Weavers and entrepreneurs at the silk centre of Assam are struggling to recover from subsequent lockdowns as festival and wedding celebrations are subdued.&nbsp;Guwahati:&nbsp;Sualkuchi, a quaint little town
in Kamrup district of Assam, is in the grips of
the global pandemic. The town renowned for its silk trade, which in its heydays
provided livelihood to over 50,000 people across the state with an annual turnover of Rs 100 crores, is struggling to cope, faced with monetary and job losses.<o:p></o:p>The town does roaring business
during the festival and wedding season. But the health protocols put in place since
last year to check the spread of the pandemic has affected the business and
brought many small businesses here to the verge of closure.<o:p></o:p>Located some 40 km from
Guwahati, Sualkuchi has a historical heritage dating back to the
11th Century AD. King Dharam Pal of the Pala dynasty established Saulkuchi
as a weaving hamlet by settling 26 weaving families in this village, more than
1000 years ago. Eventually, it became a silk weavers township.<o:p></o:p>Trade of indigenous&nbsp;silk hit&nbsp;Pat, Muga, and Eri silk, and
the ‘Mekhela Chador’, Gamusa and Dokhonas, the town’s exquisite silk products are
much sought after across India and many parts of the world.&nbsp;The town gets many clients from outside the state and abroad who purchase in bulk. But since the pandemic, the town’s entrepreneurs have lost even those clients.&nbsp;It's been more than 17 months of poor
business and people associated with the silk industry fear it will be very long before
they can say it is business as usual.“We always do good business in
the two festival seasons in Assam – the Bohag Bihu or the Assamese New Year,
and the Durga Puja. Last year we suffered losses as it was complete lockdown
during the Bihu season and restrictions were in place during the Puja. We also
suffered losses during the wedding season as the ceremonies were held without pomp
and grandeur,” rued Kushal Medhi, the proprietor&nbsp;of Chayanika Silk House.<o:p></o:p>The current year has not been any
good either, Medhi said. “The silk
entrepreneurs are hoping that they get good business during the Durga puja
season at least this year.”<o:p></o:p>Entrepreneurs associated with
the industry said that the whole chain of the silk business, that takes products from the weavers to the
hands of the customers, has been severely disrupted. “There are
several segments which keep this trade alive. This includes the
weavers and support staff to the people selling the final products at the
shops. The covid situation has disrupted this entire chain which otherwise has been
moving smoothly,” said Diganta Kalita, a silk entrepreneur, who runs a small
factory.<o:p></o:p>“Here in Sualkuchi, we have
around 7,000 functional looms, which engages over 20,000 weavers. Besides the weavers,
we have the support staff that number in the thousands. Now they and
the entrepreneurs are staring at a dark future,” said Hiralal Kalita of the
Sualkuchi Tant Silpa Unnayan Samiti, the weavers’ association in this town.&nbsp;“When the lockdown was
announced, everyone had thought that it would just be a temporary phase lasting a
few days, but things are yet to recover,” Kalita added.&nbsp;<div class="embed-container" align="center"><img src="https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/inpic/2021/8/101RPT944020/assam_silk.jpg" id="1013647" title="" style="width: 100%;"></div>The looms in&nbsp;Sualkuchi&nbsp;lie silent as the pandemic disrupts the whole whole silk supply and business chain (Picture credit - Wikimedia Commons)Weavers buried under loans&nbsp;The weavers who earn on a per-product
basis expressed worry that the situation might not return to normal and
sales will not pick up soon.&nbsp;“Earlier we could comfortably
earn anywhere from Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 per month. But immediately after the
lockdown last year, our income came down to almost nil. And though we
started to earn again, the income is not like before,” said Bubul Das, a weaver
there.&nbsp;Das explained that they work around
the year. Now with a fall in demand post-covid, their incomes have fallen
sharply, he added.&nbsp;“The requirement of new products depends on the sale of products and the existing stock, and this year the weavers could have even lesser work and subsequently less income,” Kalita explained.<o:p></o:p>Last year after the lockdown
was announced, many weavers had taken a loan to sustain themselves through the lean period.
They were hoping to earn more when the situation normalised. However, that has
not happened yet.&nbsp;Gunin Deka is one such weaver
who had taken a loan and is now worried as the interest is accumulating over the
delay in repayment.&nbsp;“Initially I had thought that
the crisis would not last more than two months and I had taken a loan of Rs 30,000 from a money-lender&nbsp;to survive the period. I was hoping to
earn more and pay it back, but I have not been able to earn enough to pay it
entirely and the interest is accumulating,” Deka told 101Reporters.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p>The weavers and the
entrepreneurs however are hopeful that they will be able to make up for some of
their losses by the end of this year if manage to do good sales during the
Durga puja in October and the wdding season which runs from January
to April. The next major festival season after that is only Bohag
Bihu in April 2022.&nbsp;“The Sualkuchi town does
business worth over Rs 15 crore just during the wedding season. But last year, we did less than one-fourth of the usual business,” said Kalita.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p>

