indian handlooms
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Indian Handlooms: An Uncertain Future
By
Anjali Raj and Siddharth Deva, August 2001
Many people say that the future of Indian handlooms has never been as uncertain as it
is today. There are others who take the view that the Indian handloom sector has
managed to hold its own and will do so again in the face of new challenges. This essay
will not be taking part in this debate. It serves as background material for programme
development in textiles and market access policy work in India. It is based on
interviews with the Indian Ministry of Textiles, the Directorate General of
Handlooms, FabIndia Ltd. Dastkar and Urmul as well as on conversations with
weavers in western Rajasthan in July and August 2001.
It is important to note however that the handloom sector in India operates within alarger textile industry that is quite different from the one within which it operated in
the first half of the 20th century. Today powerlooms dominate textile production in
India and have encroached upon the handloom sector’s traditional market. If many
handloom weavers do not have enough raw materials, it is probably because the raw
material is being diverted to powerlooms. The steep rise in cotton yarn prices without
a corresponding increase in handloom product prices has meant that production in
some places has had to be suspended, destroying the livelihoods of handloom weavers
and laying off handloom wage workers.
The major handloom states in India are West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Manipur. These 6 states account for 75% of handloomweaving in the country. Almost all handloom production in India is for domestic
markets. According to the Directorate General of Handlooms, only 1.3% of working
looms produce for export markets.
Handloom weaving in India is still largely a household enterprise, as well as being
predominantly a rural activity (with the exception of Maharashtra), providing
employment to the largest number of people next only to agriculture. Estimates of
number of people employed in the Indian handloom sector employs vary from 6.5
million (Census of Handlooms 1987-88) to 12.5 million people (Census of
Handlooms, 1995-96). According to the Directorate General of Handlooms, of the 2.3million full-time weavers, slightly less than half are independent weavers, about
340,000 work under a master weaver and 450,000 are members of co-operatives.
Outside the northeastern states of India, it is men mainly that do full-time weaving.
However women are involved in post-loom operations such as bleaching, dying,
finishing, and embroidery.
There appears to be a considerable amount of regional variations in the conditions of
the handloom sector in India. In certain states, such as Andhra Pradesh, weaving is
primarily an artisan and home-based rural activity, while Tamil Nadu at the other end
has a relatively high number of non-household units. Another regional variation is in
the productivity per loom, which is much higher in West Bengal and Uttar Pradeshand much lower in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In Rajasthan we noticed that
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productivity differences at the household level were reflected in the earnings of the
weaver households: some weavers were far more productive than others were, and
earning more than them. But in general the earnings of weaver families tends to be
quite low, especially if weaving is the only income earning activity for the weavers.
Handloom markets
The market for handloom products is four-tiered:· The self-consumption sector where handlooms are made for household
requirements and not for sale, as in the northeast of India.
· The rural market where weavers do the marketing themselves.
· The distant domestic market, largely urban, and which is beyond the reach of
weavers.
· Export markets.
Master weavers and private traders market 90% of handloom products. The traders
either retail these products through their own outlets or act as intermediaries supplying
wholesalers or retailers. The bulk of exports are handled through merchant exportersand manufacturer-exporters, the former getting their supplies from manufacturers and
master weavers, while the latter having their own production facilities.
The problem that many Indian weavers face
Low wages, high levels of indebtedness, unemployment and underemployment, even
starvation are the problems that many weavers in India are facing today. In recent
months weavers in Andhra Pradesh have killed themselves out of desperation.
Policies and Practices
The Indian government’s policy on handlooms till recently had an obsession with
employment generation at the expense of other objectives such as efficiency and
growth.
The overall policy on handlooms on the part of the Indian government had 4
instruments:
· Focus on forming and strengthening weavers’ co-operatives as part of a rather
complex organisational structure that also included “apex bodies” at the state and
central levels and is supposed to provide inputs, and credit and marketing channels
to weavers..
· Improving productivity and quality through improved looms, imparting new skills,
designs and technology to weavers.· Provision of subsidies, including assured supply of cotton yarn and credit at
subsidised rates; and other forms of protection including reservation of certain
items for the handloom sector. Under the Hank Yarn Obligation Order of 1985,
50% of yarn production by spinning mills has to be in the form of hanks, for
handlooms.
· Setting up of welfare schemes to help weavers improve their livelihood and
working conditions.
