The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Weavers demand re-introduction of ‘kora’ procurement

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Tuesday, Apr 08, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Weavers demand re-introduction of ‘kora’ procurement

Staff Reporter

KANCHEEPURAM: Reverting to old system of ‘kora’ and ‘zari’ procurement will help reduce considerably the manufacturing cost of silk saris produced by weavers’ cooperative societies, according to the members of various silk handloom weavers’ cooperative societies functioning here.

During early 1980s, the societies used to procure `kora’ (raw silk threads) and ‘zari’ in the open market. Subsequently, the State government issued an order stating that monthly requirement of ‘kora’ and ‘zari’ had to be procured by the societies from Tamilnadu Silk Corporation (TANSILK) and Tamilnadu Zari Limited only. The objective was to make available these raw materials at an uniform rate to all societies.

The system proved beneficial during initial years, as quality raw materials were made available to the societies. However, after few years, unit rates of ‘kora’ and ‘zari’ increased and remained on the higher side compared to open market rate.

At this juncture, saris weaved in Andhra Pradesh were procured and sold as ‘Kancheepuram silk’ saris by a section of private players at a heavily subsidised rate. Thus, backlog of unsold saris in several co-operative societies increased every year and forced societies to tap the corpus fund to ‘tide over’ the financial crisis, sources said.

At the same time, the total weight loss of ‘kora,’ which should be around 150 to 200 gms a kg after dying, increased to 300 to 350 gms a kg presumably due to the quality of silk supplied. However, the societies were made to pay 10 to 15 per cent per gm of silk over and above the open market price for the same quality of ‘kora,’ sources claimed.

Similar situation exists with respect to procurement of ‘zari.’ While one mark of ‘zari’ having 53 per cent gold content was being sold at around Rs.8,000 to the societies, private silk sari manufactures were able to purchase one mark of ‘zari’ having 52 per cent gold content for around Rs.5,500 in the open market now, they added.

Thus, payment of dividend to member-weavers, which hovered around 0.80 paise per share a few decades ago, witnessed gradual decline and now all most all societies were struggling for their survival.

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