The unfortunate situation of Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, saree manufacturers

Velu, a 56-year-old weaver from Sevoor village in Arani, Tiruvannamalai, is sweating profusely as he pedals his handloom and simultaneously adjusts the weft to allow the heddle to pass through the warp. He pauses for a while to explain how the once-thriving Arani handloom weaving sector has suffered greatly as a result of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the growing number of power looms.

Velu began weaving silk sarees when she was thirteen years old. Individuals in the silk saree industry often place orders with weavers such as him who have a handloom at home. The weavers provide the finished product to the company owners in exchange for a fee, while they furnish the raw materials. “Our job has never dried up as much as it has since the GST was implemented in all these years. After the epidemic, things became worse, Velu told TNIE.

Silk weaving is the town’s most well-known business, and Arani pattu is just as well-liked as Kancheepuram pattu. Prior to the implementation of the GST, some basic ingredients used in handloom weaving, such zari, plain twisted silk thread, and coloring goods, were free from taxes or had reduced tax rates. These days, there is a separate tax for twisting and dying silk in addition to a 5% GST on the purchase of raw materials like zari and silk thread. Another 5% GST is applied to the finished product. As a consequence, saree sales have decreased due to an increase in their pricing. Weavers were burdened by the company owners’ effects of this collapse. As a result, salaries remained unchanged for many years.

A Mullipet-based trader in Arani, who employs around ten weavers, attested to the negative effects of GST. Value added tax was something we used to pay, although it was much less. Even if merchants do not pay us, we now have to submit the taxes each month,” he said.

Even during campaigning, Velu, whose hamlet is located in the Arani Lok Sabha seat, said that all political parties had ignored the interior. “To date, only the PMK (NDA alliance) has conducted door-to-door campaigning here; however, they have not discussed GST,” he said.

The weaving trade is gradually dying out, thus no one wants to marry into a weaving family these days, according to Tamilselvan (36), a weaver from Saidapet in Arani. Although handloom weaving has always been regarded as the most authentic way to create silk sarees, he said, the GST on raw materials has forced weavers to make quality compromises. For example, HF zari, a less expensive, lower-quality substitute, is now utilized in place of pure zari.

He said, “Politicians use us as just another vote bank and don’t care about our welfare.” In addition to the GST load, the community is also concerned about the growing number of power looms.

Another weaver, who wished to remain anonymous, said that despite regulations requiring them to use no more than 45% silk in their creations, numerous power loom firms are creating 100% pure silk sarees illegally. The politicians support them. He said, “How can we elect one of them to power? The government-run weaving associations mostly employ weavers who support the governing party. “It’s the DMK’s turn today, although AIADMK members ruled these organizations until 2021. According to him, weavers who depend on these organizations, which pay more than private businesses, usually have insufficient work since raw material supplies are regularly interrupted under the guise that unsold sarees from earlier batches persist.

Tamilselvan said, “Weavers suffer because their threads get tangled during the rainy season, making the process difficult, but farmers receive relief during floods or droughts.”

The weavers are demanding that the Handlooms (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985 be amended to require power looms to refrain from using silk in their products; that a panel be established for their welfare; that combined ID cards from the central and state governments be issued in order to access subsidies and relief; that the GST be removed from raw materials; that silk parks be established; and that cooperative textile stores be established.

Weavers’ concerns are seldom discussed at election rallies hosted by any of the local parties. Despite DMK’s platform pledge of GST exemption for raw materials, the topic is seldom ever brought up in speeches. In a video, PMK candidate A Ganesh Kumar spoke out against electricity looms but left out the GST.

The sole action that has benefited them in recent years, according to 53-year-old G Sundaramurthy of Araiyalam village, is the provision of 200 free power units under AIADMK’s rule, which was subsequently extended to 300 units by the DMK. “These parties are going to fight, and others have less chances,” he said.