Weavers on brink of oblivion in Dharmavaram town

Dharmavaram (Anantapur): Over 2 lakh handloom weavers, who were in their 50's and 60's continue to hold the fort against all odds in their profession, are likely to fade into oblivion due to dwindling income and lack of patronage from the government. They are termed as last generation because a majority of their children have already taken an about turn by resorting to engineering education and to software jobs both inland and overseas.

A 66-year-old Raptadu Ramana, a master weaver engaged in production of 'Dharmavaram pattucheeralu' and taking orders from apparel brands Bommana and Chandana etc, says that thanks to YSR's fee reimbursement scheme, changed the scenario in rural heartland among all communities. Most of the sons and daughters of weavers struggling for survival had already bid goodbye to their ancestral profession and are now in software jobs or in pursuit of higher education.

Ramana says that his two daughters and a son were software engineers earning handsomely. The future scenario is already determined by the young generation and it is a matter of time when Dharmavaram weavers' town will down its shutters in two decades and 'call it quits'. Ramana adds that his son had already told him to close the shop with an assurance to support him with Rs 25,000 a month but the reluctant weaver in his 60's says that he would work until his health permits. He sighs with sadness of the prospects of his ancestral profession fading into oblivion sooner or later.

He is also happy that his sons and daughters need not slog any longer fighting poverty and hunger. Education, he says is revolutionising all poverty-stricken trading communities and giving them hope in the horizon. Ramulamma Ogirala, another middle-aged weaver, who lost her husband to coronavirus, says that her sons pursuing engineering, will come out of college next year. She hopes to wind up her ancestral weaving profession once her sons take up jobs.

She says when the present veteran brand of handloom weavers calls it a day, she fears the industry will be taken over by the powerloom industry. Sadly, the real weavers, who toil day and night to weave a saree does an unrewarded and thankless job. Reward is paid in hundreds while the saree which finds itself in affluent homes is purchased in thousands and lakhs.

The weavers, who add colour to lives of millions, live in dark dungeons and make-shift abodes braving the cold of the winter and scorching heat of summer and the rainy season that dislocates their world. Primarily the weavers are concentrated in Dharmavaram and are spread in Pamidi, Hindupur, Anantapur, Penukonda and Tadipatri.

Apparel Industry is a global affluent industry but weavers in India live in appalling conditions. No government had really applied its mind to better the lot of people, who are covering the nakedness of humanity. Clad in semi-nakedness they produce apparel that adds beauty to human body. Two decades from now there will be very few who will sweep over the demise of world's branded handloom town 'Dharmavaram.'