<p>Town-based silk producer P Gopinath, who has introduced sarees made up of this silk in his showroom, is getting a tremendous response from the public.<br /><br />“Ahimsa silk” is woven from a cocoon after the butterfly or moth flew away from it. Gopinath, who is very excited about the new venture, says these sarees will attract a larger market, especially the Jain community who are firm practitioners of non-violence and have been avoiding wearing ordinary silk sarees for the very reason.<br /><br />Gopinath has tied up with Secundrabad-based sericulturist Kushma Raja who has registered and patented the unique process of producing silk yarn.<br /><br />He said these sarees would cost an additional Rs 2,000 each over and above “the normal” cost of Rs 10,000.<br /><br />An official of Weavers’ service centre (a wing of the union commerce ministry) said similar efforts were made in the 90s to develop such sarees but it was not taken up in a big way as the technology to process the yarn and later weave it were not developed. Earlier, tribals of Assam and the North East used to prepare fabric from a different strain of mulberry called Muga, Eri and Tussar grown high on trees. Tribals living in tree houses used collect broken cocoons after mulberry worms grew inside and flew away and marketing facilities would purchase it from them.<br /><br />This can be linked to afforestation programmes and also can also provide livelihood for the tribals, close to their environment and lifestyles.<br /><br />“Such support is needed to make the reeling industry economically viable, for it is the extraction technology that maximises profits in the reeling industry,” he said. Absence of enumeration among silk worm growers also impeded the plan from taking shape.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Town-based silk producer P Gopinath, who has introduced sarees made up of this silk in his showroom, is getting a tremendous response from the public.<br /><br />“Ahimsa silk” is woven from a cocoon after the butterfly or moth flew away from it. Gopinath, who is very excited about the new venture, says these sarees will attract a larger market, especially the Jain community who are firm practitioners of non-violence and have been avoiding wearing ordinary silk sarees for the very reason.<br /><br />Gopinath has tied up with Secundrabad-based sericulturist Kushma Raja who has registered and patented the unique process of producing silk yarn.<br /><br />He said these sarees would cost an additional Rs 2,000 each over and above “the normal” cost of Rs 10,000.<br /><br />An official of Weavers’ service centre (a wing of the union commerce ministry) said similar efforts were made in the 90s to develop such sarees but it was not taken up in a big way as the technology to process the yarn and later weave it were not developed. Earlier, tribals of Assam and the North East used to prepare fabric from a different strain of mulberry called Muga, Eri and Tussar grown high on trees. Tribals living in tree houses used collect broken cocoons after mulberry worms grew inside and flew away and marketing facilities would purchase it from them.<br /><br />This can be linked to afforestation programmes and also can also provide livelihood for the tribals, close to their environment and lifestyles.<br /><br />“Such support is needed to make the reeling industry economically viable, for it is the extraction technology that maximises profits in the reeling industry,” he said. Absence of enumeration among silk worm growers also impeded the plan from taking shape.<br /><br /></p>