By TCN Special Correspondent,
Lucknow: Chikankari, the elegant art which involves artistic stitching, has earned laurels for Lucknow. However, the nimble fingers which are behind the creation of a masterpiece find it hard to meet the ends.
For a more clear understanding, a chikan kurti which the girls flaunt as a trendy outfit comes at around Rs 400 per piece. However, the same kurti gets just Rs 15-20 for the artisan who has prepared them. The profit is going to the middlemen and the big showroom owners who are getting richer day by day while the artisans are dying in penury.
On Saturday a group of such women who toil hard for chikankari assembled at Moti Mahal Lawns in Lucknow. Principal Secretary, Small Scale Industries, Satyajit Thakur who was also present during the conclave faced only one question for which he did not have any answer. “We are not able to progress despite our hard work. The traders are building new showrooms while we are not able to get even two square meals for our family,” they said. Thakur on his part had only one answer — will look into the matter and assure all help.
Shaheen, a chikankari worker present there stated that despite toiling hard for 10-12 hours per day she is hardly able to get Rs 1200-1400 per month. It is not that they do not understand the market dynamics. Nishat, who has spent nearly three decades of her prime age in the business doing jobwork explains: “We do not have resources to purchase raw material. Nobody will give us order directly. In a way we are dependent on these ‘seths’ for getting work.”
With this the exploitation also begins, the payment done to them is per piece. It depends on the amount and art of the work to be done for completing the piece. A full salwar kameez which comes at Rs 1500 in the Chowk chikan market takes nearly 4 days to complete and they give them anywhere between Rs 200. Besides this there is also bargaining with the traders uniting and holding the work thus creating scarcity in the market thus the workers bend on their knees to get some work. “There is little which can be done to break the nexus. The traders also exploit by returning piece on grounds that it has been mutilated or is not up to the mark. The workers are left to get the whole cost deducted from their payment in instalments, the result being they are never able to take full payment,” says Ali Agha, a social worker who also has his own chikankari jobwork business. Most of the workers are forced to take advances from the traders thus binding them for ages.
The trade has even attracted management experts for completing their project. Some of them do take initiative but hardly anyone of them has reached the final stage. One such fellow is Rahul Dutta, an IIM graduate who is trying to clear the bottlenecks for the welfare of the chikan workers.
Only economic empowerment can lead to their real growth. “We need to give them support for living with honour. Right now several things are going on but let’s see when they materialise. The Self Help Group is also one of the models to upgrade them,” he said.
The schemes which are being implemented presently also have lacunae. The Chief Minister Self-Employment Generation Scheme is one of them which offers an interest free loan for a period of six years. The beneficiary should belong to SC, ST or OBC categories and any woman. However, the scheme is limited to rural areas only while the bulk of the artisans are living in city pockets. A minor change in the scheme could benefit many of them.