These action points have been compiled based on emails received, discussion during the meeting on 14th march, 2006 and in conversations held subsequent to the meeting between Gulshan Nanda and Maqbool Hasan, Master Weaver, Sajjath and Siddique Hassan of Varanasi and discussions with Ashoke Chatterjee. Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan and Jatin Bhatt

• For this movement to gain momentum we need to partner with a larger base of groups in civil society, government and semi government institutions, media, design/technical/management institutions, traders associations, and others. A meaningful interaction with these stake holders with specific issues being addressed and individuals/organisations taking on responsibilities and running with it.

• In the long term we need to document the process followed to perhaps create a road map for the larger issues at stake in areas other than Varanasi.

Threats

• Large scale import/ dumping of Chinese copies of Benarasi Saris and fabric lengths at rock bottom prices.

• Large scale copying and sales of Benarasi look-alike saris and fabric lengths in polyester yarn made by mills in Surat.

• Shrinking market for high quality Benaras brocades as zardozi embroidered saris have been promoted by designers.

• Only half of the one lakh strong weavers community has work. The rest are unemployed.

• The average family income of those employed is now down to approximately Rs.2,500/pm.

• Others involved in secondary/associated occupations like the dyers and warpers are in a similar, if not worse, plight.

• Reports of weavers committing suicide (BBC News Night – Paul Mason report)

• Reports of weavers selling their blood to make ends meet. (NDTV report by Shikha Trivedi)

• The flip side of the coin is that while on the one hand China is dumping copies of Benarasi weaves - India is importing much needed, silk yarn from them. The weavers are largely dependent on this yarn for their weaving needs and cannot survive without this import.

I. Humanitarian Assistance

A critical and immediate first step is humanitarian assistance. National and International Relief and Welfare agencies need to be mobilized.

Possible Leads:

• Pradeep Malhotra representing the SOS Children’s Village has offered shelter and support to the wives and children of the weavers. Contact details: President or Secretary General, SOS Children’s Village, A-7 Nizamuddin West, New Delhi -110013, Tel: 011 24357299, 24359734, 24355835

• PVCHR (Peoples Vigilance Committee for Human Rights) and CRY (Child Relief and You), are working together to mobilize the weavers of Varanasi to amplify their voices in the national and international arena.

• PVCHR has been doing development work with weavers and has been approaching various government bodies to support their work

II. Promotion/ Marketing/ Public Education

• Leverage alternative instruments that can enable or supplement unique identity, branding and collective market promotion, consumer awareness and distinct characteristics of authentic Benarasi brocades.

• Check on the wearing of Benarasi saris in films and use this as a publicity peg. For instance, Amitabh Bachchan wore a Benarasi lungi in the famous song ‘Jiski Biwi chhoti’ which increased the lungis’ popularity and sale. Prof. Jatin Bhatt

• Contact film makers and TV serial producers to get their actors to consider wearing Handlooms. A valuable person would be Ekta Kapoor. Ritu Sethi

• “…we can have a publicity campaign, draw together advertising agencies, film makers, and documentary makers and convince them to use really good Benarasi saris. Have exhibitions or series of exhibitions all over India (of) really quality products, I think we can enhance the value and knowledge of Varanasi weaves”. Laila Tyabji

• Revitalize raw material procurement and their sources under controlled structure to leverage distinctive identity. Prof Jatin Bhatt

• Revive techniques of natural dyes, eco-friendly processes and other similar aspects of value as practice to create high-end niche markets. Prof. Jatin Bhatt

• Synergize the supply and value chain to induce organized structure and sense of pride rooted in quality norms associated with best practices of their historical reputation. Prof. Jatin Bhatt

• Need for consumer education on benchmarks of quality and linking handmade quality to self-esteem and national pride.

• Put in internal checks and balances among all the stakeholders to implement prescribed norms as stated or claimed for the authenticity of the craft in the definition of Traditional Knowledge. Prof. Jatin Bhatt

• Awareness of ‘Indian’ and ‘handloom’

• A series of articles/essays and write-ups in magazines and newspapers both regional and national.

• Activating the News channels: CNN/IBN, NDTV, Aaj Tak to be tapped

• Presentations in schools, colleges and appropriate platforms for volunteers who could go and work in Varanasi, and the projects that the trust undertakes in various capacities. Mayank Kaul, Asian Heritage Foundation

• Overseas partners have been contacted and are willing to assist.

III. Trade Promotion

• Educate and work in collaboration with retail and wholesale traders.

• Build a dialogue between stores and artisans.

• Activate Traders and stores in large metro towns and inform them of the situation. Appeal to their ‘civic’ duty.

• Develop contact with the large silk exporters – find out their views, study their solutions.

• Activate the Fashion Design Council and other such bodies.

