Chinese power Looms And Low Quality Silk Wreaking Havoc The Banarasi Saree Industry

0
403

The lion of Make In India may well be roaring loud in the advertisements, but the ground reality of the weavers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, projects a completely opposite picture. At a time when slogans of banning the use of Chinese products are getting heard in all corners of the country, the weavers of world famous Banarasi sarees are losing jobs at a rapid pace since Chinese power looms are fast replacing the handicrafts of the weavers.

While interacting with MSMN, several weavers of Banarasi saree complained that the intrusion of machines has squeezed the scope and opportunities of their art. It has been learnt that an ace weaver requires at least a fortnight’s time to prepare a Banarasi saree while a power looms require a shockingly less time span of just 3 hours for manufacturing a Banarasi saree. Needless to say that since demand is not as high as the pace of production, weavers are going jobless.

Md Ali Noor whose family carries the long tradition of weaving top notch Banarasi sarees told MSMN, “I saw my grandfather weaving sarees with great care. He was a master of this art. Then the baton was passed on to my father and uncles. None of them faced such a massive unemployment crisis as we are confronting today.”

Talking about the gloomy situation of the saree weaving industry of Varanasi, he said that even though the pay outs were less, many people used to earn their bread by knitting Banarasi sarees before hands were replaced by machines.

“Weavers used to earn around Rs 100-150 per day by working on sarees. But since our art has been replaced my power looms, that little source of income is also vanishing,” said Noor.

Noor further went on to question the credibility of Narendra Modi’s much talked about initiative “Make In India”. Noor said that although the sarees are technically being made in India, the people of the country who were associated with this industry are losing their jobs.

In an explosive statement, Noor further revealed that even the raw materials are being imported from China.

“The silk threads that are used are mostly Chinese. Previously one had to pay 15 per cent import tax but the Modi government has reduced it to 10 per cent which is directly encouraging manufacturers to purchase them,” added Noor. Noor also accused the Chinese silk of being low in quality,

When asked about how those who left their jobs as weavers earn their living now, Noor said that they are either working as daily wage labourers in some other sector are totally unemployed.

LEAVE A REPLY