Over 5,000 families still spin Gandhi’s charka, not profits

Charka, the spinning wheel, was used by Gandhiji as a symbol of ‘Khadi movement’ to promote self-sufficiency in rural areas and to avoid imported clothes. 

More than 5,000 families in Srivilliputhur, Arupukottai and neighbouring villages are dependent on the handloom industry. But it is a not lucrative one for the labourers and especially women. The wages are meagre and they are struggling to make their ends meet.  

A senior handloom weaver, Krishnan (70), from Srivilliputhur, said that Charka has used by weavers in Virudhunagar district even before he was born. But, the weavers in Srivilliputhur and the neighbouring areas shot into prominence, when Gandhiji began to use the Charka.  

However, as years rolled by, their work has become limited and greatly confined to making free sarees and school uniforms, distributed for free by the government. After making the required designs in yarns in Charka they are spun in the pedal handlooms to make the cloth. 

When Co-optex was procuring directly from them, they used to provide all the raw materials, including yarns and their earnings were decent. But now, Hand looms department is directly procuring from them and the expenses are high. 

“The hand looms unions pay the transportation charge and after all the expenses, their earnings hardly crosses Rs 90 a day. For some, it is just Rs 50,” said Krishnan. 

Another handloom weaver Pal Pandi from Srivilliputhur said that for the last one year the government has not increased the wages for the workers. They are paid Rs13 a metre of a dupatta or shawl which is given free as part of school uniforms by the government. 

After all the additional works for the dupatta, workers are left with just Rs 7 a metre.  Elaborating it, he said that only 12 metres of dupatta can be made using the handloom in a day. Therefore, the money that can be earned by a worker turns out to be just Rs 80 a day. As far as the sarees are concerned, three can be woven in a day. After spending on works like dyeing, a weaver gets only Rs 90 -100 in a day. 

Also, the officials collect money only from the weavers associations for any work undertaken by the department. Under such circumstances it becomes difficult for them to meet their daily requirements. If not for free rice provided through PDS, we would have abandoned the handlooms long ago, said Pal Pandi.