VARANASI: The crisis in the handloom sector of Varanasi has triggered off an exodus of weavers and artisans to places like Surat, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Others living in the throes of abject poverty are selling vegetables or earning their livelihood as rickshaw-pullers. Once upon a time they were the proud owners of handlooms. Today the erstwhile masters have become labourers or are doing odd jobs as the majority of handlooms in Bajarhdiha, Madanpura, Solvan Purwa, Makhdoom Baba, Deopukhi and Reorhi Talab have fallen silent.

According to official estimates, there were nearly 1.5 lakh handloom weavers concentrated in and around Varanasi (unofficial estimates put the figure at 3 lakh), making it the biggest centre in Uttar Pradesh after Mubarakpur in Azamgarh, Barabanki, Mau and Gorakhpur. Ninety per cent of the handloom weavers in Varanasi are from the minority community.

With the weavers facing economic hardships, some like Iqbal Ahmed have been forced to send their sons to other places. Iqbal Ahmed told The Hindu that the declining fortunes of the handloom sector compelled him to send his sons, Vakil Ahmed and Aftab Ahmed, to Surat and Ahmedabad respectively. "Earlier, we used to get Rs.1,200 for weaving one Banarasi silk sari; today the traders are not willing to pay more than Rs 800," he said.

The plight of the weavers has coincided with the slump in the Banarasi silk sari market. But the slump was not peculiar to Varanasi handloom industry alone. A study conducted by the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Ahmedabad, found that the sale of saris had declined in the country. The study pointed out that the consumers preferred value-added products, preferably in cotton fabric. The impact was felt more in Varanasi as silk saris manufactured on the handloom accounted for 95 per cent of the total production in the clusters situated in the city, and around 22 kilometres of its radius.

With job avenues scarce, the daily wages of the weavers too have declined. Says Hafiz Mohammad Umar, "At times it is difficult to earn Rs.30 to 40 a day, and even if one is able to make Rs.100 per day on the loom the amount does not suffice to feed the large families which an average weaver invariably possesses." In fact, the phenomenon called "disguised unemployment" has crept into the handloom sector of the City of Shiva. Here the weavers and artisans appeared to be gainfully employed. But it was not so. Shamsuddin of Bajarhdiha has installed six looms in his house situated in one of the by-lanes of the `mohalla'. When this correspondent inquired about the absence of the weavers on the looms, which nonetheless were bereft of yarn or material, Shamsuddin replied that it was lunchtime.

Juxtaposed with the plight of the weavers in Bajhardiha and Madanpura was the relatively better condition of their kin in Ramnagar. Here, a master-weaver, Jagannath, operates two cooperative societies, whose annual turnover is around Rs.1 crore. Nearly 100 weavers operate from the work-shed set up by the master-weaver and are assured of a daily wage of Rs 100. Yet, despite the assured income, the weavers or the owner are not flourishing.

The crisis in the traditional handloom industry of Banaras is not new. It had been manifesting in several forms but neither the district administration nor the government showed any interest in improving the lot of the handloom weavers, or "bunkars" as they are called in common parlance. The main challenge, and the source of the current crisis in this sector, was the primacy given to power-looms.

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