'Cheap Handloom Saris' Now Chic in Tamil Nadu

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CHENNAI, Feb 16 - Once a glut of unsold commodity, "cheap handloom

sarees," designed for the poor, have become an overnight favourite of

college students in Tamil Nadu.

 

Until recently, the Jayalalithaa regime was faced with the uphill

task of selling a huge stock of 4.5 million sarees after it scrapped

the "Free Saree - Dhoti" distribution scheme. But once the college

girls decided to address themselves to the cause of hapless weavers

and started wearing them, the entire stock was sold out in just two

months.

 

When the AIADMK Government scrapped the Rs 100-crore "populist

scheme" last year, the handloom sector was plunged into an

unprecedented crisis, with the more than 21,000 weavers, entrusted

with the job of producing the sarees, virtually 'thrown' in the

lurch.

 

As reports of the jobless weavers, facing starvation, hit the

headlines, the Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was quick

to make it a political issue. With a "hidden agenda" to embarass the

Jayalalithaa regime, the DMK opened gruel centres in the weaver-

dominated areas, only to face a stiff opposition from the ruling

party.

 

To counter this, the ruling AIADMK opened 'biryani' distribution

centres for the weavers and what followed was the infamous 'gruel-

biryani' controversy, where members of the DMK and AIADMK, burying

the interests of the weavers, clashed with each other by opening

parallel gruel-biryani centres. It was at this juncture that college

girls entered the scene and provided a fresh lease of life to the

weaving community.

 

The weavers were all set to look for alternative jobs when girls of a

women's college came out with the novel idea of celebrating "Handloom

Day" by wearing the cheap sarees, taking advantage of the market-

based scheme, launched by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on August 6

last year.

 

The weavers' societies then had an unsold stock of 4.5 million sarees

and it had never been easy for the government to sell them even after

fixing a price of Rs 40 per saree.

 

The sales began on a sluggish note when Ms Jayalalithaa launched it

through the 250 co-operative stores and 27,000 fair-price shops in

the State. But it never picked up until the college girls entered the

scene.

 

A a Tamil daily came out with a picture of about 1,500 girls of a

women's college in the southern Sivakasi town clad in the 'cheap

sarees', celebrating "Handloom Day". And that was enough for the

other college girls to follow suit.

 

With the girls of Engineering institutes also joining those in the

Arts and Science colleges, the sales touched an all-time high and the

entire 4.5 million sarees were sold out in just two months.

 

Presently there are hardly a few Colleges in the state which have not

celebrated "Handloom Day". Recalls Sunitha, a second-year student in

the Ethiraj College here: "It was a great moment... More so when we

came to know that we are helping the weavers."

 

Chimes in Meenakshi Iyer, who, incidentally, was wearing a saree for

the first time "I am really proud that I could help a weaver by

purchasing the saree."

 

"It gives me confidence and comfort. I have decided to wear saree,

especially the handwoven, at least once in a week," gushes

Swarnalatha, a first-year electronics engineering student.

 

With college girls providing a perfect launch-pad, the 'cheap sarees'

became an instant hit among working urban women and the rural women

folk alike. The entire women staff at the State Secretariat turned up

in such sarees on January 30 when Jayalalithaa visited them to

administer the anti-terrorism pledge. Also, the other day, all women

MLAs were seen in handloom sarees in the State Assembly.

 

Buoyed by the overwhelming response, Co-optex, in a bid to retain the

market, has introduced one million sarees in new designs last

December. That too sold like hot cakes in no time.

 

Source: http://news.sify.com/cgi-

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Courtesy of Hindu Press International (HPI)