Pandemic dims lustre of roaring silk trade in Sualkuchi, Assam

Pandemic_dims_lustre_of_roaring_silk_trade_in_Sualkuchi_Assam

As soon as it came back to power, the BJP-led government rolled back and diluted two crucial promises it had made to the electorate.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p>Guwahati: The&nbsp;BJP-led alliance that came to power&nbsp;in Assam&nbsp;this May has already
started to come under criticism on two issues — not implementing a complete waiver
on microfinance loans taken by women and rolling back a Rs 50 hike in the daily
wage of tea plantation workers.Pratima
Gogoi heaved a sigh of relief in January this year when the then finance
minister of Assam and current chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, promised a
blanket waiver of all microfinance loans taken by women in the state if the BJP
was voted to power again. The
45-year-old woman from Lakhimpur district finally felt she would not have to
worry about her debt of Rs 1.5 lakh. <o:p></o:p>Gogoi had taken the loan to start a poultry business, but it failed due to the
COVID-19 lockdown last year. She then pinned her hopes on the waiver but is
now feeling cheated, instead of relieved. This is because she doesn’t qualify
for a loan waiver according to the terms set by the BJP government after it came to power. “It has
been a huge disappointment,” said Gogoi, when asked about the scheme.<o:p></o:p>Workers
of tea plantations, who form an influential group of voters in the state, too are unhappy with the BJP government. About a month before assembly elections
were held, the state government had on
February 21 announced a Rs 50 hike in the daily wage of these
workers. However, less than a month after it returned to power on May 2, the BJP rolled
back the decision by May 26.<o:p></o:p>Buoyed
by the support it got for the waiver scheme and the hike announced for tea
plantation workers, the BJP-led alliance which comprises Asom Gana Parishad
(AGP) and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) triumphed in the Assam elections
by winning 75 of the total 126 assembly seats.<o:p></o:p>Angered
by the new conditions laid for the waiver scheme, thousands of women have started
staging protests across the state and are threatening mass suicides if the
state government backtracks on its promise. According to state government data,
there are over 26 lakh microfinance customers in Assam who are women and their
outstanding loans total Rs 12,500 crore.<o:p></o:p>Though
BJP had not included the waiver commitment in its manifesto, Sarma, who was
eyeing the CM’s post, had made the promise at several election rallies. “Once
we form the government, we will repay all loans taken by women in Assam, of any
amount,” he had said at one such rally. &nbsp;<o:p></o:p>On
coming to power, the government had formed a committee headed by state cabinet minister
Ashok Singhal to advise on the waiver scheme. Within days, the committee ruled
out the possibility of extending a blanket waiver and announced certain criteria to
identify beneficiaries. “Income tax payee, persons availing multiple loans,
those having four-wheelers, and people with an annual income of more than ₹1
lakh will be excluded from the scheme,” Singhal told reporters on June 11.<o:p></o:p>Gogoi
has a four-wheeler and the annual income is more than Rs 1 lakh.‘Took
loan to help family, now in debt trap’ <o:p></o:p>Sabitha
Devi from Sonitpur district too is disappointed. “I had taken a microfinance
loan of Rs 1 lakh last year and invested it in a small business, but there was
no income because of the lockdown. We had to repay the loan on a weekly basis, so
I had to borrow more money and I got deeper into debt,” said
Devi.<o:p></o:p>Devi,
who does not meet the eligibility criteria as she owns a car and earns more
than Rs 1 lakh, voted for the BJP in the hope of a waiver. “But now everything
is shattered,” she said.<o:p></o:p>Many
women took microfinance loans to set up small businesses and help their
families. Most of them are first-generation woman entrepreneurs. Gogoi said the
government should be sympathetic towards them in these difficult times. “My
husband, a farmer, is the breadwinner of the family, but even he couldn’t earn
much last year,” she said.<o:p></o:p>A
women’s group, Jagriti Nari Shakti Samiti, recently submitted a memorandum to
the Assam government with a demand to fulfil the waiver promise. “If the
government doesn’t stick to its election promise, we will intensify our
protests,” said Rumi Phukan, a spokesperson for the organisation.Balm
for plantation workers<o:p></o:p>The
government was forced to find a middle path with plantation workers after it
came under sharp criticism for completely rolling back the Rs 50 hike it had
implemented in February. Several influential tea garden workers’ associations warned
of mass protests across the state, forcing the government to hold immediate
consultations with the organisations.<o:p></o:p>Later,
daily wage was hiked by Rs 38, with effect from February 23 this year.<o:p></o:p>Ahead
of the 2016 assembly elections, BJP had promised to increase the daily wage of plantation
workers to Rs 365. At present, after the Rs 35 hike, it is Rs 205 in the
Brahmaputra Valley and Rs 183 in Barak Valley. There is a difference between the
two as wage is fixed by trade union leaders and the management of the tea
gardens concerned. Once these two sides decide on the daily wage, the amount is
approved by the state government.<o:p></o:p>











































This
is the case even though tea plantation workers are an influential vote bank. “Of
all the tribal and ethnic groups of the state, the electoral role of tea tribe
community has become the most crucial. They comprise 35 lakh voters, which is
enough to play a decisive role in any election,” according to a published paper,
‘Electoral Participation of the Tea Tribe Community in Assam: Special Reference
to Lok Sabha Election of 2019’, by Pranami Laskar, a PhD scholar of Assam
University.<o:p></o:p>