President’s address at the village citizens of Sualkuchi, Sualkuchi, Assam
Following
is the text of President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s address at the village
citizens of Sualkuchi, Sualkuchi, Assam:
I am indeed delighted to visit the Sualkuchi village famous
for embroidery. My greetings to the weavers, craftsmen, members of the
cooperative society and the people of this region. I am happy to note that the
more than 5000 households having the population of about 30,000 residents at
Sualkuchi has the pride of embroidering the name of Assam first in the national
and recently in the international markets by its excellent and two of the
finest silk fabrics hitherto available in the world: Muga and Mulberry silks.
I understand that Sualkuchi presently possesses nearly
17,000 handlooms for both Muga and Mulberry silk fabrics. It now produces
mulberry silk fabrics of 2 lakhs KG mulberry silk and Muga fabrics of 98,000 KG
annually against the total consumption of 4,38,870 K.G Silk yarns in Assam. The
total value of 31 lakhs linear meter Sualkuchi will be approximately Rs 7800
lakhs annually.
Presently A weaver earns Rs. 3500 to Rs. 5000 as his/her
wage besides free food and lodging. I am happy to see that nearly 22,000 people
are employed in the handloom and its associated sectors. Once an agriculture
village, Sualkuchi has been emerging gradually into a township with modern
infrastructure. I call a town in the making in the rural atmosphere.
Here, I would like to share one successful experience of silk
industry in Kancheepuram where technology, training, partnership and marketing
have produced spectacular results.
Kancheepuram Story
The silk industry in Kancheepuram is one of the fastest
growing industries in India. The industry currently employs more than 30,000
weavers in the art of saree making. The industry had to compete with the
synthetic fiber industry in many aspects. The industry was on the brink of
extinction due to the obsolescence of the designs and design making procedures.
This is because, design adds splendor to a saree and forms an integral part of
its exquisiteness. Introduction of computerized Jacquard borders in
Kancheepuram silk saree has helped in the revival of the industry. The use of
ICT has not only helped in creating new and complex designs but also reduced
the time involved in the design. There has been an increase in the exports. The
acceptance of these silk sarees by the consumers has also increased with the
automation of designing process. Visualization of saree designs ahead of its
production and the ability to create new color combination at the click of a
mouse has increased the flexibility and reduced the time for realizing new
designs. Though the materials and the techniques are changing with the market
demand, the motifs are still conventional to hold the custom and tradition of
the Kancheepuram saree. The silk industry in Kancheepuram has transformed into
a high growth industry by opening up new avenues for the traditional weavers.
The example illustrates that computer aided design can help renewal of a
traditional industry provided the new technology is simple to use and users are
trained properly.
One Village One Product
I would like to mention the handicraft promotion work taking
place at Chhindwara and Seoni in Madhya Pradesh with governmental and JETRO of
Japan, cooperation for the promotion of ?One Village, One Product?. Here the
development of interior life style articles is taking place with the
suggestions from JETRO technical experts. After prototypes are made, the
product is being sent to Tokyo market for presentation in exhibitions for
getting a feedback from the users. The feedback is used to further improve the
product for making it acceptable for sale in the international market. A
similar model has been followed between Thailand and Japan which has resulted
in the development of 26 products being produced in 26 villages with an annual
turn-over of Rs. 300 crores.
What is needed is application of technology for quantity,
quality and variety production of these products for servicing in the national
and international markets with management stewardship. You may select one life
style product from each PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) complex
in this region and prepare the product for sale in international market. PURA
envisages a rural transformation through a sustainable development in the 20-30
villages as cluster.
Conclusion
Craft persons and weavers are an important component for our
upliftment of rural economy. Over 12 million people are earning their
livelihood from this industry. For example, in Nagaland and Arunachal pradesh
every house weaves, knits and produces gadgets using the animal horns and other
natural inputs and become a family craft centres. Most of the items are used by
themselves and rest of them they sell in the barter basis in the local markets.
We have seen some of island of success and number problems faced by the
industry as a whole. Concerted action is needed to promote this industry into a
thriving wealth generator bringing prosperity to rural craftsman and weavers.
I am reminded of a Tamil saying:
Which means that the dress that a man wears makes half the
man - Thus if you create good garments and not stop with just weaving only
cloth, you will make half of our Nation - Then we can go on to capture half of
the world.
I am sure that these initiatives by the state and central
governments and also successful entrepreneurs will bring prosperity and
happiness to our traditional weavers, craftsman, and artisans and give a thrust
to the rural economy.
My best wishes to the people of Sualkuchi.
May God Bless you.
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DS/SK
(Release ID :21438)