Why Gujarati silk is opposed in Assam, what is the story of Silk City Surat?

(Dilip Patel, Ahmedabad)
Sarees ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 5,000 are the identity of the women of Assam. Which sarees are made in Surat? Asamari real silk sarees are a treasure trove of traditional weaving that women take pride in sarees. The traditional dress of Assamese women is the Mekhla Chadar. In a way, there are two pieces of saree in Assam called ‘Mekhla Chadar’.

The Assam government has banned Mekhla Chador sarees manufactured in Surat, which is considered the silk city of Gujarat. This may be the first time in India that one state has imposed a trade embargo on another. There is a BJP government in both the states and a BJP government in the center. BJP state president CR Patil, country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, textile minister are also from Gujarat, but politics is being done to do injustice to Gujarat. Behind which political trick is going on.

Mekhla chadar sarees worth 1500 to 3 thousand crores were being traded from Assam in Surat of Gujarat state. The business world will have to bear its loss. Mekhla Chador sarees made in Surat are sold and a large amount of raw material thread – zari is also obtained from there.

Weavers of Surat
The textile industry of Surat, the textile city, produces 30 million meters of all kinds of fabric every day. The daily turnover is also up to 100 crores.

In Surat city, 250 weavers make cloth on rapier jacquard and 1000 on powerloom. The polyester version of this Assamese silk saree made in Surat has been banned from going to Assam. The livelihood of 5 thousand more workers of the textile industry, including traders and weavers, has been affected.

Sarees worth 500 crores were sent to Assam every month from Surat. With the intervention of the Assam Handloom Board, the Assam government has banned the polyester version of Assamese silk on March 1 as the polyester version of Assamese polyester sarees would cause huge losses to the local handloom industries. There is a special demand for it on Bihu festival on March 14, in which there is a possibility of a loss of one thousand crores to the traders. Although it is sold from handloom for 7 to 30 thousand rupees. This cloth of Surat is sold for 250 to 300 rupees.

When State Textiles Minister Darshana Zardosh is the MP of Surat, Mosal has rights and Surat remains hungry.

Various textile associations informed the Textiles Minister that the textile goods and money of the traders of Surat are stuck in Assam. He expressed concern that the business would suffer huge losses in the coming days. The BJP Chief Minister along with the Assam government should firmly withdraw this decision. Such restrictions on interstate trade raise concerns for future free trade regimes. If states bring such restrictions then why trade?

At present there are more than 100 crore Mekhla sarees. The annual business of more than 1200 crores of traders will be affected in a few days. Gujarat Vivar Welfare Association regarding this matter. (Phogwa) will also present Union State Level Textiles Minister Darshana Zardosh in Delhi.

Poor relations between the two states
Ashok Jeerawala, president of the Gujarat Weavers Welfare Association, said, “It is not right to ban Surat sarees in Assam, it is expected to spoil the relations between the two states.” PM Modi and CM Bhupendra Patel should intervene and talk to Assam CM Hemanto Vishwa Sharma to solve the problem.

real fake
Sulkuchi silk looms and Muga silk are the original sarees. Sualkuchi is a major silk-weaving center in Assam. Sualu is a tree whose leaves are fed to the muga silkworm. Kuchi means group. Sulkuchi is home to expert Assamese weavers. There are three main varieties of silk for handloom industries – Golden Muga, White Pet and Garam Eri.
Mekhla Chadar sarees are made of pure silk and cost between Rs 8,000 and 10,000, while customers in Surat can find these polyester sarees for Rs 700 to 800.

A saree consists of two pieces of cloth that are wrapped tightly around the body.

The lower part wrapped below the waist is called Mekhla. It is a broad cylindrical piece of cloth, which is folded and put around the waist. The plates are bent to the right. Thread or nadu is never used to tie the mekhla around the waist.

The upper part of the two-piece dress, called the chadar, rests on the top of the mekhla above the navel and the rest is wrapped around the chest.

The weaving materials are cotton, muga, pat silk and ari silk. Now made with various blends of pet silk with synthetic materials to bring down the cost.

Another 10 states may impose restrictions.

Synthetic threads have replaced the original patodas of Gujarat’s Patan. No restrictions on Gujarat Patola, Bandhani, Gharchola and Ajrakh sarees.
Patola silk saree is Patola in Gujarat. Its synthetic Patola sarees are made in Rajkot district. The silk Patna-Patola woven in double ikat looks dreamy. This weaving was brought from Maharashtra to Gujarat in the 12th century by the excellent Salvi weavers of silk yarn. It was named after Patan, the capital of the Chalukyas. Was closely associated with the Solanki dynasty. There are Ghalchhola and Jamnagar tie sarees. Ajrakh Sari is the oldest technical block in the Kutch region.
silk all of them

Instead, it is faked with synthetic thread. So will the Gujarat government impose a ban?

