Just to confirm I remain interested in this from a journalistic point of view - I would be keen to folllow up any action that is co-ordinated to help them and particularly to find out how this plays into the Indian government's stance in WTO discussions.

I have also been thinking about ways in which the Varanasi craft could be marketed. The issue is threefold:

1. Can a market be created for the traditional product beyond the Indian bridal market in UK/USA etc?
2. Can the traditional skills be used to make a different high-value product for which there is more demand?
3. In both cases, can a lean supply chain be created that goes straight from the weavers (via some form of producer co-op) to the developed country market, and can a pricing structure be created that transfers maximum value into the Varanasi craft, not the middleman or the retailer?

It seems to me that the best way forward would be to link up with fashion designers in the developed countries and see if a specific product can be created building upon the spiritual and cultural qualities of the craft and its product. I am currently writing a book about the history of work, one chapter of which focuses on the silk weavers of Lyon, France, in the 1830s. The reason they did not die out during the industrialisation process was because the economic structure of the craft was such that allowed response to "fast fashion": that is the designers, who were employed by the silk merchants, were key to making Lyon out-compete London, which had already mechanised. So a one-line piece of advice would be: lead with design and gear up the Varanasi industry to follow that.

If you could only employ one person I would employ someone to market Varanasi brocade into the Euroepan, US and Japanese fashion design/furniture market as a unique, handcrafted product, who could translate the design requirements of the customers into the Varanasi production environment.

I will give you an example. Silk curtains are highly desirable in the west: I am currently buying a pair of silk curtains where the fabric costs £33 a metre retail. Suppose there is a 300% mark up, that is still £11 a metre or 850 INR ***per metre***. It is mass produced silk of high quality but if I could buy the fabric from Varanasi, still better specify the design, I would gladly do it. Probably the biggest disadvantage as explained to me in the film is the lack of colourfastness of some Varanasi silk. However, even the mass produced silk is not guaranteed against fading in sunlight!

Once a market has been identified, the internet would seem to be the best way of cutting out layer upon layer of "import-export businessmen" who will simply cream off the profits.

Of course that does not solve the problem of Chinese imports, but it could point the way to the future for the high-quality end of the silk craft in Varanasi.