For Pochampally weavers, it’s still a battle for survival

HYDERABAD: On Wednesday morning, it was business as usual at Pochampally village — roughly 45 km from Hyderabad. Though news of it being recognised as one of the best tourism villages by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), had trickled in by then, it didn’t seem to add any sense of euphoria among its Ikat sari weavers. Though glad about the honour, most were still, singlemindedly, pushing towards that one goal — to earn 10,000 - 15,000 from weaving seven saris.
“Sadly, this award is not going to benefit us in any way.Our lives are not going to change,” said Lakshmi B, who has been taking home 10,000 from seven saris for the last 10 years. She said it takes her about 40 days to complete the work. “It is the dealers, middlemen and our bosses, who have 10 to 15 weavers working for them, who will make the money. We will still be paid part wages,” she said. Her husband, also a weaver, gets 15, 000 for the same job.

While the pandemic had pulled down the price of these saris by 2,000 (approx), it has revived now and are being sold for no less than 7,500. Yet, weavers continue to get a paltry sum for their effort, irrespective of how many days they put in.
Perhaps that explains their lack of optimism. “Even if this recognition draws more tourists to the village, small weavers like me will continue to get limited orders with very thin margins from shops,” said M Krishna Murthy who has been weaving saris for the past 25 years and has two machines. He added how the trend of duplicate saris — from Maharashtra, Gujarat etc — flooding the market is further denting their business.
But not all hope is lost just yet. Some still believe that the newly attained tag will prove to be a blessing bringing new customers who have earlier never heard about Ikat saris. “We are hopeful that more people will come here after hearing about the international tag conferred to Pochampally and our sales will increase,” said Ramesh M, who has been selling Ikat saris, dresses and other items for five years.
‘Want our children to get jobs’
Almost all weavers in Pochampally village who TOI met on Wednesday said they will not pass this skill on to their children. Instead, they want them to study and secure a more stable job. “The money earned through hours of weaving is sufficient only for food and clothing. There is no money left even to get our children educated,” said Bala Raju V, who has been weaving for the last seven years. He said he now plans to stop and instead start a grocery store or some other business. Weavers also appealed to the government to provide them with some assistance in return for all laurels their work has brought to the state. They called for subsidies and other benefits that can help them improve their standard of living.