Chapter 5

The Economics of Needle and Thread: Exploring the everyday lives of women workers of West Bengal Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Economics of Needle and Thread: Exploring the everyday lives of women Kantha workers of West Bengal

Abstract: This chapter is a narrative of a very specific kind of work- Kantha work, which women in rural Bengal have been traditionally involved in. Kantha has a rich history of its origin, development and expansion. Kantha as an art form has varied history. In the existing literature Kantha has mostly been discussed in terms of an ‘art and design’, different ‘techniques’ involved and the ‘value’ of the finished products. There are almost no studies looking into the socio economic aspects of the labour force involved in this crafts- who are mostly women and discuss Kantha within the broader framework of unorganized labour markets in India. This study investigates specific geo-economic locations of rural Bengal to narrate the everyday life of women working as Kantha workers, their interface with the labour markets and everyday negotiation and survival strategies they adopt to sustain themselves. This is a chapter which in the course of its discussion will bring forth both the ‘feminization of labour’ and the ‘gender stereotypes’ of women labour force.

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Chapter 5: The Economics of Needle and Thread: Exploring the everyday lives of women Kantha workers of West Bengal

Kantha is one of the oldest traditional art forms of Bengal- East Bengal, now Bangladesh and West Bengal, in India. Over the years it has marked its presence both in the national and international markets owing to its rich aesthetic value and value for money. Kantha, a Bengali word which literally means rags is interpreted in different ways. Kantha in Bengali is a rug and a warm cover that is usually used during winter to warm oneself; Kantha is also a small piece of cloth made of old and used saris and dhotis, stacked in layers and finely stitched to use for new born babies; Kantha in Bengali also means throat and is often compared to the throat of Lord Shiva who drank the poison and became blue to save the mankind. Analogy to Lord Shiva and consumption of poison is used symbolically to show that Kantha as an art form too penetrated the lives of poor rural people, mainly the women, to help them alleviate their poor economic condition and live a life of dignity. Kantha is also an expression, words and tales which gets embroidered in garments, tapestry, upholstery and as paintings to express the everyday life of common people.

Though there are contesting debates around the exact dates of emergence of Kantha, it is believed that Kantha as an art form is more than thousand years old. Kantha, or more precisely the term , (loosely translated as designed embroidery) as an art form is mentioned in Vedas and in medieval literature. ‘The earliest mention of Kantha is found in Pali literature and in the works of Panini, though Chandrabati’s Ramayana also mentions Kantha stitching as one of the skills in which Sita excelled’ ( Basak, S, 2007, pp24) In fact, Kantha is mentioned in various Bengali folk songs, poems and varied literary works. Kantha was an integral part of the lives of women of Bangladesh and hence some argue that as an art form it originated in Bangladesh. Similarly the others argue that Kantha came from Persia through the routes to India and even earlier it is believed to be the Buddhist monks who brought Kantha to India while they were on their journey of exploring new places. The monks who lived on the offerings of the people they met on the way stitched the old pieces of clothes in layers to make a like thing to keep themselves warm and wherever they went, they taught the skills and that’s how Kantha has spread in different parts of the country in different forms.

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Noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore mentions about Kantha in his innumerable poems and songs and stories and keeping Kantha at the centre of his creation he talks about love, longing, marriage, friendship, everyday life, sex and sexuality. Such rich histories of Kantha were almost erased with the British invasion in India as the British were interested in encouraging their own clothing by exploiting India’s natural resources and not encourage indigenous handicrafts. It was Tagore and later his daughter in law Pratima Devi who revived Kantha and brought Kantha into the everyday life of the common people. While Tagore highlighted Kantha in his literary works and art work and started Shantiniketan, (Tagore’s abode which is now an University) an academic space where Kantha thrived amidst the intellectuals, his daughter-in –law collectivized the rural women of Bengal, more in the Birbhum district where Shantiniketan is located and started utilizing the art as a livelihood opportunity. Going by the common belief, woman by birth is a weaver and knows how to stitch, repair and create new goods out of anything that comes her way. The women in fact bring value to the valueless commodities. In other sense, women are able to learn and adapt to any situation they are put to and though the belief in a way reinstate the gender stereotypes, one cannot deny that the level of finesse that Kantha requires can only be brought out by a woman because of her level of patience and perseverance which no man can achieve. In the olden times, even the threads used for stitching were taken out from the old saris to create a new design and a new sari, a rug or any other product. So one can very well imagine the inherent quality of creation that women possess and this quality of creating goods out of nothing gave way to a mass scale economic expansion making Kantha a part of the growing and handicrafts industry. However in the course of this study we will realize that such massive economic expansion of Kantha did not bring any striking economic change in the lives of these rural, educationally deprived, socially and economically backward women thus keeping them deprived of their rightful share of the profit.

Historically Kantha held a very special place in the lives of women of Bengal as the art is very close to their existence and everyday life. Kantha if interpreted as expression, women express her thoughts and desires, her cravings, her failures and achievements through the depiction of different figurines in Kantha. Kantha is like women’s best friend who will never judge; who will never hurt and will never betray but only be by her side and support her, be it economically or be it emotionally. In fact in the later narratives we will come across women who say that Kantha helps them to remain focused, calm and peaceful and bond with each other.

