Did boards deserve the axe?

Many are disappointed central handloom and handicrafts bodies are closed

It has been over ten days since textiles minister Smriti Irani scrapped the All India Handloom Board and the All India Handicrafts Board.

The explanation was that the government was trying to implement its vision of ‘minimum government and maximum governance.’

Not many are convinced. Uzramma, handloom activist and former vice-chairman of the All India Handloom Board, says the handloom sector is the largest job provider in this country after agriculture, and the government is giving it a raw deal.

The board should have been strengthened to find solutions to the problems of weavers and artisans.

Sourcing of yarn and marketing are two areas where the board could have helped weavers, she says.

Prasanna, theatre director and founder of Charaka Shramajeevi Ashram, Desi and Gram Seva Sangh, plans to launch a campaign to demand khadi be considered a sacred fabric, and to encourage people to buy it.

“I would say that charaka must be revived and encouraged. When Gandhi introduced spinning, he meant it as an occupation for women. That it provided employment and gender equality was his reasoning. But today, we are looking at it as a sunset industry,” he rues.

Lazy board

The Handloom Board met only six times in the last 11 years, says a prominent city-based designer.

“All these boards run on taxpayers’ money. They should have served as a platform for the community of weavers to come together and discuss their problems,” adds the designer.

The government should have restructured the boards and made them relevant. “It’s a time when a new generation of weavers, players and craftspeople are coming in. The problems that existed back in the time and today are different,” says the designer.

The decision dilutes the spirit of the real India, feels Abhilash C A, secretary Gram Seva Sangh, “It was a dysfunctional board but they should have consulted those who work directly with the weavers before shutting it down,” he says.

Affects weavers

Designers who work with handloom and hand-woven fabric term the decision “short-sighted.” Textile historian Pavitra Muddaya, a second generation revivalist of traditional heritage Indian textiles, runs a label called Vimor and has revived weavers’ clusters all over India.

“The purpose of these boards was to act as a bridge between the weavers and the government,” she says, listing the many things they could address: access to raw material, credit, markets, loans, housing, and welfare of weavers’ and artisans’ children.

Many rules are made for the welfare of weavers but remain on paper, with no impact on the lives of weavers, she says.

She also points out that the boards were filled with members of government-funded institutions who always sided with the government and not with the weavers and artisans.

Political analyst Harish Ramaswamy says the handloom board was doing little to alleviate the real problems of weavers, or helping them link their products to markets. “It was high time the government removed these politically parasitic centres,” he told Metrolife.

Time to revive Indian fabric in a global market

Prasad Bidapa, who has been in the business of fashion for three decades, says India is the last country that can boast a wealth of handloom fabrics. An enormous supply chain is involved in the production of handwoven textiles: from the farming of cotton, silk and wool to the ginning, spinning and weaving; from the artisanal skills of dyeing, block-printing and embellishment to the retail chains selling these products. “A large percentage of the population still involved in this traditional skill is huge. So instead of revamping the Handloom Board, we are faced with a total shutdown. This is a time when many Indian designers are beginning to understand the value of hand-woven fabrics, and the youth of India are increasingly aware of the fantastic potential they have for use in global fashion markets. We need to position these fabrics in the luxury markets,” says Prasad.

Boards shut down

The Handloom Board was formed in 1992 and comprised weavers’ representatives and officials of the central and state governments. Its job was to advise the government on all issues concerning weavers.

The All India Handicrafts Board was established in 1952 by well-known crafts revivalist Pupul Jayakar and chaired by the equally well-known Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. The latter hailed from Mangaluru. She had participated in the freedom movement, worked for the revival of traditional artisanship, and also acted in the first Kannada silent film Vasantasena (1931). Both boards were shut down by the central government, following an order in the first week of August.

Discounts unaffected

The annual Independence Day discounts offered by the Khadi Bhandars across the city remain unaffected. The discounts range from 40 to 60 per cent. The owner of a Khadi Bhandar on Dispensary Road says, “We have lost our business by half. Discounts are the only way to bring customers back into the stores. We lose when we give such huge discounts, but something is better than nothing. At least, the clothes are sold.”

Dismantling an era

Designer Tara Aslam, who works only with khadi, points out that India has 40 lakh weavers and this sector is second after agriculture. Good governance would include the stake holders and look at ways to improve and strengthen the Handloom industry, instead the government has made it a mission to dismantle all things that were part of the legacy national consciousness, reasons Tara. She adds, “They want to rewrite history without properly understanding the reason why in the first place a Handloom board was formed. The voice of a weaver is fundamental to their contribution to the economy.”