Weavers - woes loom still

The suicides may have stopped for the moment but the plight of Andhra Pradesh's powerloom weavers has not improved, says K. M. Dayashankar.

FOR THE powerloom weavers of Andhra Pradesh, not much has changed despite all the recent attention to their plight after more than 40 suicides were reported this year. The authorities have stopped visiting them once the suicide rate dropped. Now, the weavers say most of them are again on the verge of committing suicide.

Mr. Buli Rajesham, a powerloom weaver in Sircilla, says he is not getting any employment while his debts have increased to Rs. 70,000. He tried his luck in Bhiwandi but in vain. He has since returned home and the family now subsists on the money his wife makes rolling beedies. Several visits to the revenue authorities for rehabilitation have been of no avail.

Mrs. Orugula Siddamma says two years ago her family had eight powerlooms and sold their cloth in the neighbouring villages. But after the cost of production rose with the hike in power tariff and sales tax, they sold their looms which cost Rs. 40,000 each for as little as Rs. 15,000 a piece to clear their debts. Her husband now labours at a construction site and their son, who studied up to the ninth standard, works as help at a small shop. She and her three daughters roll beedies to add to the family income.

Another woman, Mrs. Revathi, too has a similar story to tell. Her family took loans to buy six powerlooms but again the rise in production costs and lack of a market forced them to sell the looms as scrap. Her husband too migrated to Bhiwandi but he could hardly send home Rs. 1,500 every three months.

They now face abject poverty and do not even get subsidised rice. All because, being powerloom owners, they were given pink and not white ration cards. Her three young daughters wanted to undergo free Government training in garment making on some Japanese machines but were not allowed to as they possessed a pink ration card. ``If white ration card is the only solution for problems then we will also be forced to commit suicide due to starvation'', she says.

Sircilla once provided ample work for the weavers, so much so it was called the `Sholapur of Andhra Pradesh'. Even after the introduction of powerlooms, the weavers did not face any problems. But once jet and auto looms made their advent in other States, the weavers' woes began. And the power tariff hike and the increase in sales tax on yarn were the last straw.

About 12,000 powerlooms, providing employment to 15,000 weavers in Sircilla, have started closing down due to escalation in the production cost and lack of market for the fabric. Most of the weavers have migrated to other places in search of work, while their wives have been forced to take to rolling beedis. Their children have stopped going to school and are working in hotels and shops.

But relief and rehabilitation, even for the families of weavers who have committed suicide, is going at snail's pace. Though the number of suicides rose from March this year, the Government responded only after four members of a family died after consuming pesticides on April 2.

The administration announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 10,000 under the national family benefit scheme to the kin of weavers who committed suicide and old age and widow pensions for the weavers' families. It distributed 10 kg of rice to some poor weavers and handed out white ration cards to some.

The administration said it would help the weavers diversify and train them in alternative vocations. But, nothing has happened so far. Some Japanese machines for training women in garment and dress making, have been imported; that is all. But over 2,000 children of weavers have come forward to undergo training in computer data entry, the electrician's trade, welding and fabrication, TV and radio repair, and even take a beautician's course, and learn baking and cooking.

Though, the Andhra Pradesh Government has constituted a Cabinet sub-committee to formulate short-term and long-term plans to ease the problems of weavers, only the Minister for Handlooms and Textiles, Mr. Padala Bhoomanna, visited Sircilla. He did not announce any long-term solution but said the Government is considering reducing the power tariff for powerloom weavers and exempting them from sales tax.

The State Handlooms and Textiles Department invited experts from the Textile Commissioner's office, Chennai, and the South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), Coimbatore, to Sircilla to study the problems. An expert from the Textile Commissioner's office had suggested modernisation of powerlooms under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) and promised technical assistance. A representative from SITRA said the Sircilla looms produced cloth of 40 inches width and suggested they be converted to produce cloth of at least 63 inches width.

The State Handlooms and Textiles Director, Mrs. Y. Srilakshmi, said the Sircilla powerlooms would be modernised by providing financial assistance. She also promised to set up a service centre. But the weavers point to a long list of unfulfilled promises. But neither the State nor the Centre promised any revival plan for the Sri Raja Rajeshwara Cooperative Spinning Mill in Sircilla - to provide employment to about 2,000 weavers.

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