demanding a ban of textile products produced outside Assam and mainly Varanasi has apparently come to an end, not with a concrete resolution, but only with an assurance of the government to make necessary arrangements for a special trade mark to ensure the genuineness of silk textiles produced in the silk village.

The state witnessed an unprecedented mass protest by the weavers of Sualkuchi during the last part of March and first week of April wherein hundreds of silk weavers of Sualkuchi came out to the streets and burnt down silk products procured from Varanasi which some local traders are passing as genuine Sualkuchi silk products made by a section of local traders. These local silk weavers burnt down heaps of such silk products worth several lakhs of rupees that were stored in showrooms and godowns of these traders. Local weavers alleged that these silk - products produced in Varanasi were not made of pure mulberry silk yarn.

Poor weavers often get frustrated knocking at the door of the departments to avail a Weaver’s Card and finally give up. At present in Sualkuchi, there are thousands of weavers, but hardly a hundred of them have a Weaver’s Card.

These weavers of Sualkuchi, who led the impulsive protest, alleged that a section of local traders of the silk village, who have been traditionally procuring local silk products in bulk, have of late stopped such purchasing. Instead, these traders have indulged in the practice of taking away samples of the indigenous Assamese designs and motifs to traditional silk weaving pockets in places like Mubarakpur and Islampur of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, engage silk weavers of these places to produce adulterated Assamese silk products by mixing polyester thread, and finally taking back the these finished products to Assam to sell as genuine Assamese products made exclusively of mulberry silk yarn.

These protestors also raised the issue that in many cases local customers also sometimes prefer purchasing such products without knowing that they are adulterated, as these products have a shining look and are lustrous in comparison to a hand - woven product produced with pure mulberry silk thread, which looks somewhat coarse. Taking the customers’ craze and weakness for silk products Sualkuchi for granted, these traders duped them by often fixing prices of such adulterated products equal to those genuine silk products produced in Sualkuchi, and sometimes even more, they alleged.

The protest took a violent turn and police used rubber bullets to control the mob and imposed curfew in the silk village for two consecutive days. Interestingly, people of the State were completely unaware of the fact that such a malpractice has been taking place over recent times till the protest of these local weavers of the silk center, who dared to take to the streets raising the issue.

How is such adulteration done in the process of weaving? Dipak Bharali, a local weaver cum entrepreneur has the answer. “In normal practice, a raw - silk thread used by weavers has three filaments. In adulterated threads, there may be two genuine raw silk filaments with one polyester filament. Thus, one third of the entire portion of the finished product may have adulterated yarn,” says Bharali.

Bharali was awarded the prestigious President’s State Award in 2009 for his innovative textile device ‘Chaneki’, which is an extra weft insertion in handloom for frugal handloom design that he designed and developed for skill development of weavers. His device, which costs around Rs 6,000 has been sold among the weavers across the country at 80 per cent subsidy which is provided by the Central Silk Board.

The state witnessed an unprecedented mass protest by the weavers of Sualkuchi during the last part of March and first week of April wherein hundreds of silk - weavers of Sualkuchi came out to the streets and burnt down silk - products procured from Varanasi

Traders, who now prefer to purchase silk products produced in looms of Varanasi, also have taken in the advantage of a very low price demanded by those weavers in comparison to price of local weavers of Sualkuchi, who charge their rate as per designs and motifs, Bharali says. “Although such practices have been taking place over the last several years, it has gradually taken a serious turn and a section of aggrieved weavers have spontaneously come to the streets to protest against such practices” he adds. He also says that the textile products of Varanasi were sold in Assam in earlier times too under the trade name of ‘Vanarasi Silk’. The cost of such silk was relatively low in spite of it having a more shining look. The designs too, were distinctive from traditional Assamese designs. Products of ‘Varanasi Silk’ too, have a modest market in Assam. However, taking advantage of scarcity of weavers in Sualkuchi, traders who once used to procure silk products from Sualkuchi have taken away the unique Assamese designs to Varanasi, started producing silk products there with adulterated thread and indulged in selling these textile products as pure ‘Sualkuchi products’ at high prices.

