Making handloom weaving remunerative in Assam

Women handloom workers account for nearly 92% of the total handloom workers in Assam and are key stakeholders in the state economy. Augmenting the income of handloom workers can significantly increase household income and ensure the economic empowerment of more than 11 lakh women weavers. Being an unorganised industry, the challenges faced by individual weavers vary from place to place, but the non-availability of raw materials at an affordable cost and the flooding of cheaper replicas of traditional handloom products made on powerlooms are key problems common to all traditional weavers. Quality handloom products from the state have high demand in the export market, but success stories have been scripted only by a few weavers with entrepreneurial skills and initiatives. Productivity on traditional looms is a major issue, as for the majority women weavers, except those employed by handloom entrepreneurs, weaving is not a full-day activity. They are engaged in weaving only in their free time after doing all household chores, which are limited to three to four hours a day. This poses a major hurdle to boosting production and results in a demand-supply gap. The traditional weavers have expertise but are unable to meet the demand placed on them by a trader or an entrepreneur. At the individual level, a weaver is not confident enough to devote full time to weaving due to a lack of market access. Besides, it also involves investment in the purchase of cocoons or yarn in addition to loom accessories. A weaver belonging to a poor and marginalised family is wary of purchasing raw materials with loans taken from the informal credit market, as she is unaware of an assured remunerative market for the products she weaves. The Raw Material Supply Scheme (RMSS) is a key intervention aimed at making yarn available to weavers at affordable prices. Two key components of the scheme are freight reimbursement for transportation of yarn and price subsidy on yarn, which is credited to a linked bank account through direct benefit transfer mode. This subsidy is applicable to cotton hank yarn, domestic silk, woollen, linen yarn, and blended yarn of natural fibres. Individual weavers, agencies formed with weavers as members of self-help groups (SHGs), joint liability groups, cooperative societies, handloom producer companies, and weaver entrepreneurs having functional looms are eligible to avail of subsidies under the scheme. The Departmentally Related Standing Committee on Handloom, Textile, and Sericulture Departments, in its report presented to the Assam Assembly, highlighted the gaps in the availability of subsidised yarn for individual weavers. The committee observed that the weavers are facing difficulties collecting the different types of yarn as there is no yarn bank in the block-level areas, due to which weavers have to bear more transportation expenditure and time for collecting yarns. The committee’s recommendation to set up a yarn bank in the block-level areas provides a pragmatic solution to keep yarn procurement costs at a minimum for individual weavers. This can subsequently also facilitate individual women weavers to avail of benefits under RMSS. Mobilising the weavers under SHGs or weavers’ cooperatives can help aggregate products in an efficient way for better marketing, and at the same time, members of these groups and cooperatives can also benefit from the sharing of profits earned. Many weavers, however, due to pressing household issues, cannot give adequate time to group activities, which come in the way of the smooth functioning of SHGs or cooperatives. Such a situation implies that initiatives to make yarn available closer to the doorsteps of weavers at an affordable cost and channelling yarn through SHGs or cooperatives must be given equal priority to maximise the number of beneficiaries under RMSS. Product diversification, loom upgrades, and skill training to adopt new product designs are critical interventions for making the hard labour of women weavers on their looms more ewarding. Official data, however, shows that such interventions have covered a small percentage of weavers in the state. In Assam, altogether 80 clusters were provided total financial assistance of Rs 66 crore from 2015-16 to June 2024–25 under the centrally funded Small Cluster Development Programme, against which 17,375 weavers received skill training and 9026 of them were given upgraded looms and accessories. The low percentage of trainees compared to the huge number of traditional handloom weavers can be attributed to the limited funds made available to different states. As Assam accounts for the largest number of handloom weavers in the country, the state needs to be provided with a greater share of funds under the programme to provide skill training to a greater number of weavers in the state. The state government implementing its own skill training programme with adequate budgetary support can significantly increase the number of skilled weavers across the state. Organising training programmes closures for handloom clusters is essential to ensuring better participation. Affordable yarn and skill training will make handloom weaving a lucrative economic activity.