As someone who collects and wears saris eagerly, I was surprised and interested to learn that international trade with China has severely affected the artisans who create the iconic Benares/Varanasi sari;
“With our business coming to an end my six children have turned into beggars,” says Razia Biwi, wife of a silk weaver in the northern city of Varanasi. “They move from door to door with a bowl each and eat whatever the kind neighbours give them.”
The Varanasi silk industry is in turmoil.
For centuries it has produced exquisite handloom silk. Of India’s 10m weavers, this city - also known as Benaras - in Uttar Pradesh boasts nearly 13%.
…The problems started in 1995, when demand for Varanasi silk suddenly dwindled.
There was a sudden influx of Chinese silk traders, who imported cheap yarn to the local market.
They even competed against Varanasi traders by hiring local weavers from the city.
The extreme poverty has caused some to resort to drastic, disturbing measures; Ghulam Rasool of Kotwan sold his two-month old child to a wealthy family “where he would get his daily meals”. Rasool’s choice got some attention;
Their story touched the village and with its help, along with police intervention, they got back their son along with a sum of 10,000 rupees ($220) compensation from the government.
Rajan Bhal, general secretary of the Varanasi Cloth Industry, says: “This was one isolated case in the entire town where the government came to the family’s rescue.
“The government otherwise seems uninterested in reviving this traditional art in the city.”
I’ll never look at my saris in quite the same way again.
via the beeb.
