Capstone Project Report

The Silence Of
The Looms
A study on the Varanasi Silk Industry and weavers’ sub-
human living conditions

As Submitted to:
People Vigilance Committee on Human Rights(PVCHR),
Varanasi

Under the benign guidance of:

Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi
Founder/Convener, PVCHR

Umang Agrawal
IInd Yr, MBA Core
NMIMS
3/15/2008

1
 Acknowledgements
I must express my deepest gratitude for Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi,
founder/convener of PVCHR and my project guide, for giving
me an opportunity to work on a subject close to my heart.
Despite his busy schedule, he managed to take out time
providing me the guidance and direction without which this
project would not have been possible.

I also thank Mr Hemang Agrawal, my elder brother and a

fashion designer with expert knowledge of the Varanasi Silk
Industry, for his inputs.

I am equally indebted to Mr Abhishek Agrawal, MBA - Institute

of Rural Management, Anand, for his invaluable support and
inputs.

Umang Agrawal

March 15, 2008

Mumbai

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Contents
Acknowledgements...................................................................................2
Contents......................................................................................................3
List Of Tables..............................................................................................6
Introduction................................................................................................7
Benares Silk Industry: An Overview......................................................8
1.1. Introduction.......................................................................8
1.2. Product Mix ......................................................................8
1.3. Market For Saree...............................................................9
1.4. Market for Non-Saree Products....................................10
1.5. Dry-Cleaning: A Major Constraint ..............................10
1.6. Export...............................................................................10
1.7. Sector-Structure ..............................................................11
Weaver Typologies...............................................................11
Sattiwala, Grihastha, Gaddedar.........................................12
Handloom and Power loom Relationship........................12
Representational Agency.....................................................14
The Weaver..............................................................................................15
1.8. Weaver force And Its Growth.......................................15
1.9. City Village Concentration ...........................................15
1.10. Gender............................................................................16
1.11. Active Weaver force.....................................................16
1.12. Career Span...................................................................16
1.13. Skill Differences............................................................16
1.14. Work Models.................................................................16
1.15. Wage Fixation and Relationship................................17
1.16. Channels for Producer Weaver..................................18
1.17. Weaver: Preference and Aversion..............................18
1.18. Weaver Earnings...........................................................18
1.19. Continuance in Weaving Occupation........................20
1.20. Work Culture.................................................................20

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 1.21. Weaver View.................................................................21
Support Environment............................................................................22
1.22. Support Structure.........................................................22
The Handloom Specific Government Agencies...............22
Co-operative Societies..........................................................22
District Administration........................................................23
1.23. Overall Picture..............................................................24
Credit......................................................................................24
Infrastructure.........................................................................24
Analysis of Business Operation in the Cluster .................................26
1.24. Production Process.......................................................26
1.25. Design.............................................................................27
Mohalla-level Designer: The backbone ...........................27
Weaver Service Centre: Design Wing................................27
National Designers and Banaras........................................28
Real Life Success Stories: Design........................................28
Design Work: Significant Developments .........................28
The Gap..................................................................................29
1.26. Dyeing............................................................................29
Typical Enterprise Scale.......................................................29
Economics of dying..............................................................30
Timetable...............................................................................30
Working Condition..............................................................31
Vegetable Dyeing .................................................................31
Quality and Technology......................................................31
1.27. Card Making..................................................................31
1.28. Weaving ........................................................................32
1.29. Raw Material.................................................................32
1.30. Raw Material Price: Broad Indicators........................33
1.31. Weaver Co-operatives: Some Profiles ......................34
Angika....................................................................................34
Tibetan Brocade....................................................................35
Jagannath : An Exclusive Saree Weaver Group...............35

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Survey Analysis.......................................................................................37
Common Weaver Comments.................................................................46
Diagnosis Of The Cluster And Common Problem.............................48
1.33. Problem Analysis .........................................................48
City Economy and Demography........................................48
Absence of Ownership.........................................................48
Market Dynamics..................................................................49
Policy Environment .............................................................49
Practical Consequence ........................................................49
Swot Analysis..........................................................................................50
1.34. Strength..........................................................................51
1.35. Weakness.......................................................................51
1.36. Opportunity...................................................................51
1.37. Threat..............................................................................52
Strategy And Action Plan.......................................................................53
1.38. Strategy..........................................................................53
PMTI.......................................................................................55
Handloom Alone Alliance...................................................59
1.39. Action Plan....................................................................64
Year 1......................................................................................64
Year 2......................................................................................66
Year 3......................................................................................67
PVCHR and “Varanasi Weavers’ Trust”.............................................68
Annexures.................................................................................................72
1.40. Name and Addresses of Weavers with whom survey
was conducted........................................................................72

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List Of Tables
Table 1 - Looms Ownership...................................................................37
Table 2 - Family Weavers.......................................................................38
Table 3 - Hired Weaving Workers.........................................................38
Table 4 - Mode of Working....................................................................39
Table 5 - Yarn Consumption..................................................................39
Table 6 - Product Made During Last 3 Years.......................................40
Table 7 - Product made During last 3 Years (Dress Material)...........40
Table 8 - Voluntary Closure During The Year.....................................41
Table 9 - Food Closure During The Year..............................................41
Table 10Earnings During Last One Year Own-yarn Work................42
Table 11 - Earnings During Last One Year Job-work.........................42
Table 12 - Benefits Received (Y/N) (No of Weaver)..........................43
Table 13 - Awareness: Weaver Service Center (No of Weaver)........43
Table 14 - Benefit From WSC.................................................................43
Table 15 - Future of Handloom Weaving Occupation (No. of
weavers)....................................................................................................44
Table 16 - Plan To Move To Other Occupation...................................44
Table 17 - Responsibility for the Decline (No. of weavers)...............44
Table 18 - Family......................................................................................45
Table 19 - Assets.......................................................................................45

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Introduction

There seems to be a distinct virtue in illiteracy. It’s only good

that millions of malnourished and impoverished craftsmen of
our nation are not exposed to the rhetoric of “India Shining”,
“Resurgent India”, et al, phrases projecting the rubicund
condition of the Indian economy. For people who do not know
where their next meal will come from (if at all it does), the macro
economic indicators have little value. India has sure made some
remarkable progress over the past decade. No doubt it has. But,
unfortunately this growth continues to elude a significant
section of population, whose plight only shouts in the face of the
GDP numbers.

There are numerous people who have been denied their share in
the development process. One such group is the Weavers of
Varanasi. Their poverty prevents them from satisfying their bare
necessities. Their obscurity prevents them from making their
sufferings known. Their illiteracy prevents them from fighting
against the injustice. In the foregoing pages I shall try to
highlight some of the evils that inflict the industry and some
measures to resuscitate a dying art.

7
Benares Silk Industry: An
Overview

1.1.Introduction
Banaras silk sarees are an integral part of the Indian sartorial
landscape. The historian have traced the handloom weaving
tradition there to 1500 to 2000 BC and located reference in Vedic
and Buddha literature. It seems it specialized in cotton weaving
but made a switch to silk weaving in the 14th century. Around
this time, motifs also changed; bringing in a Persian mark. For
last few centuries, it specializes in brocade weaving.
The sector, in the past, used to experience periodic downswings.
However, it is going through a low patch for nearly a decade
now.
There are about one lac handloom weavers at Varanasi,
presently 40,000 are active. In addition, there are hundreds of
traders, dyers, designers, card-makers and ancillary support
providers. The annual turnover (at Varanasi price) is estimated
at around Rs.400 crores. While being concentrated in Varanasi
City, the activity has spread to surrounding villages.
70% of weaver force is in the city. 90% of city weaver force is
Muslim, while 30% of weaver force in villages is Muslim.

1.2.Product Mix
The main product of Banaras Handloom Cluster is saree and its
dominance continues. The estimated share of saree in the total
value of output varies from 90% to 95%.
The other products are
 Dress material

 Furnishing fabric

 Fashion accessories, eg, stole, scarves

 Saree Streams: Yarn and Look

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The saree segment typically consists of two subsequent.
 Satin-based work (largely Karnataka yarn)

 Organza type work (largely Chinese yarn)

The former is concentrated in North Varansi-Badi Bazar,
Alaypura, Pilikothi. The later is visible in Sourth Varnasi e.g.
Madanpura
Most of the output (90%) gets sold at Banaras. The incidence of
contractor weavers, and co-op societies selling directly to
traders/others outside Banaras is very limited.

1.3.Market For Saree

A Banarasi silk saree is not so strongly on the priority list of an
Indian bride from a prosperous family as it was earlier. The
heavy work (embroidery) sarees are out-competing Banarasi
sarees in the high-end segment. There are two areas in which
heavy work sarees apparently are exerting pressure on Banaras
saree. First, exclusivity. It is possible to make each heavy work
or embroidered saree exclusive because it is easy to make
variations. This is not so in case of handweaving and currently,
there is emphasis on exclusiveness. A basic heavy saree may
cost Rs. 2000 and work on it gets priced at, say, Rs. 8000; leading
to a price of Rs. 10,000/-. Unlike weave, work pricing is
somewhat discretionary and offers scope to the retail outlets for
larger margins. The heavy work trend according to market
observers, is undermining the significance of exquisite weave in
the traditional aesthetic consciousness. This shift from weave to
non-weave ornamentation, they apprehend, may not be
temporary and poses a serious, long-term threat to the prospects
of higher-end Banarasi saree.
In the lower-end segment, Banarasi saree does not possess long-
established or traditional brand equity. It has grown
quantitatively in this segment as a result of expansion of weaver
force and market conditions. As we shall later see, it is fighting
power loom sarees there. It manages to secure some volumes
but mainly at the cost of helpless weaver. South India in recent
years, has emerged an at attractive destination for Banarasi
sarees in lower-end segment.

9
At another level, the brand equity of high-profile retail outlets
(e.g., Kala Niketan) now, in certain context, matches or exceeds
that of Banarasi high-end sarees. This has affected the value-
chain; such retail outlets securing a larger share of the price-
cake; squeezing the share of Banaras-based players.
In both price segments, saree has been facing problems and
these problems do not appear temporary; notwithstanding
occassional spurts in demand.

1.4.Market for Non-Saree Products

These dress material, furnishing fabric, accessories-are selling on
the strength of their own aesthetic/economic strength; without
drawing strength from Banaras brand equity. The customers,
unlike in case of sarees, do not actively seek Banaras weave in
respect of these products. In fact, for dress material and
furnishing fabric, the sector has not attempted product
development; it merely sells fabric.
Tie and dye, Chikan and such other styles sell as ready-to-stitch
salwar-kamiz kits; highlighting neck design, sleeve design, and
so on. Banaras dress material is not sold this way. It sells as
running fabric. Kutch sells cushion covers; Banaras sells only
furnishing fabric. The non-saree product line, rather small in
relation to total Banaras output, thus, is not showing any sings
of noticeable growth.

1.5.Dry-Cleaning: A Major Constraint

The sarees and non-saree products, entailing silk and often zari,
demand dry-cleaning. Given the growth of washing machines,
which handles even woolen garments, customers find dry-
cleaning rather expensive and irksome. The limitation hurts
market prospects, particularly in the lower price segment.