Paithani of Maharashtra
The Paithani saree from Maharashtra is a typical saree seen in fluorescent colors at weddings. Paithan near Aurangabad

What

Rajasthan Rajasthan
Kota doriya, bandhani, leheriya and block print sarees are unique in the sense that they can withstand the summer heat. Made in Jodhpuri Bandhani, Raya Bandhej, Chiffon and Georgette. Rajasthani Debu, Sanganeri and Bagru block print sarees are made from Tushar, Malabar, Kosa silk, will Rajasthan ban them?

Telangana
The weavers of Telangana make silk sarees from Pochampally, Gadwal, Narayanpet, Mangalagiri, Golbhama, mostly known by the names of their villages. Sarees keep you warm in winters. Will Telangana ban?

Andhra Pradesh – Telia Rumal
Bandarulanka, a village in the Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, is famous for its beautiful handloom sarees. This is a cotton saree woven using 80 count yarn. Telia Rumal is a square piece of cloth. Which is made by the process of dyeing the yarn by knotting it before weaving it. Processed in oil to give oily texture and smell. Block print and hand painted Kalamkari sarees are made. Andhra has its own special identity. If it is made in Surat too, will Andhra Pradesh ban it?

Karnataka – Ilkal
The Ilkal saree, made of cotton and silk threads, is from northern Karnataka. There are woven pallas in colourful, glittering borders and distinctive designs.

Tamil Nadu – Kanjeevaram
Kanjeevaram is made of silk and cotton. Sungudi in Madurai, Kora around Coimbatore, Chettinad in Karaikudi, Kanchi Kottan in Vadamanapakkam, Koranadu in Mayaladuthurai and Chedibutta, Thirunel Sairuveli in Veeravanallur. The beauty of 100 and 1000 boota sarees of Chettinad is like the walls of temples. Coimbatore silk, Kara silk, small town Tiruvannamalai Arani or Arni’s mulberry silk saree. There are Ara sarees woven in Rasipuram.

Kerala – Kasavu Sarees
Kasavu or Kasavu sarees are silks from Kerala. Kerala’s identity. Golden zari borders and udder, which gives divine beauty to the women. The cultural dress of the Malayali community is.

Odisha
Mirgan weavers in every village of Odisha have brought the art of ikat to India from mulberry to tasar-like silk threads. Paspalli and Navkothi, Brahmapuri, Tarabali, Neelachakra etc. silk sarees are made in special border pallu of nine blocks. Sarees are also made from the cheaper cotton grown in Orissa. Sarees are known by the names of Suta Luga, Dongaria, Kargil, Katki, Habaspuri, Kathifera, Pitala etc. The price is determined by the labor of weaving.

Pakistan too
Genaji Suthar came from Nagarparkar in Pakistan and settled in 1971 first in Barmer in Rajasthan and then in Tharad in Banaskantha district. Brought over with craftsmanship from Pakistan. Pakistani appliqué work has made the traditional craftsmanship of Pakistani saree famous all over the country. Pakistani sarees are made only here in India. They bring the cloth and print the design on it. Then with the help of hammer and chisel cuts are made on the wooden planks. Another cloth is placed below this cut cloth and the top cloth is folded and stitched and finally it is ready. The cost of a saree ranges from 5 thousand to 50 thousand rupees.

silky india
The Silk Mark aims at general promotion of silk and building brand equity of Indian silk at home and abroad. Patola silk saree is one of the top five silk weaves that every Indian saree lover wants to have in their wardrobe.

Silk production in India in 2020-21 was 32,763 tonnes. In 2021-22, it increased to about 35 thousand tonnes. Whose capacity is not to provide pure silk sarees to the women of India. Hence the need of synthetic silk saree.

Surat’s artificial silk saree is famous.

The export of natural silk fabrics in India is estimated to be Rs 2496 crore in 2015-16, Rs 2093 crore in 2016-17, Rs 3 thousand crore in 2019-20.

It was 1685 million tonnes in 2011-12. Which was targeted to produce 8500 million tonnes in India in 2019-20.

Silk Mark is a quality assurance label by the organization of India, which is made of pure silk. It can be combined with silk yarn, sarees, dress materials, made ups, furnishing materials and other silk products that are made from 100% natural silk.

More than 4300 members and more than 43 million Silk Mark Labeled products are in the market.

Sericulture is being done since 1984 in Valsad, Surat, Navsari in South Gujarat. Now farming has started in Mehsana, Vadodara, Kheda. Navsari Agricultural University is imparting sericulture training to farmers since 2016.

There are 700 silk producers in Surat and 3,000 silk producers across the country. 85 to 1 crore people have got employment in silk.
Textiles in India provide employment to about 23 to 25 lakh people and livelihood to about 4 crore people.

Presently 1000 kg of silk is being processed monthly in Surendranagar district alone in the state. Against the total demand in Gujarat, only 50-60 per cent silk is being processed.

