(Mohan Bhulani, NTI): In a serendipitous visit to the picturesque village of Imlikhera in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, Ashish Dhyani encountered weavers living in poverty, who were abandoning their age-old weaving traditions to work as laborers in cities. “My professor told me about the Pal community living in the village. After talking to them, I realized they had a rich culture of weaving that they had been practicing for generations,” says Ashish, a B.Tech graduate from IIT Roorkee.
“But they had little access to finance or understanding of products and markets, which made it difficult for them to make a living from weaving despite their skills,” he adds.
Meeting the weavers gave Ashish a new direction and purpose. After graduating from IIT in 2010, he worked with the Steel Authority of India at the Rourkela Steel Plant for five years. “But I wanted to do more and use my experience in operations and project management to help micro-enterprises,” Ashish explains. “I felt I could help the weavers develop contemporary products and market them to get better value.”
Ashish observed that the weavers were only weaving for three to four months and were forced to work as laborers, factory workers, and even rickshaw pullers for the rest of the year. “Their children were also migrating to cities for work, and this craft was dying,” he notes. In the villages around Roorkee, only 10% of the weavers continued their family craft while the rest had taken up alternative occupations.
Bringing About a Real Change
To reverse this migration, Ashish initiated a project to scale up the weavers’ business by modernizing their products and connecting them with the market. Firstly, he introduced them to new materials such as cotton and linen so they could weave throughout the year and not just during the winter months. Secondly, he acquainted them with techniques like tie-and-dye to expand the range of products beyond simple woolen fabrics. And thirdly, with the help of his designer friends, he helped the weavers make their designs contemporary.
Today, handwoven fabrics and home linens sold under the Uttarakhand Handloom brand have customers in Australia, the USA, and Singapore, giving the weavers the confidence to sustain their craft. Initially, the local weavers were not very enthusiastic about Ashish’s ideas. “They had bitter experiences because several NGOs had approached them before, shown them some dreams, and then disappeared. I was also showing them dreams, but they weren’t very interested.”
However, some of them were receptive and agreed to work with him. “I felt that as we grew and people started earning money, others would join,” he says. After understanding the products, designs, and colors that could sell in the market, he asked the weavers to work along similar lines. For woolen shawls and other fabrics, he collaborated with a local institute. He even organized a fashion show to showcase the products, which received a good response.
The Business of Weaving
Uttarakhand has about 15,000 registered handloom weavers. While they produce a variety of products using different yarns, their condition has been deteriorating. From the beginning, Ashish was certain that he didn’t want to start an NGO as he believed they couldn’t effectively help the weavers. Instead, he founded Sarathi Trading Company through which he collaborates with local weavers. Ashish says that while they can’t predict the impact of their intervention, they pay the weavers the price quoted by them and receive a fixed amount as commission.
“I have developed a decentralized manufacturing system where people work from home. I procure the raw material and send them samples while the weavers send me the finished products,” he explains. “Through these collective efforts and some design interventions, this art can be revived. This model will make weaving profitable and create employment.”
Uttarakhand Handloom also helps connect handloom weavers with charity organizations, temples, orphanages, and old age homes that buy shawls, caps, lohi, and other woolen fabrics every year. This way, weavers get a market and philanthropic organizations get good products at fair prices, Ashish says.
Diversification and Additional Income
Talking about weaving cotton fabric for diversification and additional income, Ashish says, “The weavers used to weave in winters, but they had no work in summers. I encouraged them to weave cotton, and now they make stoles, scarves, and home linen items.”
The Weaving Community of Uttarakhand
Ashish collaborates with various groups of weavers – about 60 weavers in three-four villages around Roorkee, around 30 Bhutia (or Bhotia) women from Mana village who make woolen clothes and carpets, an organization working with differently-abled individuals in Almora, and 20 people from the Ansari community in Dehradun.
The Pal community has a rich history of weaving. It is said that the Pals are descendants of Queen Ahilyabai Holkar, who was the queen of the Maratha Empire and ruled from Maheshwar, south of Indore, from 1767 to 1795. Queen Holkar belonged to the Dhangar community of shepherds, some of whom were blanket weavers. The members of this community, originally shepherds and weavers, migrated northwards from central India after her death and became the Pals of Uttarakhand. Since the Pals rear sheep, they traditionally used sheep wool to make shawls and woolen wraps, which were white, cream, and black in color and very warm. However, now they use KT yarn, which is recycled wool, to make their products.
The Bhutias dominate the weaving industry in Uttarakhand. They make various woolen garments like socks, caps, mittens, mufflers, sweaters, shawls, rugs, and carpets. Bhutia weavers traditionally used sheep wool or indigenous Harsil wool, but now they also use other yarns like nettle fiber.
The Ansaris belong to the Deobandi Muslim community and have been in the weaving profession for centuries. They are mainly settled in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Uttarakhand. “They live around the Doon Valley and make excellent products from merino and pashmina,” Ashish explains.
A Hopeful Future
Ashish acknowledges that it is still early days for his project. “I don’t know if I have made a big difference. I have no estimates, but I think I have been able to give more business to the weavers and, as a result, their income has increased. There is still a lot to be done.”
