Date:13/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/13/stories/2006021304610300.htm

Karnataka - Bidar

Plea to provide social security to weavers

Staff Correspondent

`Community finding it difficult to survive competition'

Weavers in distress because of mounting debts, lack of market
Political parties urged to fix quota for weavers' community in elections

GIS demanded for Chitaguppa saris on the lines of Mysore silk

Bidar: Globalisation has hit weavers hard. Many weavers have committed suicide because of mounting debts and lack of access to markets. If the Government does not take action, it will be difficult to retain people in the field, Umashree, MLC, said here on Sunday.

Ms. Umashree was speaking at the State-level conference of the Padmashali Samaj, the all-India association of weavers.

The MLC said weaving profession was not confined to a particular community. Many people from other communities too have taken up the profession. "Like farming, weaving is a secular vocation," she said.

K.C. Kondaiah, MLC, urged the Government to provide social security to weavers to survive the onslaught of machine-made clothes. Samaj's Bellary district unit president Narayanrao Pitta has urged political parties to fix reservation for fielding candidates from the community in elections.

GIS for saris

He said the Government should provide a geographical indication system for saris made in Chitaguppa in Bidar on the lines of Mysore silk. Other speakers at the conference said this may result in brand-building for saris.

The conference adopted a resolution stating, "in the 60s and 70s, Chitaguppa saris were famous across the country.

Machine-made saris

Now, they hardly sell as the market has been flooded by cheap, machine-made saris.

The Government should intervene and protect this dying handicraft."

Sri Dayanand Puri Swamiji of the Hampi Gayatri Peetha Math, North Karnataka Padmashali Samaj president Ratala Venkateshwaralu and Bidar City Municipal Council president Chandrashekar Patil Gadagi were present.