Chennai: The lack of regular jobs and low wages for skilled silk weavers of Kancheepuram will find their echo in the Assembly elections as weavers seek social security schemes, annual increment of wages and weavers’ quarters to solve their housing problems.
During the last elections, weavers were promised social security schemes and annual rise in wages, besides housing schemes. But no social security schemes have been implemented, weavers union members said. The Silk Park project aimed at bringing several silk weaving and selling units under one umbrella has also not taken off in the last six years.
The Kanchi silk trade is flourishing, but weavers are not enjoying a just share of the profits as wages have not been increased for the last ten years, said E. Muthukumar, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Handloom Weaving Workers Federation.
“A weaver is given Rs 1,500 for a silk saree for which a family comprising three members should work for two weeks. Two silk sarees can be woven in a month, but weavers are given material for only two sarees per month”.
He stressed on the need for a social welfare network including rise in pension to Rs 500, insurance scheme that covers top hospitals in the district and separate quarters for weavers. Besides, the debts of weavers’ cooperative societies should be waived by the government, he said. The Kancheepuram Handloom Silk and Lace Saree Manufacturers Association secretary V.K. Damodaran said “the rate of zari had gone up from Rs 3,000 per kg to Rs 3,700 per kg. Also, online trade of gold and silver is leading to rise in prices of the previous metals, from which zari is manufactured.
“We are not getting skilled labourers as the young generation is keen to join the multi-national companies coming up in the district,” he pointed out. The fame of Kanchi silk is due to the exquisite designs and wonderful handiwork of the skilled weavers involved in the trade for many generations. New persons cannot be trained since the Kanchi silk weaving is a unique art known only to weavers and their descendants residing in the silk town for many centuries. No machinery or powerlooms can replace these workers.
Both the weavers’ unions and manufacturers want the next government to take steps for preserving Kanchi silk, one of the most ancient and prestigious trades of India by stopping the exodus of weavers. The numbers of silk weavers which was 70,000 had come down to 35,000, Muthukumar said.