1.6.Export
The estimated of share of export in handloom output at Banaras
varies from 2% to 3%. It is meagre. Besides sarees for ethnic
population abroad, the products are
 Furnishing fabric

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  Accessories, e.g., scarves, stoles

 Buddhist brocade
The exports, in most cases, entail large volume (for a given
trader); the industry does not have networking systems. The
orders are time-bound. The exporter, many times, converts it
into a power loom order. The products in the overseas market
are largely positioned in purpose terms – saree, table runner,
curtain, stole and its handloom identity remains either
undeclared or lowkey.
There are few countries, eg, Australia and New Zealand which
offer incentives for handmade products and so importers ask for
an appropriate certification from the Export Council; hopefully
bringing the fact of handmade product into focus. However,
most of the world does not require such evidence at all.
The export products move largely on the strength of intrinsic
aesthetics and workmanship; bereft of Banaras brand-equity.
The foreign buyers remain fairly removed from Banaras in terms
of reaching down directly to local traders and societies, leave
alone weavers or asking explicitly for Banaras weave and
design.
Under the quota system, handloom was not within the purview
of quota. Now that quotas are phased out, the advantage is
wiped out.
The industry has not been able to explore the neighbouring
country saree/lahenga market, e.g., Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,
Pakistan.

1.7.Sector-Structure
The sector consists of a set of producers and intermediaries (see
chart). Let us turn to major elements.

Weaver Typologies
There are distinctive patterns, though the lines among various
typologies are not sharp and change.
A weaver is either a job worker-receiving dyed yarn and design,
handing over a woven product and receiving wages – or a

11
 businessman in his own right. In the latter case, he invests in
buying yarn; he may produce according to the design bought by
him or the one supplied by buyer. The weavers who operate one
or two looms – barring few – are largely job workers. They form
95% of the now active weaver population at Varanasi.
The weavers who are businessmen are often called “master
weavers” at Banaras. A master weaver generally means an
experienced and gifted weaver but here these traits are
incidental or non-existent and so we shall call him contractor
weaver. A contractor weaver may operate a few looms under his
own tutelage and enter into a wage-payment relationship with
some other weavers. There are likely to be kinship or
neighbourhood ties with wage-payment receiving weaver.

Sattiwala, Grihastha, Gaddedar

On the market side, there are sattiwalas, grihasthas and
gaddedars, the last two terms often being utilized
interchangeably. A Sattiwala, however, is a broker. He
intermediates between the seller and the buying trader and gets
3% commission from the seller. It is an open, transparent
mechanism. A sattiwala generally does not engage in weaving
or outsourcing of weaving work; though he may be engaged in
other allied business, eg, yarn-sale.
Grihasthas buy from weaver-contractor or weaver or sattiwala
and sell to gaddedars/non-local traders; they assume buy-sell
risk and hence the margins are not fixed. Some of them also do
what contractor weavers do.
The gaddedars are large traders at the end of Banaras-level
chain. Many of them have retail outlets at Banaras and/or sell
Banaras output to outstation traders. Some of them also do what
contractor-weavers do. Some are also engaged in yarn trading. It
is the contractor weaver, grihastha, gaddedar combine (CG2)
which controls the sector.

Handloom and Power loom Relationship

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At Banaras, the two sectors are extremely inter-twined. While
there are estimatedly 40,000 working handlooms, there are
10,000 active power looms.
Grihasthas diversified into power loom to avoid handloom
pitfalls of high labour cost and slow production rate. When
powelroom faced competition from China, they shifted to
computer embroidery on Surat saree. Next, computer
embroidery on Chinese fabric. Besides, such other possibilities
as non-saree products and exports. So, CG2 are dynamic. They
are not dedicated to any technology – hand or power. They are
not dedicated to any stage in the chain – weaving or post-
weaving. They are not dedicated to nature of operation – trading
or production. They are, however, substantially tied down to
products – saree and dress material. No wonder, fresh entries of
new CG2 are quite common.
It is power looms at Surat which produced handloom look-alike
sarees and made the first market-assault on Banaras handloom
sarees. The industry at Banaras, rather than fight back, joined
the power loom bandwagon.
Most players in the chain, (including leaders of handloom coop
societies) excluding a poor weaver who possesses one or two
looms, are simultaneously the owners of power loom. Except for
a wage-receiving weaver, the emphasis is on product – saree,
dress material, etc. – rather than power-dependence or
otherwise of technology. For them, it is an integrated operation
requiring nimble-footed and clever shifts in emphasis from one
to another from time to time.
It is not practical to produce 100% silk fabric on power loom.
Power looms mix silk and synthetic. Handlooms have also
begun doing this; reducing the gap.
As handloom moved from higher end to lower end products,
designs got simplified, rendering it vulnerable to copy by power
loom.
Since handloom owners got to own power looms, it became easy
for them to pass off power loom products as handloom
produced.
The switching practice, in normal course, should evoke
disapproval. The disapproval almost withered away because

13
 many, including government organisations, allegedly resorted
to it, it is rumoured to occur at the most high profile spots.
The customer knowledge, in some cases, declined. It is difficult
for an average customer to tell handloom from a power loom
product. There are simple, practical ways of educating and
empowering the customer but the trade channels do not
perceive any benefit from such education and have not invested
in it.

Representational Agency
While there is an association of traders (gaddedars), there does
not exist any association of weavers, designers, dyers, card-
makers. The biradari or neighbourhood gatherings do not take
up occupational agenda in a comprehensive or a decisive way.
The trader association consists of 500 members; it does not
admit a new member unless all members of its governing body
agree. It is active in terms of lobbying for government policies,
dispute redressel and philanthropy.

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 The Weaver
As detailed earlier there are about one lac handloom weavers at
Varanasi, presently 40,000 are active. 70% of weaver force is in
the city. 90% of city weaver force is Muslim, while 30% of
weaver force in villages is Muslim.

1.8.Weaver force And Its Growth

The weavers are located in the city as well as surrounding
villages. The weaver-population is estimated at 1 lac. The
handloom census of 1995 reported this at 124832. I have not
been able to track the growth in weaver population over a
period of time. However, given the socio-economic composition
of Banaras city, it is believed that weaver population has grown
more rapidly than overall city population. During last 34 years,
the weaver population in all likelihood has tripled. This is a
crucial in relation to a sector whose performance is deteriorating
for a decade now.

1.9.City Village Concentration

The weavers are concentrated in specific parts of the city and
selected villages.
Moadanpura and other Area: Silk and silk-cotton kora silk, mainly
Chinese yarn. Low-end work
Lohata Silk-Nylon, Polyster-nylon, Polyster-
viscose. Lower-end and middle-end work.
Largely crepe and work on it
Badibazar and Pililothi Middle-end Traditional Work. Satin-based
Work. Mainly Karnataka Yarn
Rampur Higher end work
Chandeli Higher end work

70% of weaver-force is located in Banaras city. In the city 90% of

weaver force is estimated to be Muslim. In villages, backward
communities dominate weaving and account for reportedly 70%
of weaver force, the remaining are largely Muslim. In villages,
15
some of the backward class families have tiny land holdings but
Muslims, there, by and large, do not have such holding.

1.10.Gender
Weaving is a male centred occupation. I came across rare
women weavers. The number of women weavers is likely to be a
three-digit one. However, there is reeling and bobbin-filling
work which is generally done by women. The implicit workload
is generally played down. Such work amounts to 6% to 8% of
weaving work in terms of time. Its labour cost gets masked
included under wage payment which a weaver receives.

1.11.Active Weaver force

In a discussion on weaver force, the concept of active weaver
force, sometimes, gets relegated to background. A broad
estimate of such workforce is 40,000. The power loom weavers
have largely moved from handloom sector and this, sometimes,
is responsible for fuzziness in numbers.

1.12.Career Span
While a weaver carries on till late age, depending on his
eyesight and health, he is most productive in 18-45 age group.
Subsequently, productivity (and hence earnings) decline.

1.13.Skill Differences
At a fundamental level, the skill differences across weavers are
not significant. The skill range, intrinsically is not as wide as,
say, in case of carving. However, weavers develop an
orientation based on the nature of work they do. Thus, a weaver
working on a high-end product cultivates an eye for errors and
acquires patience and precision. The trade, in its own context,
highlights these traits and tends, sometimes, to present these as
basic differences in skill.

1.14.Work Models
A weaver works either as a mere wage earner or as a producer
or on a mixed pattern. Under wage earning pattern, he receives

16
dyed yarn and returns a hand woven product made according
to the design provided by CG2.
As a producer, he sources yarn; gets its twisted, dyed; either
selects the design or receives it from CG2 and produces a hand
woven product, either in anticipation of demand or against a
prior order. A weaver who follows the producer model,
generally, has at least two looms.
95% of weavers are now wage receivers and hence producer
model is of limited interest.

1.15.Wage Fixation and Relationship

The wage-fixation process, apparently, is well negotiated. A
weaver, first weaves a saree according to the sample, figures out
the workload and then negotiates the weaving charge. However,
he generally works for one or two CG2 and the negotiation
occurs in the framework of his relationship; personal
circumstance and market knowledge. The market for weaving
charge is not exactly perfect in so far as relationship (may be,
temporary) is an overriding factor.
A weaver remains loyal to the wage-giver. He does not weave
design given by one wage-giver, if another wage-giver asks him
to weave it. He may change the way-giver every few years. The
discontent over weaving charge, inadequacy of work, delayed
payment, deduction from committed payment and such other
reasons culminatie into a change. It is a dynamic, human
relationship. The wage-giver often revises downward the
committed weaving charge on the ground that the market
conditions and hence sale price realization is poor. There are
penalties for defective work.
The wage-givers also give an advance of Rs. 10,000/- to the
weaver, early in the relationship. If the weaver moves to another
CG2, the advance must be settled by him or the CG2. This is a
wide scale, though not universal practice. The value of advance
in relation to annual earning (50%) imparts to the arrangement
an element of disguisedly mild bonded labour.
The wage giver-weaver relationship has some paternalistic
element. In times of business slump, wages farm giver out work
to weavers under his fold to support subsistence living for them.

17
But then, a weaver is expected to be grateful and understanding
and accept less attractive wage from this CG2 in times of
business peak/weaver shortage. It is a nuance relationship with
built in ingredients to delay or avoid the split between the two.

1.16.Channels for Producer Weaver

A producer weaver, by and large, sells to local
satti/grihastha/gaddedar. The incidence of his bypassing these
local tracks and reaching out to non-local traders or local retail
outlets is negligible.

1.17.Weaver: Preference and Aversion

Some CG2 maintain that weavers have a penchant for simple
work and aversion to high-end work. This appears to be half-
truth. A high-end saree may entail two months of weaving;
forcing weaver to haggle with CG2 about the amount of wage
payment receivable against work in progress. Simple work gets
finished in a few days and payment becomes due; ensuring
quick cash flow. The risk in terms of
Amount involved
Delayed payment,
Penalties for defective work
Non-payment
It is also low in case of simple work. It is the poor economic
strength of the weaver, which forces him to prefer an average-
but-frequent-and-low-risk-cash flow to above average-
infrequent-high-risk cash flow.