The primary objective of the government’s policy on handlooms since 1950 was the
production of cloth for the masses in sufficient quantities and at reasonable prices. Arange of varieties of cloth was reserved for production in the handloom sector,
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especially controlled or “Janata” cloth (that is, cheap cloth for poor, rural households).
Moreover, the mill sector was forbidden in 1956 or thereabouts to install new looms
to increase their capacity. The Textile Policy of 1985 was a continuation of the earlier
policies of protection to handlooms in the form of reservations and hank yarn
obligations, while the Textile Policy of 2000 was much more of a departure. For
instance it recommended that the least skilled weavers should be shifted to semi-automatic powerlooms, and that the Hank Yarn Obligation Order be reviewed.
Government subsidies and protective measures includes reservation of 11 varieties
of cloth for the handloom sector; subsidy for Janata cloth that ate up over 50% of the
total allocation to the handloom sector in the early 1990s until it was disbanded in
1996.
Credit and marketing support by the government includes cash credit assistance at
concessional rates to primary co-operatives and state-level apex bodies. Credit
allocations across the states and districts are highly skewed and are based on very littleverification of credit requirements. There is much evidence of bogus co-operatives
that have cornered a large share of government credit.
Government modernisation schemes have included the promotion of frame looms
and jacquard looms, training to weavers in new techniques. Several drawbacks with
frame looms that weavers have identified themselves such as less flexibility, having to
weave in worksheds as opposed to in the house, more physically difficult, and
substantial additional investment expenses which weavers cannot afford.
The Indian government has also initiated many developmental programmes and
welfare schemes for weavers. For example the Handloom Development CentresSchemes introduced in 1993 and the Handloom Village Development Scheme, the
Workshed-cum-Housing Scheme, and the Thrift-cum-Savings scheme. It is hard to
differentiate one government scheme from another as their goals are vague and they
lack clearly defined priorities. They also seem to be devised by New Delhi and
implemented at the state level without much reference to regional specificities or
requirements.
The main criticisms of the government’s handloom policy include:
· The Janata Cloth Scheme de-skilled weavers by making them shift to poor quality
cloth.· Only 30% of weavers are covered by weavers’ co-operatives.
· The economic condition of weavers has not improved despite a plethora of
developmental schemes for weavers.
· Steep increases in cotton yarn prices. In the 1990s export-oriented spinning mills
were set up, which enjoy advantages over spinning mills in the Domestic Tariff
Area, because of which there was a steady increase in yarn exports and a steep rise
in yarn prices.
· Building of unsold stock and delayed payments by apex societies to weavers’ co-
operatives has resulted in further deterioration of weavers’ livelihoods.
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Indian Handlooms: An Uncertain Future, Anjali Raj and Siddharth Deva, August 2001 4
If the Indian handloom sector has survived and been able to hold its own, it has done
so despite government policies. Handlooms have maintained a one-forth share of total
textile production in the country. Domestic demand for handlooms in India is growing
because of increasing incomes and increasing population. Several people that we met,
including Urmul and Dastkar said that demand for handlooms was not a function of
price alone. Considerations of quality, texture and design contribute significantly tothe demand for handloom products.
So what can Oxfam be doing and saying to help the handloom sector in India?
Clearly the Indian handloom sector has a great deal to with trade issues. Even in
Pokharan it was noticeable that the market for handloom products was an integrated
and developed market. The men and women weavers whom we interviewed in their
remote villages off the beaten track were not constrained by the small size of the local
market as they had access to exhibitions and retail outlets in Bombay and Delhi.
Oxfam should expand its work in the handloom sector. At the grassroots level, our interventions might include the following:
· Marketing and design support to weavers
· Supporting training in natural dyeing methods
· Improving productivity of weavers by helping them to shift to better technology
· Setting up weavers’ co-operatives.
In terms of policy messages, we can highlight the fact that the main need of weavers’
co-operatives is credit for production with transparent procedures. Government
institutions should also be supporting the efforts of co-operatives to develop their own
marketing network, rather than attempting to market the products themselves. The
Indian government must allow weavers’ co-operatives to function as autonomous,
decision-making entities as there is evidence to show that the co-operatives that have
been able to circumvent government regulations have thrived and have been able to
take advantage of the latest market trend, such as Urmul in Pokharan.
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