Amit
Guin*
Tucked around 230
kilometers from Bhopal are a group of traditional weavers whose sleight in making
hand-woven silk and cotton sarees is unputdownable. The Chanderi sarees of
Madhya Pradesh have created waves in the world of fashion by alluring the
customers with its pleasant colours and spectacular designs. But the creators
of the Chanderi sarees have been facing problems because of the
non-availability of working capital, non-availability of suitable and reliable
market linkages, bleak prospects of wage sustainability, and also because of
their own inability to come up with bulk orders.
Paying heed to the
matter, the Government adopted a cluster approach for a focused development of
the handloom weavers. For this purpose, the Office of Development Commissioner
– Handlooms under the Ministry of Textiles embraced 20 pilot clusters from 12
states of the country. The Chanderi cluster was also identified under the
Integrated Handloom Development Scheme.
As a first step
towards the development of the cluster, the weavers from Chanderi were formed
into Self-Help Groups. The groups were given the exposure of exhibitions and
sale to help them understand production to marketing cycle. They also
understood that this process of participation of each SHG with similar designs
and limited resources is very expensive and realised the need for pooling the
resources of SHGs.
To allay their fears
and doubts, the weavers were then convinced to form a federation. After
numerous discussions, they finalised to register a federation as a Producer
Company Limited. A company in the name of Chanderi Handlooms Cluster Development
Producer Company was registered on May 29, 2008 with 10 initial members. The
news of the formation of a company spread like fire as other
groups/stakeholders showed interest in joining it. Immediately after
registration, five directors were given responsibilities such as looking into
design development; planning the production, monitoring and quality control;
marketing; and, coordination, legal formalities with various departments.
The directors of the
Company then drew a business plan for the Company for the first year, wherein
they decided to adopt 60-70 looms with 40-50 specialised designs with a
collection of around 400-500 sarees a month. Eventually, the number of looms
was increased to 100 with a collection of 1000 sarees a month in 75 different
designs. The looms which were roped in were categorised on the basis of skill
level of the weaver, the ability of the weaver to weave intricate designs,
among other factors. A sales and marketing team was also developed which led
the weavers to participate in various events. Apart from these events, capacity
building programmes were also organised from time to time.
All these
developments boosted the confidence of the weavers, with the Company producing
sarees and dress materials worth Rs. 30 lakhs in its first year of operation.
During 2008-09, the Company, apart from giving a 20 per cent wage increase to
the weavers, also provided 40 per cent as dividend to its shareholders. During
2009-10, the Company continued with the same wage increment figure, but increased
the dividend up to 60 per cent. Along with positive news on the financial side,
the Company also created its own identity by producing sarees and dress
materials with new designs and lured customers who were interested for
non-traditional stuff as well. The marketing efforts by the team members
fructified in tie-ups with the likes of Lifestyles, Central Cottage Industries
Corporation, Ranjana Fabrics, Tahiliani Designs, and many more.
The formation of the
Company made the weavers feel confident that they too can run business with
good profit. On the other hand, with the increase in wages by the Company, the
weavers also started asking for better wages from the master weavers. This
forced the master weavers to slightly increase the wages of the weavers. Apart
from it, the younger generation is also showing interest in joining the company
as they find better opportunities for themselves in such structure. This is
evident from the fact that a large number of requests is coming from young
weavers. Increased awareness has also led to almost 100 per cent weavers
availing health insurance facilities.
In this way, the
weavers of Chanderi have spun weaves of happiness.
Click here to
see Photos
(PIB
Features.)
*****
*The
author is a freelance writer.
With inputs from Ministry of
Textiles
Disclaimer:
The views expressed by the author in this article are his own and do not
necessarily reflect the views of PIB.
SS-37/SF-37/13-02-2013
RTS/HSN