The silk thread used as a raw material in Gujarati Patola has always had to be imported. Gujarat will be able to produce silk thread. Karnataka at Kosheto Magavi Plant

And processing takes place on the silk yarn of West Bengal. Spread over 3000 square feet, this plant is processing 1000 kg of silk every month. The annual cost of a plant working in one shift is Rs. A target has been set to produce 2 crore silk threads.

If the plant is operated in 3 shifts, the annual cost of Rs. 5 crore silk processing capacity. Processing of silk raw material from Bengaluru, Karnataka in this plant will increase the capacity of Patola manufacturers.

has increased.

There are 40 establishments in the silk segment in Gujarat. Due to which more than 2000 women get employment. 52 establishments associated with Khadi Village Industries are providing employment to 5000 people.
Online shopping has increased the popularity of Patola. Usually a patola producing family used to sell 5-7 patolas annually which has increased to 8-10 patolas today. The trend is slowly increasing.

Patola, Gujarat’s famous saree, being a silk thread, the raw material is sourced from Karnataka or West Bengal, where the silk processing units are located, thus increasing the cost of the fabric manifold.

Silkworms are imported from Karnataka and West Bengal to process domestic silk yarn. P

The production of art silk or polyester silk yarn used in Banarasi saree weaving has come down from 1100 tonnes to 500 tonnes per month.

In Surat half a dozen cotton spinning artisans produce art silk yarn. 70% of the multicolored yarn is sent to Banarasi saree weavers, while the rest is supplied to garment units making suits and shirt and dress materials.
The consumption of kala silk yarn is 200-250 tonnes per month.

Surat and Khambhat are the fourth known places in India for making cloth in the country. Gujarat is the first 10 states to cultivate sericulture.

In silk production, China and India are producing 60 percent of the silk. Silk is cultivated in France, Brazil, Japan, Russia, Korea. Agriculture is not practiced on a large scale in Gujarat.

Vigan Silk Fabrics has started production in Surat from August 2021. This fabric is in great demand in western countries. For the first time in India, the production of vegan silk fabric imported from Australia has been started by the yarn makers of Surat. Vegan Lux yarn is also cruelty-free and eco-friendly. This thread is biodegradable. This non-wormless thread is 50 percent cheaper.

China produces 80 percent of the global silk production. India’s market share is only 13 percent. While the silk production of the rest of the countries is seven percent. India’s annual growth rate is 19 percent. The country produced 28,000 to 30,000 metric tons of silk in 2016. Import of silk in the country has been reduced from 6,500 MT to 3,500 MT.

Due to the cost of real silk fabric, people are using art silk instead. It is in high demand as it is prepared like vivid original silk. In Surat city, real silk was produced on 1200 machines. But in the current situation, do not want to buy expensive clothes, due to which art silk is coming into vogue.

Real silk cloth is made in 200 to 300 rupees per meter. A normal saree is also made in 4000 to 5000 rupees. Due to which the manufacturers of the city hardly get ten percent production.

About 3 to 4 lakh meters of man-made art silk fabric is produced daily in Surat. Art silk is being manufactured at 60 to 70 percent production capacity. Compared to Bangalore, Surat has better production of both real and artificial silk. About 50 per cent of the 1.5 lakh meters is being exported to the Gulf.

Surat is not strong in silk fabric despite having 60 years in textile in 2019. 5 lakh meters of silk fabric was produced on 1500 loom machines.

Surat is now world famous in polyester fabric, but not much progress has been made in silk. Surat produced 5 lakh meters of silk fabric per month on 1500 looms in 2019.

In the 5 years to 2019, global silk exports declined. The demand for silk fabric in India was 2.94 billion in 2010, which increased by 2.34 percent to 3.30 billion in 2014. Apart from Surat, silk fabric in the country is produced in Banaras and Bhagalpur which are handloom clusters and Kanchipuram, Salem, Bangalore and Mysore which are weaving clusters.

In 1954, production of silk fabric was started from Dhanamil in Surat. Gradually, more prominent families of Surat joined it. In 2019, the production of silk fabric in Surat was 5 lakh meters per month. Consumption from China and Vietnam is 20 tonnes per month.

A target of 38500 tonnes of silk production was set in the country by 2020. The production of silk in 2017 was 30350 tonnes. The central government has allocated US$300 million to make 38500 tons in 2020. Sericulture is working to provide employment to 76 lakh people in 51 thousand villages of the country. 81.4 lakh weavers are associated with this industry with the help of 32.80 lakh handlooms and 45800 powerlooms.

Navsari

Plantation of mulberry trees for mulberry silk production was planned and inaugurated in Sadlav village of Navsari district in May 2022.

Malabari silk (mulberry tree) planted with hi-tech technology in Gujarat started silk production in the history of Gujarat, but for some reason the farmers here have not been able to get the benefit and the farmers of those states are taking full advantage of this government scheme K is becoming more financially strong.