A Clarion Call for Helping The Handloom Weavers

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA           DECEMBER 16 , 2011           00.50 A.M.

Loom

A Clarion Call for the rights of the very deprived and poor Weavers of our Country

An appeal to fellow citizens to rise and fight for them by spreading this article and creating awareness of their conditions amongst Indians.

Loom at Home

• hand-loom weavers and their family members may die from tuberculosis in Uttar Pradesh due to poor living conditions

• “Tuberculosis and malnutrition is common,”
• The skilled hands of weavers are being engaged in other jobs such as driving rickshaw, selling vegetables, laying roads and even begging.

Weavers & Looms

• Thousands of weavers have committed suicide and yet, do not figure in public consciousness or government agendas, or merit media coverage.

• There are over two lakh weavers in and around Varanasi. But less than 55,000 get a job in a year leaving the remaining 1.5 lakh weavers jobless.

• 

  Silk Weavers of Varanasi

• 50 percent of children in weaver families are malnutritioned, concluded pilot survey conducted NGOs in some of the weaver communities. “In blatant violation of Supreme Court orders, a number of children can be seen to survive on a mere bowl or two of plain rice and some bread. Some times they get nothing at all.
• Access to Credit Issues
  Presently, large majority of the weavers do not have the bank accounts and accessing credit from formal institutions remains a distant dream. Barely ten per cent of weavers, mainly those associated with hand-loom Cooperatives, receive bank credit and other monetary support from government those outside the cooperative umbrella, get nothing. The Planning Commission acknowledges that 80 per cent of hand-loom weavers depend on private money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates. Due to the lack of credit from banking institutions, weavers are forced into exploitative relationships with money-lenders, who give them credit on exorbitant terms and traders, who advance production credit, and use the leverage gained to suppress wages.
  Open Letter from Shri Muralidhar Rao ON EVE OF HIS 3 DAY FAST IN HYDERABAD IN SUPPORT OF THE DEPRIVED WEAVER SOCIETY-to fellow Indians for support to this deprived segment of Indian Society (Excerpts)
  
  
  http://muralidharrao.in/profile

The condition of the common weavers in the country continue to remain desperate and distraught.

The Planning Commission acknowledges that 80 per cent of hand-loom weavers depend on private money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates.

Montek Ahluwalia - Deputy Chairman Planning Commission

The condition of weavers, during the rule of Congress led UPA, has deteriorated sharply all across the country, but nowhere more so than in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Suicides by weavers have reached epidemic proportions.

Map of Andhra Pradesh

According to state government figures, 700 weavers committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh in recent times (the actual figure is around 2,000).

Map of Andhra Pradesh

Wages have not increased in the last 15 years. Some sections of hand-loom weavers are living in hand-to-mouth conditions, with no house or assets.

[ This is not my blog . This is an appeal by Shri Murali Dhar Rao in support of our poor hand-loom weavers , who are neglected and are committing suicide . It was mailed to me by some friends of BJP . I am posting it here so that some more people can read it and know the condition of our poor hand-loom weavers . ]

VIDUR

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA

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