Widespread allegation of the prevalence of such malpractices and protest against these has also mounted pressure on the State Government to deal with the situation. The administration too, was quite helpless to address the issue, as the State, despite having its centuries - old tradition of silk weaving, still lacks a laboratory to examine whether silk products available and over flooding the market are genuine or adulterated.

Although Assam consumes a huge quantity of raw mulberry silk yarn, the State’s raw silk production can hardly meet the demands. Almost 90 per cent of the raw mulberry silk consumed in the State is brought from outside the State and mainly from markets of Bangaluru. With sky rocketing hikes in the price of raw silk, which has gone up from Rs 1600 in 2011 to Rs 3700 per kg in 2012, silk-weavers have become utterly helpless. “In such a situation, it would have been of great help for poor and marginal weavers if the State Government had provisions to distribute raw silk yarn at subsidized rates. Such initiatives to benefit the weavers are, however, rarely seen. In such a despairing situation merely an announcement by the State Government to initiate the process for a trademark exclusively for raw silk products of Sualkuchi, can hardly ensure economic security of local weavers,” says Champak Das, a local silk weaver.

These traders have indulged in the practice of taking away samples of the indigenous Assamese designs and motifs to traditional silk weaving pockets in places like Mubarakpur and Islampur of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh

At present, the State Government has a policy to provide four kilograms of raw silk yarn each month to every weaver having a ‘Weavers Card’ at a subsidized rate of merely 10 per cent. Most of the weavers are reluctant to avail this facility as this bit of help is too little to improve their condition. There are also allegations that such Weavers Cards are now available only to those have a nexus with people having vested interests, and not to the actual poor and marginalized weavers. “Poor weavers often get frustrated knocking at the door of the departments to avail a Weaver’s Card and finally give up. At present in Sualkuchi, there are thousands of weavers, but hardly a hundred of them have a Weaver’s Card, Das says.

Despite having a centuries old tradition, the Sualkuchi silk industry is still highly unorganized and the weavers do not have any trade unions. These weavers are yet to be covered by government welfare schemes including health insurance, special ration cards, and others to improve their socio - economic conditions. Most of the weavers have complaints of eye problems, body pains and other ailments as they have to work for over 12 hours a day in low light in the weaving sheds. Although the Labour Commission has certain provisions for those working in hazardous conditions, such beneficial schemes do not cover these workers. In the absence of power subsidy for electricity consumed in household weaving factories of the silk village, the weavers often have to work under low light conditions which has a very negative impact on their eyesight.

At present there are over 26,000 handlooms spread over Sualkuchi silk village and its nearby Gandhmou, Bongsor, Bamundi areas, engaging a large number of people on the trade.  Textile products of Sualkuchi silk village have also been facing another challenge with the booming of new such textile centers in other parts of the state including Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Jorhat, Sibsagar and others. Additionally, fashion designers living in city areas too have taken handloom products to a new height with new looks, new experiments and moving for product diversification. To face such challenges, the only way for the weavers of Sualkuchi to earn sustenance is to move for new experiments and skill upgrade satisfying the tests and demands of modern customers, as observed by both Kakoty and Bharali. These passionate youth are critical of the fact that the siblings of most of the weaver’s families in the silk village have almost stopped the silk weaving practices and started engaging weavers from outside the area. This has a tremendous impact on minimizing their family income as these families have to spend large sums of their earning to pay the weavers coming from outside the village. They also allege that most of the weavers of Sualkuchi often show apathy in adopting new technology and new experiments on the ground that they have been getting the market at their door step till recently.

The recent incident of revolt, thus, was not merely an instance of a weavers’ protest, but it has also sent a clear message particularly to the youth to face the challenges and to keep this unique heritage of silk weaving tradition of the State alive. Financial inclusion by banking institutions, provisions for soft loans to weavers and providing Weavers Cards besides providing insurance benefits to actual poor can improve the situation and check adulteration to a large extent.

Ratna Bharali Talukdar