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| Power looms take sheen off JK handicrafts | | |
Early Times Report
srinagar, July 21: Ever since the power looms were introduced in handicraft Industry in Kashmir this famed sector is losing its sheen and dying a slow death
The handmade embroidered Pashmina shawls and other items that had gained huge reputation and enormous customer base in the European countries besides attracting the attention of Mughal Queens and Queens of British kingdom are being by and large degraded by the power loom products.
Locals associated with the trade say that the government has till date failed to preserve Pashmina industry in Kashmir as no concrete measures have been taken to save the industry from falling into ruins.
"Due to the governments indifferent attitude a mere 50,000 people are presently associated with this industry including the cottage industries involved in spinning of Pashmina fiber as compared to 5 lac people till the end of 2002," a data with Kashmir Pashmina Karigar Union explains.
The weavers say Handmade handicraft items being our trade mark products need to be safeguarded from mechanization as the introduction of machines has further pushed the industry to the wall both in terms of employment and the credibility of handmade Pashmina in international market.
"Among 40 power looms running in Kashmir division each unit provides employment to 10 people, 7 out of which are from outside the state while three are from Kashmir and are involved in finishing works only, another setback for the local weavers," Nazir Ahmad, a weaver told 'Early Times'.
These power looms produce 2 shawls in 10 minutes and the wages for weaving in a handloom costs 100 rupees per shawl while it takes 7 days for a weaver to complete one shawl who is paid meager Rs 1500 per shawl.
"The difference in quality between the two is vast as the mechanized shawls are weak in strength due to the mixing of viscose, wool and nylon during weaving process and to hide the shortcoming these shawls are carbonized. While in contrast the manually made shawls are made of pure Pashmina and are good in strength due to the usage of varied blit threads ranging from thick to thin," he alleges.
Weavers allege that these power loom products are faked to customers as handmade shawls, stoles etc thus dooming the artisans. "The customers are charged in accordance to handmade items while as these power loom products are way cheaper than them, A mechanized shawl costs around Rs 3000 as compared to handmade shawl which cost Rs 10000 to Rs 12000 ," Ahtisham Hussain General Secretary KPKU said.
According to official sources an official ban, vide notification no. IDDK/WOOL /2453-63 dated 29/09/2000 was imposed on machine spinning of Pashmina yarn to protect the interest of the manual spinners in the state, but the ban was not followed in letter and spirit which paved the way for introduction of weaving machines. |
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