1.18.Weaver Earnings
The weaver earnings vary from Rs. 18000 to Rs. 30000 per
annum (Box-A). The average is likely to be in Rs. 20000 to 24000
range. It is inappropriate to ascribe this fully to the current
slump. If market conditions improve vastly, the worker earnings

18
 are likely to improve marginally because the weaver force-active
and passive-is so large.
There has been absolute decline in earnings @ at least 30% to
40% over last 10 years. A weaver who was getting Rs. 100 per
day in mid -1990’s gets Rs.60 per day now. If inflation is factored
in, the decline is sharper.
The following illustrates range of decline in absolute earning
over last 10 years.
Chaudari Saree : 50% decline.
Organza Saree : 30% decline
Box - A
Weaver Earning
Annual: Rs.18000 to Rs.30,000; the average being somewhere in between.
Over Time
Absolute decline of at least 30% to 40% ovger last 10 yea4rs. a weaver who
was getting Rs. 100 per day in mid-1990’s gets Rs.60 per day now. If we factor
in inflation, the decline is sharper. The following illustrates range of decline in
absolute earning over last 10 years.
Chaudari Saree : 50% decline.
Organza Saree : 30% decline
The wage earnings from Tankha saree have gone up over last 23 years. By just
25%!
The traders and master-weavers emphasise the convenience of working at
home for a weaver. This is true but the discussion masks that fact that it helps
traders/master weavers avoid on investment in production space and often in
looms. The discussion focuses solely on return on labour – which everyone
acknowledges is a pittance; but bypasses completely the fact that a weaver
also deserves return on space/equipment. The prevailing market value of
space for two looms is a few lac rupees.

The earning reported include, besides wage payment for

weaving work, the following.
Reeling/bobbin filling work put in by the women in the family

19
The economic or notional rental for loom-area provided by the
weaver (the convenience of working form home is stressed to
the exclusion of fact that the weaver provides space for
production facility; his family bears the loom noise. The
discussion typically emphasizes weaver advantage and blanks
out rent-saving benefit to CG2.
National interest on investment in looms and depreciation
thereon (in some cases CG2 invests in looms).
If we factor in return on above-cited three components, it
seems that the return on weaving labour on average, is in Rs.
40 to 45 range.
A weaver, typically, works on a few designs (single digit) in a
year. He is required to spend four to five days for readjusting
the loom and related tasks for changing over from one design to
another. This is not paid for. The receipt of a fresh order itself is
considered enough compensation. If the order quantities turn
out to be small and hence change over frequent, the weaver
earnings- other things remaining equal-will be hurt.

1.19.Continuance in Weaving Occupation

Despite this, the weavers continue in this occupation because
Alternative occupational opportunities are not available
Alternative occupations- largely unskilled labour-do not seem to
promise better income security and income level
Alternative occupations deprive a worker of the convenience of
working from home
Alternative occupations entail strenuous physical labour under
harsh conditions and loss of dignity
In personal discussion, most stakeholders (weavers themselves
included) present the negative features of alternative
occupations as the advantages of weaving occupation; watering
down in the process the key problem of meagre return on
weaving work.

1.20.Work Culture

20
I must also clarify that work culture is satisfactory. The weavers
are willing to put in long hours and sacrifice holidays, if work is
there and wage are decent.

1.21.Weaver View
The weaver generally blames market conditions for his plight.
The resentment over his share in the cake is rather low-key. In
fact, he points out the supposed tightrope walking which CG2
are doing and does not voice any explicit dissatisfaction about
their role or responsibility.

21
 Support Environment

1.22.Support Structure
This consists of the following.
 Handloom specific government agencies

 Handloom co-op societies

 District administration

 Financial institutions/banks

The Handloom Specific Government Agencies

These are
 Directorate of Handloom (DOH)

 Weaver Service Center (WSC)

 Institute of Handloom Weaving Technology

It registers and assists co-operative societies and monitors their
work. It manages rebate schemes, if any, on handloom sale and
organizes handloom exposition; (sale-cum-exhibition). DOH
manages schemes of assistance for handloom weavers. These
include loom upgradation, work shed-cum-housing, design
development, skill upgradation, publicity, market development
assistance, support for export, group insurance, health package,
etc.
The WSC focuses on field-training as well on-campus training of
weavers and dyers. It does some amount of product
development work. It develops designs. It issues identity cards
to weavers.
The institute offers a three years diploma in weaving. The
entrants to the college and graduates from it, for practical
purpose, do not have any link with Banaras handloom sector.

Co-operative Societies
There are 385 handloom weaver societies. These societies, by
and large, are private enterprises in spirit. There is generally a

22
 single individual driving force – he may have worked as a
weaver earlier. He organises work in a manner a weaving
contractor does and engages with the trade channels in an
identical way. The weaver members are focussed on wage
payment. A society may make an occasional direct sale effort
but the divorce between market/financial operations and
weaver – role is complete. The society organiser leverages on
developmental and welfare schemes for the handloom sector
and the extent of benefits percolating to weavers depends on
organiser orientation. It has become an organisational apparatus
to enable a private entrepreneur avail of official incentives
rather than to promote co-operation among weavers for
collective well-being. The public sector banks shy away from the
societies. The state-government guarantees for assistance to the
societies arrive almost at year-end; leaving little time for
productive utilisation of assistance. There are some who lament
the irregularities plaguing many of these societies and clamour
for a probe.

District Administration
Within district administration, there are District Industries
Center, Joint Director of Industries and District Rural
Development Agency. The first two reported that given
existence of DOH, they do not engage in handloom-promotion
work. DRDA has not promoted any self-help groups of weavers.
Union Bank of India is the lead bank. The RBI format for
reporting credit targets and performance stipulates handloom as
a clear, separate sector and lead banks in most cases, follow this
format. The banks at Varansi, however, combine handloom with
small industries, making it impossible to ascertain credit to
handloom sector. Thus, there are neither targets nor
performance marks in respect of handloom, as stipulated by
RBI, though it is the mainstay of local economy.
In personal discussion, bank officials state that credit to
handloom sector is virtually non-existent. The sector-record and
prevailing pressure on banking industry to avert risk are
responsible for this.
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has not
extended any credit or promotional support to handloom sector

23
 National Agriculture Bank for Rural Development (NABARD)
has supported a women self-help group engaged in buying of
cocoons at an auction and reeling it. The work has just begun
and it is premature to judge performance. The sector-sources
and sericulture specialists rule out potential for large-scale
organization of such reeling work.

1.23.Overall Picture
The support mechanism, on the whole, evokes the following.
It is proceeding in an omnibus, routine-rigid, all-India official
format, touching little on the specific needs of Varansi
The district administration and credit institutions have stayed
away from the sector.

Credit
While the formal or institutional credit has passed by the sector,
informal systems thrive.
The traders or job work providers often issue post-dated bearer
cheques (PDC) to weavers against wage payment. The PDC
system also encompasses, to some extent, such others as dyers
and card-cutters. There are “battedars” who offer cash to
recipients of these PDC, of course, at a discount. The weavers
bear the discount or the interest burden.
The rate varies from 9% to 30% pa; depending largely on the
creditworthiness of the issuer. There is a reputed local trader
who issues unsigned cheques (the discounter gets cash from the
trader himself or the trader signs it so that discounter gets cash
from the bank). The volume of such discounted cheques could
not be ascertained at Varansi but it runs into several crores.

Infrastructure
This impacts productivity, output and profitability in a marginal
way. The key issues are housing and electricity. The houses,
once, used to be decent sized. The families, during last few
decades, grew but economic status declined. The houses got
divided; became smaller and cramped. In many houses, it is
almost impossible to work without electricity. Some houses leak

24
in rainy season; affecting tempo in September, around which
time peak season begins. There are weavers who are used to
listening to tape-recorded music while they weave. The power
supply at Varanasi is erratic. So, many weavers are forced to idle
spells, when power goes off. The cramped housing and
congested surroundings cause family squabbles; dissipating
productive energy. While there has been some migration to
nearby villages to reduce congestion in a house, this has been on
a rather limited scale.

25
 Analysis of Business Operation in
the Cluster

1.24.Production Process
This consists of yarn de-gumming (some cases), twisting (some
cases), pre-weaving operations of bobbin-filling and tani work
and weaving based on a given design and corresponding cards.
The post-weaving operations, save packing, occur largely at the
retail outlet level.
It is always the yarn, which is dyed.
The production time varies, depending on the design. However,
a banarasi saree being woven on handloom in less than six days
is rare. An expensive saree may take a few months. The
accompanying chart amplifies the process.
Yarn
Sourcing,
degumming,
twisting and dyeing

Design
Ancillary Operations
Generation, selection, graph-
Tani work, Bobbin filling
making and card-making for the
loom

Weaving of
Fabric/Sar

Post-weaving Operations
Packing, Buti-cutting, polish
(at retail outlet level)

26
 1.25.Design
There is all round acknowledgements, among stakeholders, of
the importance of design. Let us understand the prevailing
processes.

Mohalla-level Designer: The backbone

There are designers in all weaver neighbourhoods. The estimate
of number of designers varies from 100 to 300. A designer
undergoes a training-cum-apprenticeship before branching out
on his own; beginning in late childhood or teens. It extends up
to 8 years. It is nearly fulltime, and in this sense, causes the
trainee to drop out from the school. High school finishing
designers, thus, are rare.
The (freelancing) designer gets input from master
weaver/trader or develops own design without such input. He
generates designs in anticipation of demand; thus incurring the
risk and cost of its not being ultimately paid for. An average
designer takes one day to produce a design; and produces
around 50 to 75 designs per year. He shares these designs with
prospective buyers; fine tunes the chosen one based on
feedback. He gets, on average, Rs.300 for a selected design. The
buyer may simply buy the design and pay him or ask him to
make a graph as well. He spends two days or so for making a
graph. Relative to design generation, graph-making is a routine
task; devoid of creativity. The designer may perform both
functions; often receiving a package price. He works for 10 to 15
regular customers and a few occasional ones. His exposure to
design books/journals/exhibitions is negligible. His contact
with the external, visible design fraternity is completely absent.
He earns around Rs. 4000 per month, net of small expenditure
on stationery and colour. His earnings are clearly better than
those of a weaver; though meagre in themselves. He is the
creative backbone of the sector.

Weaver Service Centre: Design Wing

The Weaver Service Centre (WSC) possesses a design wing. It
produces designs and sells these to traders. Its designers hold
27
 internal workshops. It picks an idea, e.g., Panchmahabuta and
generates designs and makes some impact on the local design
scene. The design buyers, sometimes, are niggardly in
acknowledging WSC authorship of a design. The following
features of its working, however, are striking.
Its ties with mohalla-level designers are weak and nebulous
It interacts mainly with fair-sized or large consolidators/traders.
Its work lacks visibility. For instance, it has not held a well
publicised exhibition of its work at Varanasi.

National Designers and Banaras

The well-known national designers appear to have adequate
knowledge of local outfits, which can produce according to their
specifications as also the local cost structure. Occassionally, they
get some elements made for incorporation into their work. They
borrow from Banaras design rather than contribute to it.