IV. Product, Design and Market Diversification and Development: Home and Export Markets

• Need to create brand identification (which GI would do most effectively).

• Involve Design Institutes and encourage young designers to work in conjunction with traditional makers.

• As the demand for saris has reduced, weavers who can only weave saris need design help on product diversification for their survival.

• The textiles (Varanasi weavers only weave saris) in their present form have limited use. In a sari the fabric is not evenly woven, denser along the border and at the pallu. The weavers need help so they may apply their technique to making uniform fabrics which can have diverse uses from home furnishing to other forms of dress.

• …(a) strategic approach would be to make a positive use of the Global Market by EXPORTING high quality crafts to China, targeted at a growing middle class with great purchasing power and eager to buy what is RARE and DIFFERENT! In this connection, the use of the UNESCO SEAL of Excellence can be helpful as a certification of authenticity and quality. - Indrasen Vencatachellam, UNESCO, Paris

V. IPR, Trademark and Branding

• Geographical Indicators (GI): There is urgent need for the GI to be obtained by the weavers in Varanasi in cooperation with the National Copyright Office and WIPO. This certification based on a set of criteria can be a strong dissuasive factor to outside imitators and internal importers. It has already been obtained by Mysore silk, Chanderi and Pochampally.

• All India Artisans and Craftsperson Association (AIACA) has instituted a Craftmark to identify and authenticate a product and process. This could be of use to the weavers.

• “..… can we consider a kind of registration method? What I have in mind is the Appellation Controllee technique the French follow. Anyone can make sparkling wine but no-one outside the district can call it Champagne. Anyone can make brandy but only those in that area can call it Cognac. So to put it simply, the French have identified a generic product, produced in a specific area with a name that is recognised throughout the world, and insisted that no-one outside that area can use the name in question. Much the same applies here. Obviously the name Benarasi Brocade is sufficiently well known to attract copy cats. So our aim should be to see that even if those outside the area can make look alike products (and they will copy the techniques used in Varanasi because they're good) they can't call it by the name that we use.” Michael Pinto, Former Development Commissioner (Handlooms)

• “…. devise some little logo or trade mark, some unique identifying mechanism… When you see that symbol you'll know you've bought the genuine article. Then we could take legal action against anyone using it unauthorized.” Michael Pinto, Former Development Commissioner (Handlooms)

• “….this could be a first step. … the base for a movement - defined and identified by a logo and name (branding). These could then appear on every project/ communication exercise that this movement undertakes. Mayank Kaul, Asian Heritage Foundation

It has just come to our notice, via and advertisement in the newspaper, that the Silk Mark Organisation of India (a society sponsored by the Central Silk Board) based in Bangalore, instituted a Silk Mark in June 2004, a quality assurance label. Contact Details: Silk Mark Organisation of India, B.T.M. layout, Madivala, Bangalore. Telephone: 080-23421144, 26282114, 26282117. Email: silkmark@silkmarkindia.com. Website: www.silkmarkindia.com

VI. Protection of Cultural Heritage, Identity and Traditional Knowledge

Action Required

• Work towards a Chair in Benaras Hindu University for master weavers thereby equalising their status with the mainstream

• Confer D.Litt degrees on the great master weavers

• Revive the ‘Meenakari’ exhibition of the Poddar Foundation that showcased the pinnacle of Benaras brocade weaving and positioned it as one of India’s finest traditions.

• Exhibitions and sales targeted at specific high end markets in the metro cities to reclaim Benarasi Brocades position.

• Revitalise the status of Benaras weaves through talks and seminars held at Design Schools, IGNCA, Art Galleries, Public Forums, etc.

• “…. a travelling exhibition of Benarasi silks should be planned simultaneously in both countries (India and Pakistan) and abroad to celebrate this finest of silk weaves, and to make people aware of the severe crisis and the impending death of this beautiful craft; and from there create public opinion and a strong peoples lobby that would advocate the cause of the weavers.” Noorjehan Belgrami, Craft Activist, Pakistan
  
  

VII. Capacity Building for Artisans

For the Weaver

• Marketing support and market information is of critical importance to weavers.

• Quality control parameters information.

• The weavers need assistance to gage national and international demands and trends.

• Access to market research.

• Access to information on international sizes and colour trends based on feedback from large international buying houses based in India. Ex. Best Seller, Marks and Spencers, etc.

• Access to design inputs for product diversification.

Education
The Indian Institute of Handloom Technology offers a three year diploma course that covers Fabric Structure, weaving theory, Textile design and colour, General textile technology, Textile Testing, Textile Printing, Textile chemistry, classification of Dye Stuff chemicals etc. This is the highest level of program on textiles available. This is an important course for the weavers children as 20% seats are reserved for them. These graduates are at the moment being absorbed in export houses, silk boards etc. It is however not recognized in Fashion Institutes or in Universities as a graduate program.

