Not all weavers benefit from Netanna Nestam

Chirala (Prakasam): The YSR Netanna Nestam scheme being launched by the state government will not cover all weavers, especially the poor and destitute weavers, say the weavers' leaders. They demand the government to remove the rule that one beneficiary for one loom at home and include the majority of the people depended on the weaving and other allied crafts.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy will celebrate his birthday on Saturday and launching Nethanna Nestam amid the weavers in Dharmavaram in Anantapur district. As part of the scheme, the government is providing monetary assistance of Rs 2,000 per month, a total of Rs 24,000 a year to the weavers, who have a handloom at their home.

According to the department of handlooms and textiles, there are 2,00,310 weavers in the 1,282 cooperative societies while 1,58,902 are independent weavers in the state. The weavers in the cooperative societies do work on looms procured by the societies arranged in the work sheds with funds from Handloom Development Centre and other Central government schemes in the 1990s.

Most of the weavers in the north coastal districts and Rayalaseema are weaving in the work sheds. The Sivaraman Committee on the problems of handloom industry identified that each loom is providing work to at least six workers.

Macherla Mohan Rao from the National Federation of Handlooms and Handicrafts said that the government was able to identify around 85,000 weavers eligible for the scheme. He said that the poor weavers cannot afford to own a loom and they work in the sheds constructed by the societies and master weavers for a meagre wage.

He also added that the allied workers who were dependent on the weaving also were poor people, eligible to receive the assistance. He demanded the government to add the homeless and loomless weavers also in the beneficiaries and give a chance to better their lives.

The president of All India Handloom Rights Forum, Bandaru Jwala Narasimham also demanded the government to extend the scheme to all weavers, including the allied workers.

He said that without the efforts of the allied workers the weaver cannot weave any cloth on the loom. He said that the wages of the workers and weavers were low for a long time and they do not get work in the rainy season due to the wetting of the pit and moisture on the threads. He said that the government should help all but not just a section of the industry.