Real Life Success Stories: Design

In terms of design innovation, stakeholders cite a solitary
private initiative was taken by one manufacturer M/s Narayan
Das Jagdish Das, who develops a new design “Valkalam” for
saree, which became a runaway success. I could not locate any
other success stories during last one decade.

Design Work: Significant Developments

During last few years, the designs – relative to earlier times-
have begun changing rapidly. The average life of a saree design
earlier was two years. This has now crashed to six months.
However, the share of design development in product cost is
insignificant and this has not decisively impacted the pricing or
profitability. It is the short-duration weaving and the risk of a
weaving duration being abruptly or prematurely cut short
which has put strain on weaver-trader relationship.
The growth of power looms has influenced design work. There
is a trend towards simplification of product (and hence design);
rendering it fit for power loom weaving.

28
 A priority task for designers now is to work out designs
generally woven on handloom but achievable on power loom.
Earlier, small designs were repeated on a saree. Now, there is a
demand for large, non-repetitive design on a saree.

The Gap
The following gap in the design practices in Banaras could be
observed.
The mohalla-level designer mechanism denotes a highly
localised and fragmented mechanism; through rich in terms of
traditional knowledge. How much do the numerous designs
overlap? What is the Varanasi-level utilisation (or wastage) of
total creative output? How do the mohalla-level designers
renew and strengthen their creative resources? How does the
market feedback/ideas flow to the designer? The answers to
these questions are not clear but, on the whole, appear
unsatisfactory.
There does not exist any venue at which discerning buyers/craft
enthusiasts/ tourists can watch a collection of Varanasi designs
in relative ambience. There has not been a single exhibition of
design. The interface between the fashion designers and these
mohalla level designers is not present in Banaras.
There does not exist any mechanism for fashion forecasting and
market feedback to guide the design work.

1.26.Dyeing
This means dyeing of yarn. The estimate of mohalla-level dyers
varies from 300 to 500. They operate from their households.
Traditional Dying method is in practise for dying the yarn in
Banaras.

Typical Enterprise Scale

A typical dyeing unit possesses 400 to 500 sq. ft of built up
space. Usually it has two chulhas. One chulha handles
maximum 2.5 kgs of yarn in a batch. It can produce up to 25 kgs
in 10 hours and so the capacity of normal dyeing house is 50

29
 kgs/day. But in normal practice it was found that they do 20 to
30 kgs/day. This is mainly because the batch size varies.
The CG2 orders extremely small quantities. 1 or 2 kg is the
normal dyeing order quantity. But some time the dyers receive
order for dying big quantities such as 25 kg. A dyeing house will
accept an order of dying even 100 gram of yarn. So for an
average unit it is difficult to exceed 25 kg/day output.

Economics of dying
The economics are as follows.
Particulars Rs./Kg
Job work Charge 60
Coal consumption (2 to 3 kgs/kg. of yarn) 10
Caustic Soda 8
Net payment to hired workers 12
Deduction on account of poor workmanship 2
Bad debts 3
Effective income 25

The customer, in respect of above costing, supplies the colour. A

dyeing house handles 625 kgs/month, earning a net jobwork
income of Rs. 18750/-. It employs 7 workers and 3 family
members. The three family members, put together, earn
Rs.15,625 /-. They put in own labour; invest in working capital,
assume business risk and dedicate premises. The owners
claimed that premises are worth Rs. 20 lacs. Even if this is
exaggerated, it is clearly a repeat of non-rental-for-premises
syndrome which weavers face. Admittedly, the condition of
dyers is not as pathetic as that of weavers.
Dyeing forms a small part of total product cost and hence low
compulsion to reduce this cost.

Timetable
It dyer generally delivers the finished yarn the same day. The
work does not stop in monsoon because he is not responsible for
drying.

30
Working Condition
The dyeing work clearly entails occupational hazard. There are
fumes in not so open premises harmful for respiratory system.
There is ungloved handling of caustic soda. The energy waste in
chullahs is considerable.

Vegetable Dyeing
WSC and few others have utilised vegetable dyes. This remains
a limited experience. Besides, they do not seem to have achieved
access to relevant markets. Vegetable colours may mildly fade;
they are not identical across batches. A vegetable dye
enthusiastic outlet/buyer, according to some experts, readily
accepts these limitations. The Banaras exporters cited these as
major problem, implying, according to these experts, that
Banaras exporters have not located the right customers yet.

Quality and Technology

The poor colouring is a widely felt concern at Banarasi. A dryer
with whom I spent time admitted that colour on 10% of output
runs. There are inferior colours, inadequate time and not enough
temperature.
There are two views on the soundness of technology.
One concludes it is intrinsically flawed. Other is that for tiny
lots, this is ideal and if operating procedures are followed
thoroughly, colours will not run.
The government provided semi-automatic plants to two co-
operative units of 20 kg/batch capacity each. These have not
done well, reportedly because of lower effective capacity and
electricity problem. In any case, these have functioned as captive
units; not open to others and so have not made any difference to
local dyeing scene.
In the whole chain of operations, there is unanimity that dyeing
is the weakest element and responsible for damaging customer-
confidence across product line.

1.27.Card Making

31
This is a somewhat mechanical and hence not so critical
operation in the chain. There are cards hung from the top of the
loom, which guides the thread and thus weaving. A design
generally involves a few hundred cards. A card cutter cuts and
punches these with small non-electric implements, working
from his own premises. He makes 200 cards/day. He charges
Rs. 2 per card. The raw material cost is Rs. 1 per card. He, thus,
earns almost Rs. 200 per day. He receives cash payment. He gets
cards on credit. The raw material cost has gone up by 25% in last
seven years, while selling price of card has stagnated; hurting
the wage earning. However, a card-cutter is significantly better
off than a weaver.

1.28.Weaving
This entails pre-weaving operations shown under earlier chart.
On the loom, jacquard has spread fully. I did not come across
significant ideas for weaving technology improvement except
that the weaver faces the reverse side of the fabric and utilises a
mirror to check defects. Most regard this as a non-issue but an
award winning weaver calls it a significant issue. I have devoted
a separate chapter to weaver issues.

1.29.Raw Material
These are silk yarn, zari, art silk and in some cases,
The import of silk yarn was earlier licensed, causing market-
distortions. Now, it is under OGL and the stakeholders are
happy over this. The imported silk yarn comes mainly from
China. There is anti dumping duty on it (total duty @ 30%). The
popular deniers are: 16-18, 20-22, 24-26. The yarn consumption
varies from 35 gms to 80 gms per sq. mts.
Generally, the warp yarn is not de-gummed, while weft yarn is
de-gummed. De-gumming pushes up yarn price by 25%. The
warp yarn may be single ply or two ply. The weft yarn is
twisted; two ply. Two ply yarn is not de-gummed. It is called
“kora”. Once it is de-gummed, it is called “katan”.
The estimated share of Chinese yarn consumption varies from
50% to 65% of total silk yarn consumption at Banaras.

32
The availability, distribution, pricing and price-volatility, on the
whole, are satisfactory and the stakeholders do not voice either
policy or market-centered grievances.

1.30.Raw Material Price: Broad Indicators

Chinese Yarn Rs. 1200/kg
Karnataka Yarn Rs. 1500/kg
Art silk (for mina) Rs. 250/kg
De-gumming of Yarn 2.5% loss
Twisting Cost Rs. 200/kg
Zari
Real Rs. 10,000/kg
Powder Rs. 1800/kg
Imitation Rs. 600 to 700/kg
Plastic Rs. 400/kg

33
 1.31.Weaver Co-operatives: Some Profiles
I am presenting below the profiles of three successful co-op
societies to strengthen our understanding of weaver/sector.

Angika
Amrish is the leader of Angika, a co-op society, working for 25
years now, in Ramnagar. There are estimatedly 5000 weavers in
Ramnagar. Angika membership is 250 weavers. Dyeing is done
by non-members. It is largely into sarees. Non-saree output
accounts for 15% of total output. 80% of its saree production is
organza; in Rs. 1200 to Rs. 3000 price range.
The dress material/furnishing/ fashion accessories do not enjoy
a ready Banaras brand equity and weavers are also not quite at
home with these products. This limits the volumes.
80% to 90% of Angika outputs is sold in the local market.
They receive firm advance orders and price commitment in
respect of 25% to 30% of outputs; rest is in anticipation of
demand. They were into Tibetan brocade business but have now
phased out.
The society has reported the following financial results.
Year Sales Turnover Wage Payment to Profit/Loss (Rs. in
(Rs. in lac) Weavers (Rs. in lac) lac)
2004-05 120.00 32.00 9.50
2003-04 110.00 30.00 9.00
2002-03 105.00 29.00 8.00

200 weavers are active; so average annual payout should be Rs.

16000 per year (2004-05). On weaver earning, in personal
discussion, Amrish reported Rs. 36,000 to Rs. 40,000 annual
weaver earning for top 10 weaver and Rs. 12,000 for bottom 10
weavers. In a formal format, he reported the following annual
weaver earning.
 Maximum Rs. 27000

34
  Minimum Rs. 22000

 Average Rs. 24000

Evidently, the average earning (Rs. 24000), the active weaver
force (200) and the annual payment to weavers (Rs. 32 lacs) do
not tally.
The weavers have availed of the following benefits
Work 8 Health Nil Insurance Nil Loom 12
shed Upgradation
ID Nil Credit Nil Loan Nil Other Nil
Card Card Specify

This is a successful well-organized society with relatively happy

weavers.

Tibetan Brocade
Sami Khan is the driving force behind a group of weavers in a
village few kms. from Varanasi. He is engaged in weaving
sarees and Tibetan brocade. The Tibetan brocade sells @ Rs. 100
to 1000/sq.mtr. The annual sale is Rs. 1.25 crores. He operates an
outfit in Nepal which is the conduit for sale to Tibet and China.
He emphasises that Tibet is closed for personal business
exploration and thus is grievously hurting his margins as well as
volumes. The brocade is a religious product; it is cut up
according to a religious code and incorporated into garments.
He does not have either knowledge of the religious complexity
of end product or of making such end-products.
90% of his Tibetan brocade output is Nepal bound; just 10% sells
in India.

