Sandalwood stars stand up for weavers

Bengaluru: Sandalwood stars and prominent individuals from the civil society have expressed solidarity with the weavers who have lost their livelihood due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Acknowledging the debilitating impact on hundreds of weavers, Sandalwood celebrities Duniya Vijay, Priyanka Upendra, Dhruva Sarja, Ishaan, Parul Yadav, Ashika and Krishna have launched "Desi Mystery Bag" campaign in support of the Desi Trust and the Charaka Cooperative Society, on Friday.

With a call to people to buy naturally dyed, handloom products, they have launched a campaign with hashtag "savegramodyoga". The 25-year-old Charaka Cooperative Society, which supports hundreds of handloom weavers in Heggodu village in Shivamogga district, was declared insolvent on August 28, bringing its activities to a halt. Charaka cited the pandemic as the reason for the crisis.

As a result, 800 plus weavers from the district have been left without work. Charaka's godowns are lying filled with more than 87,000 metres of naturally dyed handloom fabric and Rs 16 lakh worth of garments.

Extending her support to the campaign, actress Priyanka Upendra said, "I am deeply saddened to witness the plight of the weavers. I have over the years heard many success stories of the Desi Trust and am concerned about the state of affairs surrounding the weaving community in Shivamogga, this is a question of safeguarding hundreds of livelihoods and I would like to pledge my support to the industry and urge those in the cities and in urban India to support Desi Trust's Desi Mystery Bag campaign this festive season and buy locally made, earth friendly products."

Over the years, the Charka Society has been running the Desi Trust to support the livelihood of hundreds of weavers. However, as a result of the pandemic, many weavers, dyers, printers, and tailors have lost earnings.

"We have consistently turned out a profit every year, with our monthly capacity of as much as 30,000 metres a month, due to the market crisis created by Covid-19, cash inflows stopped, our bank account was choked, so we went into insolvency on August 28. Charaka stopped weaving-related activities as we cannot offer to produce more handloom products,'' said Prasanna Heggodu, founder of Charka and an acclaimed theatre personality.

The trust has invited individuals to book a Desi Mystery Bag: a selection of naturally dyed handloom cotton. Every purchase will bring a delightful collection of fabric and apparel, customised taste and size. And will also be supporting weavers (and tailors and dyers and printers) to tide over this difficult time.

"I have tried the fabric from Desi and found it extremely light and comfortable to wear, it's time for us to revive the magic of handloom and cherish our tradition of naturally dyed, hand spun, hand woven clothes, the prices are very affordable for the common man and, to top it all, we will be protecting the livelihoods of hundreds of weavers, I lend my support wholeheartedly to the box of weaves campaign and would like to invite you all to join me in celebrating this festive season in an eco-friendly way,'' said Duniya Vijay.

Also, in recent days Heggodu-based Charaka Society that supports nearly a thousand weavers, dyers, and tailors will start a movement across Karnataka entitled Save Gramodyog. The cooperative claimed that was a two-fold campaign involving both the village and the city, both the rich and the poor.