Exploring thetraditional skills in rural India
Travelling to rural India is not only work-related, but it’s a passion in action for me to meet with the rural people, sit and chat, and feel the pulse of their lifestyle- simple, straight, struggling, and always busy with their own artisan work.Recently, on 2nd September, I visited Nagade village, met with Dnyaneshwar Channe Pardesi, a Paithani weaver. While conversing with him, I asked why ‘Pardesi’, he mentioned that his ancestors migrated from Rajasthan to Maharashtra and were called Pardesi, thus it became his caste. He holds an M.Phil degree but has
been a weaver by profession for the past 20 years. He said that he has passed the examination of services with the Government of Maharashtra, but did not undertake the job as he wanted to empower women with special weaving techniques and make beautiful Paithani sarees.
At the same time, the condition of the room where the weaving was taking place was pathetic. While the sarees are so expensive, it was a matter of great concern that why the condition of the place was like that. On asking, he mentioned that the time taken for weaving one saree is not less than one year and the cost of selling i.e. for whom they weave, the designer or a marketeer gives money in bits and pieces and keeps more than 70-80 per cent profit with him with no acknowledgement of the hard work done in making one saree. The people who weave it are unable to live a life which provides them dignity. He mentioned that he has the weaver’s card from the Central Government and gets the incentive on a monthly basis while most of them are deprived as it’s tough to get the weaver’s card from the Centre or the State. Above all this, the raw material is also costly, and, keeping in view the struggles of a weaver, it’s becoming tough to preserve the traditional art.
Young girls who come for the training need money in time to meet the needs of the family but that is not happening. On the other hand, affordability of the pure Paithani is a luxury and no common man can afford it but so much duplication prevails and the beauty of the traditional skill is diluted. While in Paithan village, the Govt has a big skilling and production unit but I was unable to see any young girls learning this skill. It’s not only with one traditional craft but is happening with all other crafts. I have been working on Phulkari, Zari Zardosi, Kantha, Chikankari, Madhubani Painting, Bharat of Kuchch and so on and the challenges are multiple. It’s a big money game. Skilling for preserving the traditional craft is the need of the hour. At the same time, the interest of the younger generation is reducing due to mindset, money and market impacting the manufacturing of these fine products in abundance. Still their efforts are ongoing.
READ India who took the challenge of motivating and skilling young women during the pandemic are still there and momentum is on but addressing the surrounding challenges are difficult to mitigate.
READ India has been working with rural women on weaving techniques in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to keep the traditional skills alive.