Jagannath : An Exclusive Saree Weaver Group

This is a traditional weaver family, which has structured private
enterprise into a co-operative format. It operates two co-op
societies whose combined annual turnover is around Rs. 1
crores; the business is stagnating for some years now. The group
provides 800 to 900 sarees and 200 to 300 lahengas per year, the
unit price realisation is around Rs. 10,000/-. There are 200
weavers under its fold; most of them in 40 to 50 year age -group
35
because work demands patience and precision. Half of them
work from home; the other half work at centralised work shed
set up by Jagannath because supervision helps in such work.
They are one of the few outfits at Varanasi known for higher-
end work. However, the weavers or “owners” are not
flourishing. They have a linkage with a few high profile retail
outlets across the country, eg, Kala Niketan. They produce
designs and samples. The owners of retail outlets drive a hard
bargain before committing a quantity; forcing Jagannath to cut
corners. The old customers make quick payment but expect
them not to work for other/new customers. The new customers
secure credit. They are aware of the huge margin of retail outlets
but do not participate in exhibitions. There is a tacit
understanding that they will not short circuit the channel. They
scan design magazines. The owner could reel off a celebrity list
and a designer-list; having interacted with many of these. They
find a way of reaching out to celebrities who came Varanasi
through hotel-channels but such direct sale is negligible.
National designers source from them but such direct sale is also
little. They have a bank limit of just Rs.1.75 lacs and interest is
14% per annum (they reportedly had defaulted on an earlier
loan).
In personal discussion, the owner admitted that it is the retail
outlet’s brand equity and range which sell. He toyed with such
ideas as putting up an exhibition in a large city, while hiding
own identity. On contacting a few celebrities and high network
individuals (they have a database) in a large city. Both proposals
entail working capital investment and require discreet action.
They also have electricity problem. The growth of embroidery/
embellishment poses a threat to Banarasi saree. Banaras present
a weave leading to apprise of, Say Rs. 10,000/-. The hand-
wroked saree is often a Rs. 2000 (power loom) saree on which
handwork is valued at Rs. 8000/-; presenting a Rs. 10,000 option
to the customer. Handwork – unlike weaving – can be unique to
a single saree, enhancing its exclusive character. The exclusivity
advantage of handwork has dented the emphasis on premium
weaving.
The children of gifted weavers are not interested in weaving.
They are entering embroidery, wooden toy and sculpture work.

36
 Survey Analysis
To understand the working, business operations and problems,
the Entrepreneurship Development Institute Of India organized
a structured questionnaire based survey among 88 weavers, 5
Designers, 6 Traders and 5 Cooperative societies.
Total 4 questionnaires were developed for conduction survey for
different cluster actors. Copies of the Questionnaire are enclosed
as Annexure
It was a sample survey and the findings are as follows.
Weaver Survey
Together, they possess 202 working loom; (Table-1) denoting an
average of 2.4 looms per interviewed weaver (family).
CG2 have provided 2 looms (2) to just one of the 88 weaver
families.
Each weaver family, on average, has folded and put away 0.64
looms. In other words, one out of every five looms is folded and
stacked away.
TABLE 1 - LOOMS OWNERSHIP

Working Looms provided by Looms folded

No. of Looms
Looms Grihastha/Others stacked put away
0 3 87 43
1 11 0 27
2 51 1 14
3 13 0 1
4 10 0 1
5 or more 0 0 2
Total No. of
88 88 88
weavers

Looms sold in the last three years: 0

Looms bought in the last three years: 0

37
There are on average 2.42 weavers (family members) per family.
(Table 2)
TABLE 2 - FAMILY WEAVERS

Working Family Weavers Weaver Family

1 14
2 50
3 10
4 6
5 3
6 1
7 1
12 1
Total 86
Weighted Average 2.42

In addition, they have hired workers- a weaver family, on

average, has hired 0.43 workers (Table-3). The recourse to hired
workers, thus, is limited- just one hired worker for six working
family members.

TABLE 3 - HIRED WEAVING WORKERS

Hired Workers Weavers

0 56
1 24
2 5
3 1
Total 86
Weighted average 0.43

77 out of 86 reporting weaver-families work as job-workers. Just

8% of them buy their own yarn (Table-4).

38
TABLE 4 - MODE OF WORKING

Mode of Working No. of Weavers

Own yarn 7

Job-work against labour payment 77

Mixed 2
Total 86

The weaver-families reported the following yarn consumption

in last three years (Table-5)
Silk : 20.64 kgs
Art silk : 16.81 kgs
Zari : 17.88 kgs
Other Yarn : 5.38 kg

TABLE 5 - YARN CONSUMPTION

Yarn Consumption in last Silk Art silk Zari Other

three years in Kgs Material

1 to 5 kg 0 0 0 51
5 to 10 kg 9 22 18 24
11 to 20 kg 37 43 41 4
21 to 30 kg 27 10 15 0
31 to 40 kg 6 4 6 1
More than 40 kg 3 3 2 0
Total 82 82 82 80
Weighted average 20.64 16.81 17.88 5.38

The finding highlights an annual average consumption of 20.2

kgs per family or 8.78 kgs per working loom. It shows that the
share of silk in total consumption is 34% only.

39
The interviewee families report having made 67 sarees, on
average, during last three years; yielding an annual average of
little over 22 or 10.2 sarees/loom/year.

82 out of 86 reporting families are engaged in saree weaving

(Table-6).
TABLE 6 - PRODUCT MADE DURING LAST 3 YEARS

Sari No. of Weavers

None 4
1 to 25 2
26 to 50 22
51 to 75 17
76 to 100 35
101 to 125 4
More than 125 2
Total 86
Weighted Average 67.04

On the other hand, just 9 out of 86 families pursue weaving of

dress material. They have woven dress material @ 4.23
mtrs/loom year (Table-7).

TABLE 7 - PRODUCT MADE DURING LAST 3 YEARS (DRESS MATERIAL)

Dress Material (Mt) No. of Weavers

Nil 77
100 to 200 Mt. 4
201 to 300 Mt 1
301 to 400 Mt 1
401 to 500 Mt 3
Total 86
Weighted Average 29.68

40
The working loom days at the disposal of weaver-families are
74460/year (no of looms x 365 days). On a voluntary basis, they
did not work for 6630 loomdays (8.9%) (Table-8).

TABLE 8 - VOLUNTARY CLOSURE DURING THE YEAR

Closure Loom Days No. of Weavers

30 to 60 days 25
61 to 90 days 42
91 to 120 days 11
121 to 150 days 5
151 to 180 days 3
Total 86
Weighted Average 77.10

They were forced to remain closed for 10183 loom days (13.67%)
(Table-9). In other words, a loom was voluntarily not worked
for 32.5 days; it was forced-presumably for lack of work-for-50
days; implying that it worked for 283 days in a year.

TABLE 9 - FOOD CLOSURE DURING THE YEAR

Closure Loom Days No. of Weavers

Nil 54
30 to 120 days 16
121 to 210 days 1
211 to 300 days 0
300 to 390 days 7
391 to 730 days 5
Over 1000 days 3
Total 86
Weighted Average 118.41

The nine weaver interviewees who buy their own yarn and
pursue weaving as a business reported an annual turnover of

41
Rs. 15.87 lacs. Their net income can be estimated to be around
Rs.5 lacs or Rs. 57000 per family (Table-10).

TABLE 10EARNINGS DURING LAST ONE YEAR OWN-YARN WORK

Sale Proceeds (Rs.) Weavers (No)

Nil 77
60000 to 75000 2
75001 to 100000 1
100001 to 180000 3
More than 250000 3
Total 86
Weighted Average 18459.33

There are 77 job work families, which reported earning of Rs.

32.12 lacs or Rs. 41714 per family/year. We saw earlier that there
are 2.4 weavers/family. This suggests an annual job work
earning of Rs. 17380 per weaver/year. Or a daily earning (283
days) of Rs. 61.4. (Table -11)
TABLE 11 - EARNINGS DURING LAST ONE YEAR JOB-WORK

Wages Received (Rs.) Weavers (No)

Nil 8
up to 24000 13
24001 to 48000 37
48001 to 72000 25
72001 to 96000 1
More than 125000 1
Do not want to tell 1
Stop weaving 2
Total 88
Weighted Average 15615.13

I conducted interviews on benefits from the government

schemes. They claim not having received benefit under any

42
 scheme, barring a solitary weaver acknowledging insurance
benefit (Table-12).
TABLE 12 - BENEFITS RECEIVED (Y/N) (NO OF WEAVER)

Health Insurance Work shed Credit card Other (Specify)

Yes 0 1 1 0 0
No 88 87 87 88 88
Total 88 88 88 88 88

45% of weavers are aware of the existence of Weaver Service

Centre (Table-13); others are not.
TABLE 13 - AWARENESS: WEAVER SERVICE CENTER (NO OF WEAVER)

Awareness Weavers
Yes 40
No 48
Total 88
Six out of 88 weavers have drawn design support from WSC;
other have not derived any benefit from it (Table-14).
TABLE 14 - BENEFIT FROM WSC

Benefits Received Yes No Total

Training 0 88 88
Design 6 82 88
Other 1 87 88

43% of weavers find the future of weaving occupation bleak,

while 30% believe the opposite, rest belong to “do not know”
category (Table-15).

43
TABLE 15 - FUTURE OF HANDLOOM WEAVING OCCUPATION (NO. OF
WEAVERS)

Future Weavers
Bright 26
Bleak 38
Do not Know 24
Total 88
However, under 3% of weavers plan to move to other
occupations (Table-16).

TABLE 16 - PLAN TO MOVE TO OTHER OCCUPATION

Plans to move to other occupation Nos. of weavers

Yes 3
No 85
Do not Know 0
Total 88

The combination of traders and govt. (50%) tops the list of

those who are responsible for the decline in the eyes of
weaver (Table-17). There are 43% who blame govt. alone and
6% who blame traders alone.

TABLE 17 - RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE DECLINE (NO. OF WEAVERS)

Responsible Weavers
Traders and Govt. 36
Govt. alone 31
Traders alone 4
None 2
Govt., Weavers and Fate 1
Do not know 14
Total 88

44
TABLE 18 - FAMILY

Adult working Adult non-working Children Total

Male 202 53 214 469
Female 156 57 264 477
Total 358 110 478 946

TABLE 19 - ASSETS

Premises No of weavers

Own 88
Hired 0
Total 88

45
1.32.

Common Weaver Comments

 Power looms are affecting handlooms

 No option available for shifting to any other work

 Efforts should be done to strengthen the marketing of

Banaras handloom products
 Problem is due to slump in market

 No timely payment of wages

 Govt. should make efforts to improve marketing of

products and condition of weavers
 Designer Survey
Interaction with Five designers brought out the following.
 All underwent apprenticeship, ranging from 6 to 9 years

 In 2004, three designers generated 101 to 150 designs

each; 2 produced 151 to 200 designs; one made less than
50 designs
 In 2004, three designers generated 26 to 40 graphs, other
two generated 25 or less graphs
 Four designers reported that 50% of their designs get
sold; one said this was 60%
 Three designers work for 8 to 15 regular clients each; 8 to
15 not-s-regular clients each and 5 to 10 rare clients each.
Two designers do not have any regular clients at all
 In 2004, four designers reported an annual earning of Rs.
24,000 to 40,000 each, while one designer earned less than
Rs. 5,000
 They receive cash payment for design and graph work

 None of the five designers is aware of success or failure of

his designs
 Three designers scan books/magazines; two do not

46
 Only one of the five designers has designed a product
other than a saree
 None of the five designers have met designers from other
cities/institutions /abroad. None has even seen a design
exhibition or design samples
 Three designers are aware of the existence of WSC; none
has ever visited WSC
 Two designers emphasised not getting regular work as a
key problem; the other two felt not enough work is the
problem. One stressed unattractive rate for design work
 Four designers advocated government action on
handloom marketing; while one designer suggested
design intervention to raise sector prospects

47
 Diagnosis Of The Cluster And
Common Problem

1.33.Problem Analysis
The sector has experienced a decline over last decade and
notwithstanding short-lived periodic rallies, it does not show
signs of a fundamental recovery. While the decline has
impacted, to some extent, the earnings of all stakeholders, it has
hurt weaver the most. The weaver earnings for full-time work,
having made investment in loom and utilised own residential
premises, average Rs.20,000/- to Rs.24,000/- per year. The
weavers continue because of absence of gainful alternatives.
The problem has arisen on account of the following.

