, lack of government subsidy and fall in demand spell doom for weaving community
Seven weavers have committed suicide in Boodhan Poochampally village of Nalgonda district in Andhra-Pradesh. Once home to some of the most exquisite ikkat weaving in silk and cotton, the Poochampally weavers have failed to keep pace with changing trends.
Traditional weavers have been unable to compete with private mills which copy their ikkat designs and sell sarees at throwaway prices. The weavers association has demanded that the mills be banned from using the designs. Those who committed suicides were ‘freelancers' working for master weavers who used to provide them with material and design. Their pay was Rs 150 per sari. If the sari has buttas (embroidery) or a built-in design, they would get Rs 300.
However orders are hard to come by with the fall in demand. Another blow came when the government did away with subsidy and stopped purchasing handloom cloth. It still owes money to the Andhra Pradesh State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society Ltd (APCO), which in turn has deferred payments to the primary societies.
“The ikkats were once popular but the motifs have become redundant,” says N V R Nathan, director of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Hyderabad. “The technology used by the weavers is obsolete,” he added.
Source: The Week, May 26, 2002
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