Action Required

• This needs to be upgraded as a degree program.

• The number o reserved seats needs to be increased to 50%

• More institutes with degree courses on weaving need to be set up in other parts of the country.

• Weavers and their children need to get reserved seats.

• The program needs to be supplemented by adding new subjects to the curriculum.

VIII. Technology Upgradation

Looms

• As at present the looms are made of a metal that reacts to heat, cold and moisture. The quality of the final product is uncertain. The cost of upgradation is Rs.10,000-12,000 per loom, this is a sum that the weavers can ill afford. Upgradation of existing jacquard looms will improve the weaving quality thereby competing favourably with international standards.

• There are many problems in the existing product that loom improvement will help like missings; stroke marks; uneven picks; let up and take off motions are not available in the Varanasi Jacquard looms; Jacquard cards are not season proof; lifting weight of jacquard is heavy i.e. effects design efficiency; Jacquard cards are not in standard size so each jacquard has its own size, a card of one jacquard does not fit to another jacquard; there is no standardization; one 200 hook design cannot be fit on to the other 200 hook designs; Design visibility is at the reverse side of loom - It must be visible on the front side so that a weaver can see defects immediately.

• Action and support is needed from the Weavers Service Centre.

• A scheme to finance upgradation of looms is necessary

• Availability of loans

• Standardisation

Dyeing and finishing facilities
Inadequate dyeing and finishing facilities are leading to poor and substandard quality. Imported machines carry a 40% duty.

Action Required

IX. Raw Material Issues

Silk Yarn

• Non availability of Indian yarn

• Short supply of imported Chinese yarn

• Poor quality of Chinese yarn imported

• High price of Chinese yarn

• High prices of Indian Silk yarn

• The issue of high prices of Chinese silk yarn may perhaps have been resolved as in the Finance Ministers current budget speech the duty on silk yarn imports has been slashed to 5%

• Indian sericulture farming needs to improve in the long term.

• Stringent control/tests on the quality of yarn being imported.

X. Strengthening Database

As there is an absence of a strong database in this sector there is an urgent need to strengthen this for all craft and endangered crafts most particularly.

• Collect statistics on number of weavers in the cluster, and decline in employment over the past decade.

• Hold public meetings with weavers to record their testimonies on problems faced by them.

• Ascertain, through desk research and conversations with weavers, the causes for the decline of the handloom weaving cluster.

• Review correctional measures taken by the government, if any.

• Recommend potential interventions to increase market-led growth for the Varanasi Handloom cluster.

• AIACA has funds for a fact finding exercise comprising of weavers and economists to create a record of the problems being faced by the cluster.

XI. Priority Action Recommended for Government

• “The very definition and understanding of the cluster is incorrect. In the cluster development scheme it has been mentioned that the cluster should be a minimum of 5000 weavers. Now …5000 is a very large number. In a cluster in Bengal whether it is Phuliya or Shantipura – a very large cluster comprises about a thousand and an average size cluster comprises about 500 to 800 weavers. If a cluster cannot be taken up if it is less than 5000 then virtually no one will be eligible in that particular district. So when the cluster development is discussed with DC Handlooms these are some of the things that should be explained - that what is your definition of a cluster, why have you stipulated a minimum number, cannot a cluster be only a 100 weavers. It varies from state to state and a hill district. For instance a hill state will obviously not have 5000 weavers in a cluster. These are small issues but the Cluster Development Programme or the Scheme is new and it is here to stay so these definitions need to be addressed and corrected now. It’s a very important program and it is going to be umbrella scheme for the handloom sector where not only just developmental issues but design, marketing a lot of other areas will come in. So please have a look at the Cluster Development Scheme as a body and discuss what you should do.”

• Activate the politicians especially in UP.

• Activate UP State Emporium, Silk Board, KVIC, Handloom House, Central Cottage Industries, etc

• Keep the Planning Commission updated and involved.

• A large number of Central and State schemes initiated by the Government of India exist. These need to be studied, accessed and their implementation ensured.

XII. Priority Action Recommended for craft NGO’s

SUGGESTIONS INVITED

XIII. Priority Action Recommended for the Trade

SUGGESTIONS INVITED

XIV. Funding Implications for this Campaign

Required

• To initiate GI

• To initiate a study of the ground realities

• To assist the weavers in design and product development

• assist the weavers in technical upgradation

• To provide basic assistance to the persons in need.

• Others

XV. Protecting Craft Integrity

The need for sustaining partnerships and actions beyond the Varanasi Crisis – learning from it and applying the learning elsewhere. This includes the need for partnerships between craft activists worldwide.