Weavers' cooperative in Surajpur, Uttar Pradesh

: The settlements of the Trans-Yamuna area in Uttar Pradesh near New Delhi represent the upheaval and tumult of societies undergoing transformation from an entirely rural/agrarian environment to an urban one. With changes in land use, agrarian folk are often deprived of their traditional occupation, livelihood and land. They are now expected to become entrepreneurs and understand the needs of global markets. Most of these people are not even literate. Migration to city slums and employment as unskilled hard labourers often seem to be the only option. For the defiant among them, drunkenness, petty and sometimes organized crime is always close at hand.

Along with other artisan communities, the weavers of these villages began to feel that their skills were no longer of any use. As the village economy broke up, they sold their looms. They also felt that the age of the unorganised handloom sector was at an end because they could no longer sell their goods in markets accessible to them at competitive prices. Increasingly, women were forced to seek employment in addition to their traditional responsibilities to their households and families. Women sought employment in neighbouring factories or in nearby Delhi as unskilled labourers. Their status, however, is unchanged, as in much of rural Uttar Pradesh; they typically remain subjugated by their husbands and sons, and are discouraged from educating themselves.

A hand-woven durree made of jute and cotton by the women of Surajpur’s successful cooperative

AN NGO INITIATIVE: In response to this bleak situation, the Indian Institute of Natural Resources Management (IINREM), a non-government organization formed in 1991, decided to take action. The aim was two-fold: to organize the weavers of five villages of western Uttar Pradesh that were identified by local Government officials as particularly demoralised and deracinated, and to provide women in the villages with marketable skills. Members of IINREM reviewed the situation and developed a strategy to create real and lasting changes in Surajpur, one of the chosen villages.

: - Women would be trained to weave products that were in demand and offered good profit margins; these included durries, bed-covers, sheets and table-mats