Wanted: Credit for weavers

The crux of the problem is that the extent of government help for cooperatives is limited to purchase of their output.

The glitzy showing at the Kolkata Fashion Week II may have focused the spotlight on the textile weavers of Fulia, but there is an underbelly of the trade that is not so glamorous— the daily struggle of the weavers and fabric magicians of West Bengal to keep the business and the art alive.

Fulia, in West Bengal’s Nadia district, houses an industry that employs over 3,000 textile weavers. The craft is facing challenges in an age where the success or failure of a business is determined by its ability to market itself to its target audience. But these weavers and entrepreneurs lack access to an institutionalised channel through which to market their products.

Many claim that it is up to NGOs like the Crafts Council of West Bengal, which has taken on the responsibility of ensuring that the skills and craft of these workers reach the target audience, to take the initiative.

Ramananda Basak, the proprietor of an enterprise with sales of Rs 36-40 lakh a year, says, “Before the Crafts Council entered the picture, I had no outlet for my trade. I had to engage in ad-hoc salesmanship in towns where I had to travel. There has been no support from the government with respect to marketing or credit availability for setting up or expanding the enterprise.”

Basak’s success is due to the efforts of the Crafts Council which sent him to exhibitions in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi. He and others like him have participated in exhibitions like the Dastkar Art Sagar, Paramparik Sagar and the Suraj Kund Mela in the national Capital. These trips have helped him line up suppliers and orders that ultimately resulted in his venture.

With NGOs now on the scene, things have begun improving. Basak gained access to an institutional loan of Rs 4 lakh. “The problems associated with middlemen or this kind of mismanaged system of marketing and loan deployment are well documented. A number of the government-owned- and managed Manjusha and Tantuja outlets have shut down due to mismanagement and lack of interest in promoting the industry,” says Ruby Pal Chowdhury, head of the Bengal Crafts Council.

Consider the case of the Fulia Tangail Saree Bayan Shilpo Samabay Samity Ltd, a government-run cooperative, having 750 members and selling over 5,000 sarees a month. Sushil Basak, its manager, says, “The primary problem now is not of demand or marketing, but of credit availability, given that all our products are bought by the government-owned Tantuja.”

This is in fact the industry’s biggest problem: the extent of government help is limited to purchasing the cooperative’s produce. There is no effort to market Tantuja or the craft, or ensure that the weavers gain access to institutional credit.

The state government has however refuted the claim. “Efforts are being made to create marketing channels and ensure that these textile weavers get access to institutional credit,” says West Bengal’s tourism, micro, small-scale enterprises and textiles minister, Manabendra Mukherjee. The government has come up with several initiatives, like setting up showrooms (such as Tantuja and Manjusha) that exhibit the work of ‘taant’ weavers, he adds.

Besides, the workers are often sent to exhibitions where they can display their craft and book orders. Efforts are also underway to ensure more marketing-focused help. “The government is setting up textile clusters in various places like Fulia, where weavers will be trained to make their art more contemporary, helped with their raw material needs and given access to credit,” says Mukherjee. There are also plans to set up a textile park off Kona Expressway, modelled on the lines of Dilli Haat.

A boost is imperative for this craft, which can be traced back to the Mughal era, when Dacca (now Dhaka) was the centre of muslin production. Other centres of textile weaving and related crafts in Bengal include Shantipur (superfine dhotis and jacquards), Samudragarh (jacquards and jamdani), Dhatigram (jacquards) and Ambika Kalna (tangails and jamdanis).