An appeal to fellow citizens to rise and fight for them by spreading this article and creating awareness of their conditions amongst Indians.
Handloom weavers and their family members may die from tuberculosis in Uttar Pradesh due to poor living conditions "Tuberculosis and malnutrition is common," The skilled hands of weavers are being engaged in other jobs such as driving rickshaw, selling vegetables, laying roads and even begging. Thousands of weavers have committed suicide and yet, do not figure in public consciousness or government agendas, or merit media coverage. There are over two lakh weavers in and around Varanasi. But less than 55,000 get a job in a year leaving the remaining 1.5 lakh weavers jobless.
50 percent of children in weaver families are malnutritioned, concluded pilot survey conducted NGOs in some of the weaver communities. "In blatant violation of Supreme Court orders, a number of children can be seen tosurvive on a mere bowl or two of plain rice and some bread. Sometimes they get nothing at all.
Access to Credit Issues Presently, large majority of the weavers do not have the bank accounts
and accessing credit from formal institutions remains a distant dream. Barely ten per cent of weavers, mainly those associated with Handloom Cooperatives, receive bank credit and other monetary support from government those outside the cooperative umbrella, get nothing. The
Planning Commission acknowledges that 80 per cent of handloom weavers depend on private money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates. Due to the lack of credit from banking institutions, weavers are forced into exploitative relationships with money-lenders, who give
them credit on exorbitant terms and traders, who advance production credit, and use the leverage gained to suppress wages.
Open Letter from Shri Muralidhar Rao ON EVE OF HIS 3 DAY FAST IN HYDERABAD IN SUPPORT OF THE DEPRIVED WEAVER SOCIETY-to fellow Indians for support to this deprived segment of Indian Society (Excerpts)
https://muralidharrao.in/
The condition of the common weavers in the country continues to remain desperate and distraught.
The Planning Commission acknowledges that 80 per cent of handloom weavers depend on private money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates.
The condition of weavers, during the rule of Congress led UPA, has deteriorated sharply all across the country, but nowhere more so than in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Suicides by weavers have reached epidemic proportions.
According to state government figures, 700 weavers committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh in recent times (the actual figure is around 2,000).
Wages have not increased in the last 15 years. Some sections of handloom weavers are living in hand-to-mouth conditions, with no house or assets.
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