City Economy and Demography

Handloom weaving at Varansi has become a forced occupation,
pursued by too many weavers because they were born into this
occupation; the local economy does not offer other viable
occupations and the weavers do not have capacity to perceive
and pursue limited other opportunities.

Absence of Ownership
There is virtual absence of ownership (stake) of handloom
weaving sector at Varansi. Those who possess managerial and
financial resources contractor weavers, grihasthdedar,
gaddedars- are in textile (power loom, handloom, non-weaving
embellishment) rather than handloom business. The
government support touches upon a small fraction of the
problem through a sub-optimal delivery system. The real owner
or stakeholder-weaver-is an owner out of compulsion rather
than choice; he is too divorced from market, too poor and too
unorganized to make an impact. The owners of
handloom/power loom business allocate resources based on the
shape of market-and power loom form time to time.
Admittedly, these owners do not have resources, orientation or
collective organization to influence market dynamics decisively.

48
Market Dynamics
The market conditions and dynamics have undergone a change.
There is an all India decline in the demand for sarees. Within the
expensive saree band, the significance of embroidery and such
other valued-added work has grown. This has seriously dented
the appeal of weave in the aesthetic consciousness of Indian
customer. This, in turn, has vastly diluted the brand equity of
Banaras weave. The traditional Banarasi saree, consequently,
has suffered in the market place.

Policy Environment
The anatomy of policy set could not be dissected but there is
reason to believe that the policy environment and its ground
level implementation in terms of taxes and duties on domestic
silk industry, foreign yarn, foreign fabric, entry-exit for power
loom and product reservation for handloom, in conjunction with
market dynamics, have come in the way of Varansi handloom
sector recovering ground.

Practical Consequence
On a practical plane, there are issues of
 Brand equity

 Product development

 Product improvement

 Market promotion

 Technology problem-solving

49
 Swot Analysis
It will be rather simplistic to select features/developments and
describe these as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats (SWOT). The reality is too nuanced to allow such
laboured descriptions. Hence, i am presenting a pertinent rather
than a cut-and-dried picture in this regard.
The traditional strength of the industry is its brand equity
(Banarasi handloom silk saree) but this has weakened in recent
years.
The localization of weaver-force; dyers; designers, card-cutters,
loom fabricators and traders- the pool of competencies and
resources- is a major strength but this is no longer handloom-
dedicated and in that sense, is getting dissipated.
When market conditions deteriorate, the stakeholders-
particularly weavers- exit; correct the supply side and thus
prevent terms of trade from worsening below a minimum mark.
The legal framework also can provide a bulwark against the
terms for weavers deteriorating below a minimum mark. At
Varansi, absence of occupational alternatives and legal
framework contribute to freefall. This weakness is responsible
not merely for worsening of weaver wage levels but also for lack
of initiative to shore up the competitive strength of the sector.
There are market and product development opportunities for
the cluster. There is scope for growth in overseas market. On the
other hand, there are multiple threats-handloom weaving
becoming a completely unrewarding occupation, handloom
being out-competed by power looms.
On the whole, the cluster is facing an uphill task of recovering
lost ground.
For understanding it better given below is the SWOT Analysis of
the cluster in bullet form

50
 1.1.1.

1.34.Strength
 Traditional Value

 Availability of skilled weavers

 All the back word linkages are available

 Being a famous tourist place good Connectivity with

major cities
 Existence of strong Traders Association

1.35.Weakness
 Dependency on one product

 Highly unorganized cluster

 Over work force

 Products are relatively costly because of use of costly

yarn
 Need of Dry Cleaning

 Inferior quality of dying

 Low credit from financial institutions

 City infrastructure is bad

 Brand Equity of product is declining

 Decline in wages of weavers

 No regular work for weavers

1.36.Opportunity
 Brand Building

 Product diversification

 Exploration of new market

 Export

51
  Reduction in custom duties on Yarn

 Product/Design patenting

 Registration of Banarasi Products under Geographical

Indignation Registration Act

1.37.Threat
 Competition from other clusters

 Decline in demand of Saree

 Increase in demand of value added products

 Increase in demand of low cost power loom products

52
 Strategy And Action Plan1

1.38.Strategy
There is an intense external environment over which we do not
have control. There are stakeholders whose interests are varied
and potentially in conflict. There is a large non-handloom
reality-growth of power loom, absence of employment avenues
in Varansi city-which is impacting cluster performance. Under
these circumstances, a deterministic strategy of listing cut and
dried tasks and expecting these to deliver results will not be
effective. The key challenge lies in building vibrant institutional
or organizational apparatus. The building of necessary
organizational initiatives, their trial run, emergence and
stabilization of leadership and management structures within
these organizations and acquisition of some amount of
autonomy by them in terms of prioritization of tasks and
manner of performing them are the preconditions for cluster-
revival and growth. The organizational development work will
take at least a year.
While some direct cluster-improvement action is needed to
trigger interest and to provide a meeting ground, The
Development Commissioner, Handloom, Govt., of India
(DCHGI) should hold back major investment programmes until
organizational development is achieved. This is also essential to
avoid the programme getting positioned as “govt. assistance
programme” or “govt., owned programme” and the
stakeholders vying merely for a slice of individual benefit.
The action plan outline by us in the following section should be
viewed in this particular strategic perspective.
Entrepreneurship Development Institute Of India
proposes an action plan consisting of the following.
1) Platform for market and technology initiatives (PMTI)
2) Handloom Alone Alliance (HAA)
3) Revamping of Support Structure

1
As suggested by “ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE OF INDIA”

53
4) Weaver Organization and Capacity Building
5) Large Player Entry
6) Let us amplify this.

54
PMTI
The first and foremost task is dialoguing with weavers,
designers, dyers, trades and support institutions to create a
platform for market and technology initiatives (PMTI). While
the broad objective of PMTI is clear, we should not be in a hurry
to formalize its existence, to lay down its constitution or
management structure. It should evolve over a period of one
year so that the various constituents develop a consensual
agenda and leadership emerges.
The following menu was proposed for PMTI but this menu
should not be followed in a prescriptive way. PMTI, with
assistance from steering agency (EDII), will prioritize, sequence
and fine-tune areas for action.
A Brand Equity For Banaras
The challenge is restoring the appeal/image of Banarasi
handloom saree weave in the mind of contemporary Indian
consumer. Subsequently, the brand equity campaign may cover
non-saree products. The trader association, in personal
discussion, showed preparedness to bear 25% of cost of
promotional campaign. They have concluded that a minimum
total budget of Rs. 10 crores is needed; I endorse this particular
assessment of minimum budget.
The brand equity campaign-ads, publicity, stories, events,
contests- should be designed with specialized inputs from a
market research/ad agency. It is expected to arrest the decline in
overall sales volume and iron out seasonal troughs in demand.
It will help all stakeholders. This is a major investment and it
should be made only after PMTI takes off and stabilizes and
equips itself with a capacity to assess the impact of brand equity
campaign to make mid-course corrections in its implementation.
DCHGI should commit 75% of budget because this will be the
most impact-making action.
Steering agency should promote a monitoring-follow up-
further funding mechanism for continue brand equity focused
work within PMTI.

55
The campaign should aim at both-immediate growth in sales
volume and strengthening Banarasi weave image on an
enduring basis.
B Dyeing
This is a major gap in the prevailing technology package at
Varansi, hurting product quality and hence market prospects.
Entrepreneurship Development Institute Of India
proposes two-fold action.
First, a dyeing technology team in which trade expert is
included should undertake work on best practices and marginal
improvements within the broad parameters-space, batch-
quantity, batch-time, capital expenditure- of existing dyeing
technology so pervasive at Varanasi.
The proposals for additional capital expenditure to improve
technology are welcome but we should not expect dyer to bear,
say, an amount higher than Rs. 25000/-. The additional capital
expenditure should not be heavily subsidized. If subsidy is
essential, it should not exceed 50% of capex. Thus, the group
should keep in mind a ceiling of Rs. 50,000 in terms of fresh
capex.
It will work not merely on product-quality but also production-
economics and working conditions/occupational health in the
course of its work.
Its responsibility should not cease at recommendation. It will
take up dissemination. It should put value on traditional
knowledge of dyers; demonstrate an open mind, work in a two-
way learning format; show sensitivity to dyer-level
considerations and aim at genuine improvement.
We envisage a programme whose duration will be minimum 2
years; maximum three years. The following budget is suggested.
Payment to technology agency : Rs. 40 lacs
Subsidy/soft loan to dyeing enterprises : Rs. 30 lacs
Total : Rs. 70 lacs
Secondly, the technology agency should work out a techno-
economic package for 200 to 500 kg/day dyeing unit. This is
propose because it will deliver scale and quality required by

56
some producers and provide a basis for gradual transformation
of product quality at Varanasi.
PMTI will consider the technology package and determine an
appropriate ownership/management model as well as number
of facilities required. The model may be common dyeing facility
centre (one or two or three CDFC, in phases) or privately owned
facility backed by a package of incentives. We should be open to
both models. If it is a CDFC, the stakeholders should contribute
at least 50% to corpus, balance will flow from DCHGI. If it is
privately owned, there can be a corpus -based subsidy -say,
25%. While we are not in a position to estimate the corpus-
subsidy accurately, preliminary consultations show that an
amount of Rs. 50 lacs will be adequate.
C Design
The design is the most dominant feature of Varansi product
offering and hence is a determinant of market volume. The
objectives of design-focussed work are as follows.
 To orient Banaras design, without undermining its
traditional core, to the needs of present market at one
level, and at another, to elevate it to the status of shaping
aesthetic tastes and fashion trends in the Indian market
place
 To create designs, particularly in the lower-end segment,
which cannot be easily copied on power loom
 To strengthen the capacity of Varansi-level designers in
terms of comprehension of market trends, creative
competencies and adapting creative genius to market
context.

These objectives warrant the following work.

 Creating and promoting new designs, which are the joint
output of market-savvy external designers and local
designers
 To set up a fashion forecasting mechanism, relevant to
Varansi product, which will feed into design work.

