How machine made Manchester clothes , destroyed and killed Indian weavers, similar events are happening within the country (India).
Technology ultimately will suck the societies across the globe DRY !!!
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TODAY'S PAPER » NATIONAL
VARANASI, March 31, 2014
WhatsApp
worsens Varanasi weavers’ woes
OMAR RASHID
Traders send blueprints of Banarasi sari designs to be
mass-produced in Surat
T
The mainstay of the Banarasi sari, woven
with expensive natural yarn such as Chinese silk and cotton, is its design. What was an organic and handmade process, however,
has now, to the dismay of weavers, been hijacked by technology to abet mass
production — power looms in Surat ensure that designs of synthetic and
polyester yarns are produced in bulk in quick time.
To facilitate this, traders in Varanasi
have got into the practice of taking pictures of designs on their smartphone
and ‘WhatsApping’ copies of it to traders in Surat.
Automated looms
In Surat, automated looms ‘copy’ these
designs, print them on fabric and send the saris back to traders in Varanasi in
large quantities. Abundant power supply, yarn and cheap labour ensures that
Surat can produce five times the volume Varanasi can and around four times
cheaper.
The system works well for traders and silk
store-owners like Tamanna Ahmed, who buy samples of designs from weavers in
Varanasi and, using WhatsApp, order finished products of the same design from
Surat at a cheaper price. Customers also benefit as they can buy the intricate
designs of the Banarasi sari at the cost of the inexpensive Surat fabric.
Technology seems to have revolutionised the
Banarasi sari industry, which has over the years lagged due to competition,
dependence on manual techniques and government apathy. In all this, however,
the weavers find themselves at a loss. For them, WhatsApp enables traders in
Surat and Varanasi to collude to sell copies of their world-famous designs
through the multimedia app. “With technology, no design is safe. Earlier, a
single design would last for 3 years, now it’s hardly exclusive for more than
three months,” says Mr. Ahmed.
Atiq Ansari, a prominent weaver who shared
the stage with Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal in his rally in Varanasi
last week, says weavers feel robbed by the “copying” of designs. “Traders from
Surat have copied our designs from the last 15 years. They would visit Varanasi
and steal the designs and later replicate the fabric with mass production,”
says Mr. Ansari.
“With the use of technology [and
WhatsApp],” Mr. Ansari adds, “the situation has worsened in just the last 3-4
years. It’s the final blow to the hopes of the poor weavers. Since the creator
is suffering, this is, overall, bad for the industry.”
The Banarasi sari business has been in flux
since the 1960s when recession in handloom compelled weavers to shift to power
looms.
Good margins, demand and competition led to
the growth of a parallel printing industry in the 1970s-80s, which Mr. Ansari
describes as a golden period. However, the industry suffered a decline after
the H.D. Deve Gowda government banned import of Chinese silk yarn. Since the
1990s, recession has compelled weavers to migrate to textile cities like Surat
and Mumbai in search of a livelihood.
Election buzz
In Varanasi, where Mr. Kejriwal is to take
on the Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the
AAP is wooing the weavers, who represent a major chunk of the 3 lakh Muslims in
the constituency. Acknowledging their electoral worth, Mr. Modi, in his rally
here last December, too had sought to strike a chord with the weavers. However,
according to Mr. Ansari, the weavers were not impressed by Mr. Modi’s comparing
the textile industries of Surat and Varanasi. “Can Modi show us a blueprint on
how he can prevent Surat from copying our designs and ruining us?” he asks.
“Like all previous problems, we can deal
with the other problems, but it is practically impossible to prevent Surat from
copying our designs,” says Arshad Meraj, a weaver.
“The government has ignored the
implementation of the power loom upgradation scheme. So we doubt it can
implement its idea of patenting the Banarasi Sari,” he says.
· Earlier, a design would last 3 years;
now it is exclusive for hardly 3 months: weaver
· Recession has compelled weavers to
migrate to textile cities like Surat for livelihood
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