“If Government supports our eco-friendly initiative, we can save the livelihoods of hundreds of weaving families” says C. Sekar, President of Anakaputhur Jute Weavers Association

A half an hour driving from the Chennai Airport, one can reach this quite suburb town named Anakaputhur, located on the banks of Adyar river, a place once famous for its handloom products, a place made beautiful hand woven sarees, shirts, lungis and other related products.

But things became reverse, weavers once had everything they need are suffering from severe losses and it won’t be an exaggeration to say that many even suffer to pay for their basic life needs.

Handloom machines once that never rested are now idle, weaving places once busy with workers are now rented to a modest amount to meet their daily needs.

C. Sekar and his family. Image credit: Nathan G/Mint

This condition is not only seen in Anakaputhur, any place with a large number of weaving community is facing the same plight.

Increasing obsession among consumers with modern synthetic fabric clothes is one main reason for the downfall of demands to these handlooms, added with the government’s negligence the standard of living of these weaving population is deteriorating day by day.

While speaking to Sekar over phone, he said that 25 years back there were 5,000 handlooms, there are only about 350 today.

Many belonging to third generation weavers with Sekar, are resolute to not only to keep the tradition thriving but also come up with innovative kinds of fabric that are eco-friendly as well. Now these weavers have switched to eco-friendly textiles, having tasted success with sarees made of banana and kapok fibre, weavers are now emboldened to make sturdy denims with banana fibre.

“About 20 years ago, I read a version of the Ramayana in a Tamil weekly magazine, and came across a story where the abducted Sita needed a change of clothes, and did not want to ask Ravana for it. She asked Hanuman instead, for vaazhai naaru or banana fibre and wove a saree out of it. As a weaver, I was intrigued” said Sekar.

After coming to know the similar techniques of using banana fibre in Japan’s bashôfu, an integral part of Okinawan heritage. Philippines where they weave fabric from pineapple leaves in a quite similar process. Also some references of banana fibre in India. He along with some weavers put them to trial, which became fruitful.

Now, he has brought together many women’s self-help groups under the roof of Anakaputhur Jute Weavers Association to extract banana stem fibre, turn it into yarn and weave yardage, sarees and other materials.

Sekar is very famous in this circle of weavers for the efforts he is making to uplift the socio-economic condition of the weaving families. 

“We have succeeded in creating yarn from banana fibre, which is extracted from banana stems. This raw material is available in abundance in many parts of the country. We have the know-how to make 100 percent pure banana fibre sarees and have made and sold hundreds of such sarees in last couple of years. There is great demand in the market for our sarees, but we do not have enough yarn for large-scale production,” says Sekar. “We also have customers from USA, Singapore and Malaysia to buy our eco-friendly products” he added.

Sekar speaks of allocations under the National Fibre Policy and how banana fibre is deemed as a game-changer in Natural Fibres. But today, he is, in essence, a weaver with purchase orders in hand and no means of increasing production without the help of the government. To develop these machines, they need a huge finance which they struggle to meet out themselves. And petitions to government departments for funding have fallen on deaf ears. “We received no reply from them” said Sekar.

Many NGOs and private parties are seeking to exploit.  He says many textile showrooms in Chennai invite him for business talks and offer him ridiculous deals.

With no support from government it is very hard for them to expand their eco-friendly initiative to greater heights. With proper encouragement, according to Sekar, hundreds of families will benefit.

Will his voice be heard? The Lantern pledges its support to Sekar and his co-weavers cause.

Shiva Shankar Pandian, The Lantern