57
  To organize orientation, training and exposure
programmes for local designers
 To organize programmes/events for weavers/ CG2 to
enhance their understanding of design
 To set up an ongoing arrangement for display of design-
samples, ideas literature and related material of interest
to designers.
This four-point action plan will contribute to revitalizing the
market for Banaras weave. In addition, it will enhance the
relevance of local designers and weavers/CG2 to the market.
Such institution as NIFT, under the guidance of PMTI and
informal designer-leadership, can assume responsibility for the
programme.
Before launching the programme, steering agency should
undertake work to understand occupational and life-processes
of local designer fraternity, its relationship with other
stakeholders and create a favourable climate for the programme.
D Dry Cleaning
This is a major limitation of a hand woven silk product. This
makes product cleaning unfriendly and expensive. DCHGI
needs to commission research to develop and establish customer
friendly and cost effective alternatives to dry cleaning. We are
not in a position to anticipate the outcome or the required
budget.
E Product Development And Promotion
There are non-saree products in respect of which local
competencies, networking and Banaras brand equity are weak.
These are
 Dress material in general and ready-to-stitch units of
dress material
 Upholstery and furnishing fabric

 Madeups, e.g., cushion covers, purses

 Scarves, stoles, ties and such other accessories

The focal point of action, in this area, should be CG2. The
interested CG2 should be encouraged to form a network and

58
 formulate proposals for receiving specialized assistance and
mutual co-operation. The network will require design, product
development, market-information, marketing assistance, brand
equity promotion, export promotion, weaver capacity building,
designer capacity building, and such other assistance. The
network will function with support from steering agency.
It will be a fairly autonomous network, which will contribute
25% of the cost of assistance proposal it moots.
The network will articulate its own needs, prioritize and
schedule these, locate specialist/consultancy sources and award
work and devise a way of tracking the impact of its initiatives.
The network may set up a vision of accomplishing a Rs. 100
crore turnover over a five years period, and half of this being
export-bound. This is an illustrative statement.
On a preliminary basis, I estimate a budget of Rs. 80 lacs, over a
period of three years, out of which the network itself will bear
Rs. 20 lacs.

Handloom Alone Alliance

In the prevailing atmosphere at Varansi, it will be useful to
encourage some CG2s to dedicate themselves exclusively to
handloom sector. Such CG2s will come together and form
Handloom Alone Alliance (HAA). There are likely to be few
CG2s who, for various reasons, are not into power loom or wish
to exit from power loom. We need to provide substantives as
well as moral support to such CG2s. At the most elementary
level, the DCGHI support to the alliance will send out a message
that the government is aware of “dual membership” reality and
wishes to assist those meet clearly the competitive challenge of
power loom. The formation of alliance will bring out ideas from
a segment of CG2s about required action to strengthen
handloom vis-à-vis power loom and these ideas will have a
greater chance of success because CG2 themselves will be
responsible for implementation. Unlike other programmes, the
promotional content of the programme should be funded fully
by DCHGI.
No required action could be identified but the alliance may
moot such ideas as

59
  Privileged subsidized access to raw material

 Enforcement of handloom product reservation act

 Ban on production of certain kinds of designs on power

loom
 Propagation of geographical indication system

 Advocacy for mandatory certification/declaration of

handloom character of products in the overseas market
 Campaign to enable the average Indian customer to
distinguish handloom from power loom.
We came across a few practical tips which would enable an
average customer to tell handloom from power loom and a
campaign in this behalf need not be limited to Banaras silk saree
alone.
The alliance proposals will have to be vetted. For example,
demand for subsidized access to raw material may spawn
market distortions and even irregularities. We shall have to
follow a real-cum-psychological support mechanism to nurture
the alliance and pave way for its growth.
The alliance should be promoted independent of PMTI and the
work for its formation should commence only after PMTI takes
off.
Policy Research And Advocacy
There is a popular demand at Varnasi for introduction of anti-
dumping duty on imported (Chinese) fabric ostensibly to shelter
handloom but some observes believe that it will help primarily
power loom. The duties, taxes, entry/exit of power loom
entities, handloom product reservation order, Varansi
infrastructural development, wages and working conditions for
weavers, contract-work and such other issues belong to policy
domain and are clearly shaping the market. Presently, there are
adhoc demands and these do not recognize diversity of interests
and competing claims.
The cluster does not have professional resource or orientation to
take up even elementary research and present its case credibly.
An agency needs to do this. If DCHGI entrusts this to a body for
doing this on a national scale for handloom, it will be useful but

60
not adequate. The body should look into specific needs of
Varansi.
Revamping Of Support Structure
We saw earlier that the support structure works largely through
co-operatives and extends assistance mainly for loom up-
gradation, work shed, market assistance, export promotion,
design development and training, besides health and insurance.
It works in the context of strengthening occupational
competencies. It was observed that the co-operative model is not
delivering and support structure interventions have not made
any worthwhile market impact.
Under cluster development, we should rely on proposed
platform, network, alliance and such other initiatives to engage
with the market. The support structure should shift its focus
from the sector (handloom) to human (weaver, designer, dyer,
etc). It should conceive and facilitate, through. NGO’s/CBO’s,
programmes built around the well being and security of artisan
families. The relevant issues are:
 Education, health

 Social security

 Relief for artisans in distress-natural or manmade

 Women and children

 Saving and micro-credit

 Working conditions

 Wage related models and practices

 Artisan rights and duties

 Some elements of quality of life related work, e.g.,

recreation, sport, library, personality growth.
The support structure should lead the process and leverage
upon the programmes of social welfare department or those of
international agencies in operation at Varansi.
Presently, the competencies of support structure are mainly
administrative and technical. The technical competencies may
merge into platform/network/ alliance. The administrative

61
competencies will become partly redundant. It will have to build
mainly facilitative and social work orientation.
Weaver Organization and Capacity Building
The weaver is now far removed from the market in terms of
access and knowledge. It will be premature to ask him to
organize credit, raw material, production and marketing. He
needs to acquire and sharpen competencies, confidence and
collective strength. The weaver is getting a raw deal and is being
taught to hold market-an abstraction-responsible for his
condition. He is internalizing the role of a powerless stakeholder
and such internalization needs to be reversed.
There is a need to encourage either an NGO or an activist
organization to organize weavers and to enhance their
capacities. This is a desirable political task and it cannot be
orchestrated through an official programme. It would be useful,
if the socio-economic reality of Varanasi handloom cluster is
presented to a few organizations of varied colour/style and one
or more of these are encouraged to launch work. This would be
an autonomous initiative and its direction cannot be anticipated.
It can be recommended because there does not exist any
apparent legal framework to ensure minimum deal for weavers
and unless there is capacity building, weaver will stay away
from market.
Large Player Entry
The numerous small players at Varansi have not been able to
come together or pool capacity for dealing with the market or
the policy environment. This is responsible for the continued
decline. Because the CG2 themselves are informal enterprises,
they do not have to account for either efficiency or equity
underline their work. PMTI propose by us seeks, to bring the
numerous small players at Varansi on a single platform. This is
not an easy task. I recommend encouraging large players to
entire the sector, if PMTI initiative after a year or so does not
show enough promise. The main merit such player will bring in
technology market and financial resources required to give a
decisive push to the cluster and be accountable for return on
labour and working condition. On the flip side, this may pay
way for oligopoly. There are such organizations as Fab India or
ITC (agarbatti), which may be, encourage to enter the cluster.

62
Such organization will look for volume (Rs. 100 crore per year)
and ask for Govt. support. This is a prospect, which may be
pursued later on if PMTI does not delivered result.

63
 1.39.Action Plan

Year 1
Sr.
Activity
No.
1 Understanding the cluster and interaction with cluster actors
2 Awareness Workshops – Cluster Development Approach
3 Analysis of present weaving Technology
4 Technology Upgradation Workshop for Dyers
5 Finding better technology available for weaving
Dialogues with NABARD, DRDA and sourcing of NGO for formation of
6
SHGs of weavers
7 Design Development Workshop
8 Workshop for disseminate the new weaving technology
9 Workshop on Marketing –Export Procedure and Methodology
10 Consortium Formation of Traders and manufacturers of Banaras
11 Establishment of Design Development Center
12 Participation/Organising of Exhibition
Workshop for Local designers for providing them knowledge about the
13
latest trends and demands
14 Publicity campaign for Brand Equity of Banaras
15 Review of progress of SHG formation
16 Product/Design Development Workshop
17 Starting the process of CFC establishment
18 Starting the process of Patent/Geographical Indication Registration
19 Growth program for existing entrepreneurs for increase the export
20 Updradation of Looms
21 Publicity campaign for Brand Equity of Banaras
22 Formation of Consortium of Exporters
23 Participation/Organising in Buyer Seller Meet
24 Review of progress of SHG formation

64
25 Establishment of Export Information Center
26 Meeting of Cluster Coordination Committee

65
Year 2
Sr.
Activity
No.
1 Establishment of CFC
2 Capacity Building/Skill upgradation program for weavers
3 Publication of common catalogue of cluster
4 Product/Design Development Workshop
5 Workshop on Marketing –Export Procedure and Methodology
6 Participation/Organising of Exhibition
7 Capacity Building Workshop for Local designers
8 Publicity campaign for Brand Equity of Banaras
9 Inauguration of CFC
10 Product/Design Development Workshop
11 Participation/Organising of Exhibition
12 Publicity campaign for Brand Equity of Banaras
13 Updradation of Looms
14 Participation in International Trade Fair
15 Launching of common web portal
16 Review of progress of SHG formation
17 Review of working of CFC
18 Participation/Organising of Exhibition
19 Publicity campaign for Brand Equity of Banaras
20 Updradation of Looms
21 Review of progress of SHG formation
22 Meeting of Cluster Coordination Committee

66
Year 3
Sr.
Activity
No.
1 Review of working of CFC
2 Capacity Building/Skill upgradation program for weavers
3 Product/Design Development Workshop
4 Workshop on Marketing -Export Procedure and Methodology
5 Participation/Organising of Exhibition
6 Capacity Building Workshop for Local designers
7 Publicity campaign for Brand Equity of Banaras
8 Product/Design Development Workshop
9 Participation/Organising of Exhibition
10 Publicity campaign for Brand Equity of Banaras
11 Updradation of Looms
12 Participation in International Trade Fair
14 Review of progress of SHG formation
15 Review of working of CFC
16 Participation/Organising of Exhibition
17 Publicity campaign for Brand Equity of Banaras
18 Updradation of Looms
19 Meeting of Cluster Coordination Committee

67
PVCHR and “Varanasi Weavers’
Trust”
As brought out in the previous pages, the weavers are the worst
sufferers of the downward journey the Varanasi Handloom
industry has taken. There have been numerous instances of
deaths due to malnutrition, “women’s of weaver’s family are
selling their blood and children for their bread”, etc. While
newspapers and journals as far away as Washington Post,
Reuters, among others have reported this as front page news,
the policy papers were oblivious to the needs of the poor. In one
meeting Convened under the auspices of People Vigilance
Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), an NGO based in
Varanasi, which has taken up the task of making the voice of the
weaver heard, The Weavers complain that if the government can
spend so much for schemes like polio vaccination, it can surely
do something about the weavers’ living condition. The problem,
however, is not funding. Political will is conspicuous by its
absence. Nobody cares about the ailments of the poor. Why?
Simply because the sufferers don’t have the resources to raise a
concerted voice and bring the government to account.
Thanks to the concerted efforts of PVCHR, the people in power
are finally listening. After the complaint of PVCHR Honorable
Supreme Court takes initiation and give direction to State
Government in its letter no 387/ 29-6-04 dated 9th November
2004 – “Now every district magistrate provided sufficient
amount of fund for saving the life of children, women and men
who is facing hunger and is suffering from starvation. They
have very clear instruction that they have to check the cases of
hunger and starvation at any cost without killing time.” In June
2006, UP Government announced to exempt the weavers from
electricity bill and to supply them electricity at very cheap rate .
Around the same time, during the inaugural ceremony of
“Handloom mark” in New Delhi, The Prime minister
announced to provide loan to the weavers at very low interest.
He declared that this facility would come into effect within 3
months, as Rs.1000 crore is being managed for this purpose.

