Bhubaneswar: Hinting at the lack of financial and housing support that the handloom workers get from the state, government statistics revealed that the a large number of handloom workers from the state live in kuccha houses.
According to the latest 4th round of Handloom Census, out of the 63,223 handloom workers from the state, a total of 31,715 live in kuccha houses while a total of 14,071 households of the workers are semi-pucca. The report claimed that only 16,237 of the households of the handloom workers in Odisha are pucca ones.
The report also said that a majority of the handloom workers earn less than Rs 5000 a month. Out of the 63,223 workers, a larger chunk of it—51,881— are said to be earning lesser than Rs 5,000 a month from all sources of their income. On the other hand 9,451 households have income between Rs 5000-10,000 per month from all sources. Very few households of handloom workers earn more than Rs 10,000 per month, says the report.
The report also claimed that a total of 3,498 workers are said to be under debt. The main purpose of the debts were said to be due to handloom related works. The report hinted that the average household size of the handloom workers stood at 3.11.
The report however claimed that majority of the workers of handloom in Odisha use natural dyes for their works. The Handloom Census report also says that the major part of the weavers’ products is sold at local markets followed by procurement by master weaver and cooperative societies. E-commerce and exports are very minimal as per the report.
The government-documented reports also claimed that the states with the highest recorded insurance penetration among weavers included Telangana (12.7%), Odisha (10.5%), Kerala (10.4%), Chhattisgarh (10.1%), Andhra Pradesh (9.8%) and Maharashtra (9.8%).
The average number of days given by weavers in the state is also among the top three hinting at the efforts given by the state into the sector. The report said, “The top three states for allied workers, from allied households, with maximum average man-days are Chhattisgarh (334), Andhra Pradesh (261) and Odisha (261); while for those belonging to weaver households are Haryana (309), Andhra Pradesh (285) and Punjab (274).”