3 reasons why handloom weavers in Telangana, Andhra are in deep distress

The handloom industry of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which has gone into crises periodically since the economic liberalisation of the early 1990s, is again under severe stress.

Take the example of Chirala in Prakasham district of Andhra. Against 11,000 active handlooms in Chirala in 2014, their number has come down to 7,500.

Similarly, in Pochampally, a prominent ikat tie-and-dye variety production centre near Hyderabad, the number of looms has declined to 9,000 from 14,000 over the past decade.

Raw materials get costlier

A rise in the prices of raw materials — including cotton hank yarn, especially in the 40s count, used by a large number of weavers, as well as dyes — in the local markets is the immediate cause of the crisis this time. One of the major reasons for price rise is the export of these products regardless of the domestic requirement.

Another factor is the non-compliance by the spinning mills, concentrated in Coimbatore and Salem in Tamil Nadu, to make available 40 per cent of their hank production to the handloom sector under the provision of the Hank Yarn Obligation. (A 'hank' is a specific length of yarn that is in a coiled form.)

Adding to the problem is the decline in state support in terms of policy, budgetary allotment, and financial aid.

The result has been a rapid increase in the number of reported starvation deaths and suicides by distressed handloom weavers.

Increasing suicides

According to Macharla Mohan Rao, president of the Andhra Pradesh Rashtra Chenetha Jana Samakhya, a handloom weavers’ organisation, as many as 14 suicides have been reported from Dharmavaram in Sri Satyasai district, known for its eponymous sarees, while nine weavers have committed suicide in Chirala (Bapatla district) in recent times.

Another prominent centre, Madanapally in Annamayya district, has reported six suicides.

Chintakindi Ramesh, a handloom activist from Pochampally, said eight suicides have been reported in Pochampally, while the total number in Yadadri district has gone up to 33.

Employment of lakhs at stake

The handloom sector is a major provider of employment in India, next only to agriculture. According to the Fourth All India Handloom Census, 2019-20, the total number of handloom households at the national level was 31.44 lakhs. In the South, Tamil Nadu had the most households (2.09 lakh), followed by Andhra Pradesh (1.22 lakh) and Telangana (28,000).

Initially, when the economic reforms were introduced, a structural change was brought about in the sector, according policy priority to the mill and power loom sectors as engines of competitive growth and export to boost foreign exchange earnings.

Largely due to the sheer number of people earning their livelihoods in this sector, the New Textile Policy, 1985, continued to support the handloom industry by reserving 22 products, bringing in certain policy measures, and through hank yarn obligation. But over the years, these measures, meant to protect handloom weavers, have been diluted, weakened by non-implementation, and even withdrawn after being deemed irrelevant or non-implementable.

GST, last nail in coffin

The GST regime has come as the proverbial last nail on the coffin, putting an additional 5 per cent tax on hank yarn and another 5 per cent on handloom varieties, burdening the already-vulnerable weavers.

Thanks to their organisational weakness and socio-economic vulnerability, the weavers, despite their numbers, have not been able to fight for their rightful share of the pie, standing in stark contrast to the farming community that continues to wage solid resistance against policy apathy.

Why handlooms need protection

Given the current state of the Indian economy, marked by alarmingly high levels of joblessness, it is crucial to protect the already existing avenues of employment.

Handloom is one sector that could be strengthened, given the availability of talent and skill, and the potential for huge foreign exchange earnings through exports. A concerted effort can be made by gathering market intelligence, upgrading design, and providing proper credit and institutional backing.

A recent field study done by the Hyderabad-based Handloom Research Group in the renowned handloom hubs of Telangana, such as Pochampally, Puttapaka, Chandole, and Koyyalgudem, pointed out gross neglect, official irresponsibility, and lack of responsiveness bordering on cultivated apathy.

These centres are known for the production of high-quality silk products of export quality that have withstood the policy apathy and survived on the strength of weavers’ skills and market viability.

Powerful powerloom lobby

A visible indication of governmental neglect is the absence of a check on the widespread copying of the handloom designs through mechanical printing despite the geographical indication (GI) tag protection, in gross violation of the statutory protection to handlooms regarding the exclusive production of certain products.

For instance, the Pochampally weavers, despite the GI tag they got in 2005, have seen large-scale duplication of their famous ikat designs by powerlooms. Despite several complaints to enforcement authorities, the violation of their intellectual rights goes on uninterrupted on a large scale, both by local powerlooms and those elsewhere, for instance Gujarat’s Surat, say the local weavers.

Since there is no evidence to suggest state incapacity, it is reasonable to suspect official compromise and the strength of the powerloom lobby.

Weakened cooperatives

Another prominent reason for the handloom crisis is the weakening of the cooperative sector. Ever since the state of Telangana was formed in 2014, elections to the weavers’ cooperatives have not been held, and those are being run by officials in the handloom department.

With nobody to represent weavers, initiatives and decision-making have been hampered, resulting in a visible non-functioning of the cooperatives, prompting weavers to move to private master weavers for limited work at low wages.

Add to that the piling up of handloom stocks with cooperatives because those are produced following orders from government bodies but not picked up and paid for either. During our visits to cooperatives, we witnessed how even those known to be efficient and vibrant have now become dysfunctional.

A 'failed' scheme

Even for the Bathukamma saree scheme — meant to distribute sarees among poor women as part of the Bathukamma festival by the previous BRS government — the sarees are now requisitioned from powerlooms, and that too from other states even though it was meant to be a flagship programme to provide livelihoods to handloom weavers.

Weavers believe that if this scheme had been conceived and executed properly at the production level, it could have addressed the dual objective of providing work to the weavers and quality sarees to the needy women of the state.

No change despite government change

Despite the formation of a new government in Telangana last year by the Congress in the state, led by Revanth Reddy, there are no visible signs of it addressing the handloom crisis.

The Congress, which came to power with the promises of guaranteeing employment, welfare, and protection of the vulnerable in the spirit of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, has hardly focused on the problems of this sector.

The state and national Budgets also continue to reflect the apathy towards this sector. It is high time that both the state and the Centre woke up to the problems of a productive community and addressed this crisis.