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Tamil Nadu
Innovation in handloom to help weavers
| Now weavers weave only one mat at a time; get not more than Rs. 100 a day |
Weaver-friendly: A weaver using a modified handloom, which will help him weave two mats at a time with no extra labour.
CHENNIMALAI: Innovation in handloom, brought about by Kumaran Industries here and supported by Handloom Export Promotion Council and the State Department of Handlooms and Textiles, is expected to change the face of mat weaving in this handloom cluster.
The story so far: handloom weavers here were able to weave only a mat at a time. On an average a weaver wove about two dozen mats a day. And, since their wages were linked to the number of mats they wove, they made not more than Rs. 100 a day.
All this is set to change if the State Government adopts the innovation brought in by M.S. Kandasamy of Kumaran Industries.
He has modified the ‘sley’ – the wooden frame which has shuttle box and reed – in such a way that a weaver with no extra effort can weave two mats at a time.
Explaining his innovation, Mr. Kandasamy says, “A shuttle that moves from one end of the loom pushes another shuttle, which is stationed in the centre of the sley, to the other end of the loom.
This way, the first shuttle provides the weft yarn for the first mat, and the second shuttle the weft yarn for the second mat.”
For the uninitiated, shuttle is a wooden projectile that moves from one end of the loom to the other, carrying weft yarn.
He further says that as the first shuttle provides the necessary force to move the second shuttle, the weaver has to operate only one shuttle, which he does in any other handloom.
It took the Plus Two pass out six months and a few thousand rupees to come up with the modification, for which the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, Salem, provided the broad framework. The Institute handed over the project to him, after the Government of India’s Handloom Export Promotion Council wanted some changes to be made to handloom so that weavers wove more with no energy and thereby made more money.
The State Handloom and Textile Department also played a role in helping Mr. Kandasamy in that they provided him the platform to do so. Assistant Director of the Department, Erode, S. Rajagopal says the innovation appears to be good in that at experimental stage it has been working fine.
Weaver A. Ganesh, who has been weaving on the loom, says it took him a month to get used to the new weaving technique and that it is easy to operate.
He adds that the loom will be of great help as he will be able to produce four dozen mats a day and earn more.
The Assistant Director says the Department will first install the new loom at the training centre it proposes to set up in Erode.
And, in all likelihood, the Handloom Export Promotion Council may also adopt and introduce the innovation in the mat export zone that it proposes to set up.
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