Expansion of Hyderabad threatens Pochampally Handlooms

[I4handloom]

World famous Pochampally handlooms, or Ikkat, or tie and dye handloom
fashions, in Nalgonda
district, in Andhra Pradesh, in India, are under threat. An expanding
Hyderabad urban
agglomeration is likely to swamp into villages that weave and eke out
living out of hand-made
textiles. Draft Hyderabad Master Plan 2031 announced recently, and is
currently on the public
domain for comments and suggestions, proposes to include most of the
villages that are wholly
or partially dependent on hand-woven textiles. These textiles are
world famous for their designs
and the kind of weaving. This expansion is likely to impact atleast
10,000 families of handloom
weavers, in about 15 villages.

Nalgonda district is on the eastern side of Hyderabad. This is part of
a Deccan plateau dryland
region, where ecological resources are low. Because of proximity to
Hyderabad, urban influence
on many aspects of life is significant. However, people do not have
adequate resources to
improve their standards of living.

This district has the problem of flourosis, as they depend on
groundwater for their needs.
Nalgonda district is known for tie and dye (Ikkat in Hindi and Chitiki
in Telugu) variety weaving
in both cotton and silk. This is a unique style of weaving.
Traditionally, silk saris are woven. In
recent years, over a one-half decade, weavers have changed to home
furnishings as well, apart
from dress material (women wear). Most of them belong to Padmashali
caste. There are a very
small percentage of other castes.

In S. Lingotam village, there are about 1400 families residing, of
which 175 families are
dependent on handloom livelihoods. About 115 families have migrated to
other areas, or other
professions.

An unrecognized positive feature of handloom sector is its self-
sustaining mechanism.
Continuation of skills, resources and capacities was ensured through
inheritance. Handloom
profession was also open for all types of communities.

This is the most eco-friendly production method. There is no demand
for electricity and thus
there are no energy impacts. The instrument of handloom is an
independent, simple and
autonomous technology. This sector should be the obvious choice for
policy makers interested in reduction of negative impacts on
environment and ecology and concept of sustainable
development.
Indian handloom sector has been brought to its knees in the last 15
years by apathetic and
discriminatory policies, declining government budget allocations,
market distortions, declining
access to production inputs and raw material (including finance, yarn
and colours), rising cost of
living and unfair market practices by competitors.

In this external scenario, wracked by constant changes, handloom
weaver families are finding it
difficult to continue their livelihoods. In the last one year, rising
costs of living and negative
growth in wages have further pushed them into debts. Rising raw
material costs have increased
the cost of production. With price competition in textile markets,
rising of cost of production led
to real time decrease in wages. Thus, the incomes of handloom weaver
families have not
increased. The basket of government schemes for handloom sector
remained the same in
allocations and implementation. Access to working capital is still a
major problem for handloom
weaver. Cooperatives and other institutions established for the growth
and welfare of handloom
livelihoods are still in the red.

Despite such a dismal situation, a positive factor is the continuation
of the market demand for
handloom products.

For various reasons, costs of food grains and other food have
increased. Inflation levels have also
increased, increasing stress on the income and expenditure of handloom
weaver families. In
addition, prices of yarn and colours have also increased which
depressed the income further.
Prices of cotton yarn and silk yarn have jumped to more than 30
percent in the last six months. In many places, investment on
production has dried up with costs of production increasing and no
commensurate rise in market prices of handloom products.

In some places, suicides by handloom weavers in debts have sharply
increased. With rising costs of production, there is now dearth of
work for handloom weavers. Migration to other places and other
professions has become imminent for many families.

However, the latest threat is the inclusion of many of these villages,
including Bhoodan
Pochampally, the epicenter for this kind of production, in urban
Hyderabad, would increase the
cost of living. Most of the weavers do not have other assets, except
probably the house in which
they live. Handloom livelihood is likely to get subsumed in the fast-
changing social-scape of
urban Hyderabad.

It is time people, who love hand-woven textiles, ikkat handlooms and
the only world-famous
Telangana brand of hand textiles, woke up to this threat. This
expansion needs to be stopped. A
campaign needs to be launched to “Save Pochampally Handlooms”, from
this urban threat.
People and the villagers have not been consulted. Many of them do not
even know about this
‘colonisation’. This simple community who go about their livelihood,
oblivious to the changes
around them, are threatened by urban agglomeration of Hyderabad.