2014 to 2023 – The golden era for Telangana’s weavers
The biggest blow, weavers say, was the stopping of orders for the Bathukamma Saree Scheme.
Hyderabad: There was a time when handlooms and powerlooms in Telangana lay silent most of the time. That was before 2014. After the new State was formed, the new energy that spread across sectors gripped the handlooms and textiles sector too. Days of utter poverty, hunger and suicides slowly became the past as national and international companies made huge investment announcements and many grounded works as well. The State government kept on extending much-required support to weavers, with the annual Bathukamma saree orders becoming one major source of income for the sector.
All these gave an impetus to the sector that was neglected in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. The handloom and textile industry, being second only to agriculture in terms of workforce and employment potential, received attention like never before soon after the formation of Telangana.
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Culturally rich and vibrant with multiple geographical indication registrations, such as Gadwal, Pochampally, Ikkat, Narayanpet, Siddipet, Gollabhamma, Puttapaka Telia Rumal and Warangal cotton durries, Telangana’s handloom sector has 21,750 active geo-tagged handlooms and nearly 50,000 persons employed as weavers and ancillary workers in the sector. The power loom sector is majorly stationed in Rajanna Sircilla, Karimnagar, Warangal and Nalgonda districts with a total 43,162 geo-tagged power looms in the State.
Considering the traditional and cultural significance and need to lend a helping hand to weavers, the State government implemented Nethannaku Cheyutha (handloom weavers thrift fund saving and security, Chenetha Mithra (input subsidy – wage compensation scheme), Nethanna Bima (a first of its kind initiative wherein government extends insurance coverage and bears the premium component), waiver of handloom weaver loans and most importantly, the Bathukamma Saree Scheme.
Minister led from the front
Apart from convincing national and international companies to set up their units in the State, former Handlooms Minister KT Rama Rao strived a lot for the welfare of the weavers’ community. There was a time when handloom garments were seldom used by people. To promote handlooms, Rama Rao launched a campaign appealing to people and government staff to wear handlooms on every Monday to support the weavers’ community. He practices it religiously even today. In addition to this, he made it a point to present handlooms gifts to delegates, including domestic and international during different programmes. This apart, he was instrumental in the Handlooms and Textiles department roping in film actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu to be the TSCO Handloom ambassador. The new life injected into the sector saw the cheer spread, with the nine and a half years witnessing a change in the fortunes of the weavers.
The fall golden days to dark days
However, the moment the government changed, the story too changed. The first blow was the new government making the inexplicable move of not giving Bathukamma saree orders. The other orders too that came every year from the government suddenly became a trickle. From the days of handful of work and reaping profits as the looms whirred nonstop, weavers, especially those in Rajanna Sircilla, sat idle, with the Sircilla Textile Park saw strikes and even a temporary shut down. Market fluctuations and rising fabric prices rubbed salt into the wound, with weavers starting to go desperate with mounting losses. Quite a few even resorted to suicide.
The haunting past that prevailed before 2014 was back. Lack of work orders saw many ancillary workers migrating to Maharashtra and Gujarat in search of work. Rajanna Sircilla, which used to hit the headlines with weaver suicides before 2014 and had seen 74 suicides of powerloom workers between 2010 and 2014, was back in news for the same depressing news.
The biggest blow, weavers say, was the stopping of orders for the Bathukamma Saree Scheme. Launched to honour women during Bathukamma festivities, besides ushering direct and indirect benefits to the sector, the scheme used to be allocated Rs.330 crore annually for the Bathukamma sarees. This, apart from creating direct and indirect employment for nearly 15,000 households, had also aided in increased income ranging from Rs.8,000 to Rs..16,000 a month for weavers.
It has been nearly six months since the Congress government came to power and it has not placed Bathukamma saree orders so far. As a result, nearly 10,000 out of the 25,000 power looms have been lying idle since the last three months, according to Polyester Clothes Association president Mandala Satyam. Whenever the issue was raised with the local handloom officials, they said no instructions were issued from the department or government. Five weavers had died by suicide unable to bear mounting losses in the district in the last couple of months, he pointed out, adding that even ancillary workers were moving back to Bhiwandi and other places in search of work.
