By Mohd Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: It is because of the Aari Zardozi workers that women don such expensive sarees with beautiful designs. However the poor workers get nothing in return for the exquisite work that they do. On Sunday, UP Zardoz Action Committee (UPZAC) organised a meeting of the workers and submitted a memorandum addressing the Chief Minister to solve their problems and fulfil their demands.
There are nearly five lakh families in the state who are living on Aari-Zardozi work and out of it, nearly 2.5 lakh people are doing this work for earning their bread n butter. They toil hard throughout the day and what they earn is Rs 70-100 daily due to which they are not able to feed their families properly, their children are deprived of education and if their health goes wrong they have no option other than taking loan from their bosses for their treatment. Interestingly, they are being paid lesser than daily wage labour despite the fact that they have an art in their hands to make things beautiful.
Zardozi workers demonstrating outside dargah Hazrat Abbas in Lucknow
Ahmad Husain, an aari-zardozi worker, said that they were being paid through the ‘nafri’ system in which one nafri completes in an hour and the second 5 hours after completing the first one. They cannot work more than two nafris which is 13 hours a day as they have to work the other days too. “I earn nearly Rs 110 per day as I am being paid Rs 55 per Nafri. I face several problems to feed my family. Do you think I am able to send my children to school as I earn nearly Rs 800 per week?” he asked.
He added that his child wanted to study but as he didn’t earn much he was not able to send him to school. “It’s not just my story as there are several workers I know who are leading their life in misery just like me due lesser wages in the work. And the Supplier (Karkhandaar) who provides cloth on which work is done, is getting rich day by day,” he added.
In this regard, a large number of aari-zardozi workers, under the banner of UP Zardoz Action Committee (Lucknow) went on strike from 28 July due to which all of their workplaces (Karkhanas) remained closed.
President of UPZAC, Mohd. Mustaqeem said: “We have suspended our strike from today and we will be organising a meeting with the suppliers very soon. We have also sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister raising seven demands”.
He demanded that state government should issue a government order (GO) declaring that all the qualified workers should be given Rs 550 per Nafri and also that all the suppliers as well as corporates engaged in this work should be bound to follow this GO, and if they violate strict action should be taken against them. “The government should constitute a State Aari-Zardozi Corporation, under whose jurisdiction all those who are attached to this work would come. Government should also provide interest free loans to the new aari-zardozi workshops,” he added.
“As the aari-zardozi work began in Lucknow and it is famous all over the world, the government should construct a ‘Zardozi Bhawan’ for attracting tourists towards it. A museum and emporium should also be opened in the Bhawan,” he said. He added that facilities like free education, health services, free ration, homes for homeless and 60 percent discount in electricity bill should be provided to the workers and their families. Those workers who have become seriously ill physically, old and unemployed, as well as widows of the workers, should be given Rs 2500 per month as pension.