68
He also urged his countrymen to put the handloom made
clothes on at least once in a week. He told that by 31 August 06,
230 yarn depot would be established in different parts of the
country. He also asked the Finance Minister and Textile Minister
to provide capital to the weavers so that they could by able to
return their debt in instalments. He also promised to give
support to the weavers to enhance quality of their products so
that the sell of their products could be increased. At this
occasion Prime Minister of India acknowledged the importance
of weavers community in the national income.
On 23rd July 2007, there was a brain storming consultation on
the issues of weavers, honorable member of planning
commission Dr. Syeda Hameed chaired the consultation. In this
consultation Assistant Development Commissioner Handlooms
India Government, Dr. D. S. Gangwar, Mr. R. C. Jhamtani, Ms.
Gulshannanda Chairperson of Craft council of India, Dr. Lenin,
Convener of P.V.C.H.R., Ms. Arundhati Dhuru, Advisor to Food
Commissioner of Supreme Court, Mr. Baddruddin, Leader,
Weavers federation, Mr. Bijo Francis, South Asia Desk Officer,
Asian Human Rights Commission Hong-Kong, Mr. Siddique
Bhai, Convener of Bunkar-Dastkar Adhikar Manch, and many
other delegates from weaving community and relevant
government officers participated there in consultation. After the
brain storming session, the declarations are under mentioned:
 Government has to declare emergency for weaving
community in Varanasi and surrounding.
 Stop dealing the beneficiary schemes through private
sector it should be implemented by government
institutions.
 Government should open sell depot of silk and provide
credits.
 All handloom weavers in crisis are needy of Antyodaya
cards government should provide cards to them as soon
as possible.
 Implementation of Handloom and power loom marks
(symbol of produce) in reality.
Special schemes for women weavers would go a long
way in encouraging higher and better contribution from

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 women weavers/entrepreneurs and female members of
weaver families.
 Revision and revive of cluster scheme in context pro-
weavers and artisans.
 Government should check the import of readymade saris.

 Government has to organize clothes/silk carnival for

promoting handloom products and advertisement of the
handloom products.
 Government finance institute should provide soft loans to
weavers.
 NIFT and NIFD have to open their branches nearby
weaver's majority area.
Government should open ICDS Center as per the order of
Supreme Court by priority to weavers.
 Government should allocate special budget for reviving
weaving industry of handloom.
 Government should open new schools and health centers
for the children of weaver's families.
 Implementation of recommendations of Sacchar
committee.
 Registration of Varanasi weaving industry under
Geographical indicator.
Dr. Syeda Hameed on 2 June 2007 wrote in DO letter No. M
(SH)/PC/247/07 in the reply of letter of PVCHR that she also
came to know about deplorable state of Muslim weavers
community in Varanasi. She asked the district administration
have to assure for eliminating the cause of hunger and
starvation.
PVCHR has welcomed the initiatives taken by the government.
However these sops, it says, fall short of addressing the real
issue. Dr Lenin, the founder and convener of PVCHR and
Gwangju Prize for Human Rights Awardee, believes the
permanent solution lies in instituting a mechanism which links
these weavers to the market. People Vigilance committee on
Human Rights (PVCHR) called Dr. Darin, a renowned
economist and social worker from Sri Lanka, and after

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interacting and study with Weavers and Artisan “Varanasi
Weavers Trust” project was given to Planning Commission of
India and UP Government. According to the Secretary of
Handloom clothes department from letter no 4CM / 63- V.U-
2006 dated 18 march, 2006 that last reminder of “Varanasi
Weavers Trust” was sent to commissioner of Varanasi.. The
convention organised by PVCHR in August 2007, concluded
with the following questions being posed to the MPs and MLAs:
1. What UP Government did on the implementation of “Varanasi
Weavers Trust” project by Dr. Darin?
2. What scheme and project have been launch for immediate relief
of weavers?
3. What step Government is taking for the advertisement of health
scheme run for weavers?
4. What Government is doing for reviving the handloom
industry?

Till date, the questions remain unanswered.

However, the efforts of PVCHR are aure being noticed.
Recently, on a brief visit to Varanasi, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh announced the development of “Mega Cluster for Silk
Weavers”. Varanasi is one of the six locations chosen for
infrastructure development under the Mega Cluster Scheme
announced in Budget 2008. Under this, Rs. 70 crores will be
provided to Varanasi to improve the infrastructural facilities for
weavers through better storage facilities, weaving facilities,
production facilities, health facilities, training and design
facilities, etc.
Besides, considering their dismal health standards, he
announced a benevolent scheme of health insurance for the
weavers which shall cover over one lakh weavers from Varanasi
besides a large number of powerloom workers. They could be
covered under the Rashtriya Swastiya Bima Yojana, to be
launched on 1st April 2008. He also promised to address the
issue of overdue electricity bills faced by the weavers.

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Annexures

1.40.Name and Addresses of Weavers

with whom survey was conducted
Sr. No. Name Address Age
1 Moinuddin Adampura, Varanasi 38
2 Gurfan Ali Adampura, Varanasi 48
3 Amirullah Adampura, Varanasi 40
4 Mohd. Kaleem Adampura, Varanasi 44
5 Mustafa Alampura, Varanasi 38
6 Riasuddin Alampura, Varanasi 36
7 Jama Ahmed Ansari Alampura, Varanasi 38
8 Abdul Matir Alampura, Varanasi 41
9 Kalimullah Alampura, Varanasi 42
10 Hasin Ahmed Bunkar Colony, Nati Imli, Varanasi 44
11 Shamsuddin Bunkar Colony, Nati Imli, Varanasi 38
12 Mahrajuddin Bunkar Colony, Nati Imli, Varanasi 35
13 Mohm. Razwan Bunkar Colony, Nati Imli, Varanasi 42
14 Jamil Ahmed Bunkar Colony, Nati Imli, Varanasi 42
15 Gulam Rasool Bunkar Colony, Nati Imli, Varanasi 46
16 Akhlaq Ahmed Bunkar Colony, Nati Imli, Varanasi 42
17 Noor Ali Chitten Pura, Pilikothi, Varanasi 25
18 Sajid Ansari Chitten Pura, Pilikothi, Varanasi 42
19 Gulzar Ahmed Chitten Pura, Pilikothi, Varanasi 38
21 Ramdhani Patel Gram Bhitari, Lohta, Varanasi 45
23 Virendra Km. Patel Gram Bhitari, Lohta, Varanasi 32
24 Shyam Sunder Gram Bhitari, Lohta, Varanasi 32
25 Virendra Gram Bhitari, Lohta, Varanasi 40
26 Raguwar Patel Gram Bhitari, Lohta, Varanasi 36
27 Ramesh Gram Bhtari, Lohta, Varanasi 43

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28 Angu Ram Gram Karaketpur, Lohta, Varanasi 70
29 Mishri Lal Gram Karaketpur, Lohta, Varanasi 52
30 Vinit Gram Karaketpur, Lohta, Varanasi 42
31 Abdul Aziz Haisal Lala, Varanasi 38
32 Mohd. Sagir Hanuman Phatak, Varanasi 42
33 Khalkuzama Hanuman Phatak, Varanasi 46
34 Momd. Haroon Hanuman Phatak, Varanasi 45
35 Iqbal Rasheed Hanuman Phatak, Varanasi 42
36 Jalis Hanuman Phatak, Varanasi 42
37 Imran Ahmed Hanuman Phatak, Varanasi 44
38 Abdul Rehman Hanuman Phatak, Varanasi 46
39 Khallil Ahmed Hanuman Phatak, Varanasi 44
40 Mohm. Tarukhi Jamaluddinpura, Varanasi 48
41 Matihur Rehman Katiher, Pilikothi, Varanasi 48
42 Abdul Salam Katiher, Pilikothi, Varanasi 46
43 Abdul Haleem Katiher, Pilikothi, Varanasi 52
44 Ansar Ahmed Katiher, Pilikothi, Varanasi 50
45 Nurul Hasan Katiher, Pilikothi, Varanasi 52
46 Sama Asgar Katiher, Pilikothi, Varanasi 25
47 Azizuddin Katiher, Pilikothi, Varanasi 50
48 Kasim Raza Katiher, Pilikothi, Varanasi 42
49 Warish Ali Katiher, Pilikothi, Varanasi 45
50 Laxmen Lohta, Varanasi 40
51 Mohm. Shamim Lohta, Varanasi 35
52 Mohm. Ilyas Lohta, Varanasi 42
53 Ramesh Prasad Lohta, Varanasi 38
54 Sarig Ram Lohta, Varanasi 42
55 Ram Prakash Lohta, Varanasi 38
56 Iqbal Madanpura, Varanasi 42
57 Shakir Ahmed Ansari Madanpura, Varanasi 35
58 Mohsin Madanpura, Varanasi 32
59 Hazi Munna Madanpura, Varanasi 48

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60 Ansar Ali Madanpura, Varanasi 46
61 Farisuddin Ahmed Madanpura, Varanasi 52
62 Murtaza Ahmed Madanpura, Varanasi 52
63 Yashin Ansari Nawapura, Varanasi 48
64 Alauddin Nawapura, Varanasi 43
65 Abdul Kuddus Pholwariya, Varanasi 42
66 Shabuddin Pholwariya, Varanasi 40
67 Shahid Ahmed Pholwariya, Varanasi 44
68 Nazeer Pholwariya, Varanasi 38
69 Guddu Pilikothi, Varanasi 38
70 Nurul Hasan Pilikothi, Varanasi 38
71 Mohm. Iqbal Pilikothi, Varanasi 43
72 Abdul Rehman Pilikothi, Varanasi 41
73 Hazi Mojidullah Pilikothi, Varanasi 48
74 Reyaz Vaseem Pilikothi, Varanasi 48
75 Mohm. Usman Pilikothi, Varanasi 40
76 Tofiq Pilikothi, Varanasi 40
77 Amri Pilikothi, Varanasi 38
78 Pappu Pilikothi, Varanasi 32
79 Mahabub Alam Rajapura, Varanasi 36
80 Abdul Anis Rasulpura, Varanasi 42
81 Sri Kallu Hafiz Rasulpura, Varanasi 38
82 Riyazuddin Rasulpura, Varanasi 44
83 Ram Dev Prasad Vill Bhatoli, Harihar, Varanasi 36
84 Vishwanath Vill Bhatoli, Harihar, Varanasi 40
85 Chunnu Vill Bhatoli, Harihar, Varanasi 42
86 Riyaz Ahmed Vill. Dhomriya, PO Lohta, Varanasi 38
87 Anisur Rehman Vill. Dhomriya, PO Lohta, Varanasi 42
88 Mohd. Rizwan Vill. Dhomriya, PO Lohta, Varanasi 37

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