With this very brief introduction the chapter is structured as follows: First a very brief description about the rationale of locating and interpreting the Kantha workers within the Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 128 Chapter 5 unorganized labour markets; followed by a detailed discussion on the geographical location of conducting the research and the methodology adopted to gather information. Third, section of the chapter will deal with an in-depth analysis of the narratives of women working as Kantha workers in different locations, highlighting their everyday survival and negotiation strategies to continue as workers. Finally, concluding remarks on the study conducted will be presented.

Kantha worker- why the need to study? Women- Creator, Artisan and Labourers Interest in women Kantha workers of Bengal developed during the time of literature review for the present research work. While reviewing literatures of different kinds of work that women do in unorganized labour markets in India, I came across very few works done specifically on women Kantha workers of Bengal. Amongst the available studies on women Kantha workers, almost every study discusses the art form and the different techniques involved in Kantha and hardly any studies explore the socio-economic location of the women within the unorganized labour markets. Hence the present study is an attempt to look beyond the ‘mere art’ and delve into the everyday socio economic life of women in Kantha workers.

While referring to the existing literature on Kantha workers, every document in some way or the other romanticizes the richness of the art and how this art has immense economic potentiality- both at the local and global markets. Moreover these studies also portray how convenient it is for the rural women to work from their own homes as Kantha workers and earn their living. Though these are the possibilities, the ground realties are very different. This vast disconnect between the imagined romanticism and the actual reality is something which raises curiosity and hence the need for research. Several questions which as a researcher came to my mind were, if women could earn well from the craft then why are they still in abject poverty and marginalized? Why is there limited visibility of the ‘real Kantha workers’ in the national and international markets? What happens to the women’s economic agency in respect to Kantha? What are the various issues that women have to face being a Kantha worker? What kind of support system is necessary for protecting the rights of the Kantha workers? These are just few of the concerns which initiated an urge to research the lives of the Kantha workers.

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Three district and three villages- Details of sites of research

West Bengal: Location of Study

Burdwan (Gyanadas Kandra) Hoogly (Kak Ganchi)

24 Parganas ( N) Laugram

Source: www.d-maps.com

1. Site One- Village Gyanadas Kandra, Burdwan district The present research was spread across three different geographical locations- Gyanadas Kandra in Burdwan District; Kak Ganchi, Mandra in Hooghly district and Laugram in North 24 Parganas district. All the three places have rich history of Kantha tradition and women of these villages, both Hindus and Muslims have been working as Kantha workers for several decades. The research being exploratory in nature, neither the area of study nor the sample size was finalized prior to the actual field work. The researcher in the course of her exploration, found out from different sources- faculties of different colleges and universities in Kolkata and Kalyani and natives of these respective villages whom the researcher came in contact through common connections.

The first village of the study was Gyanadas Kandra. This village is part of Ketugram I, the community development block of Katwa division of Burdwan district. According to the 2011 census, Ketugram division consists of 62 villages while village Kandra is the largest of all having a population of close to 12 thousands. Out of the total population, 5894 (51%) are male and 5640 (49%) are female. The caste distribution shows that 77% of the total

Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 130 Chapter 5 population is from general caste, 21% are from schedule caste and 2% are schedule tribes. Although the census doesn’t highlight the religious diversities, mostly all Muslims represent the scheduled caste population1 along with some of the Hindus. Children (aged under 6 years) population of Kandara village is 11%, among them 49% are boys and 51% are girls. There are 2560 households in the village and an average of 5 persons live in every family. Following table 19 describes the caste wise male female population of village Kandra.

Table 19: Caste wise male female population 2011 Total General SC ST Children Total 11,534 8885 2406 243 1311 Male 5894 4540 1226 128 645 Female 5640 4345 1180 115 666 Source: West Bengal census report 2011 in www.indikosh.com referred on 19.7.16 at 3.10pm

The census report also highlights the fact that over a period of time the literacy rate amongst the entire population has increased and as per the 2011 census data, female literacy rate stands at 65% of the total literate population in the village. The villagers too suggested that girls are serious about education and are trying to continue their higher studies as they see it an absolute necessity for getting a job and also for getting a suitable match for marriage. The literacy rate for men though is 76%, men are not very committed towards continuing higher studies and are more prone to doing short term courses in computers, ITI trainings etc for securing a job so that they can start earning quickly to sustain the family. Moreover many men in this village have migrated to northern, southern, and western states of the country for various work opportunities.

As per the workers’ profile, the census distributes the work force in three categories-main workers, marginal workers and non workers. Although the census doesn’t bring out very specifically what kinds of work falls under the main work, marginal work and non work, but as per the 1981 census report, where for the first time, the definitions and categorization of workers were drafted, one who gets work for 183 days or more are categorized as main workers; one who gets work intermittently and less than 183 days in a year are called marginal workers and those who do not get work at all are categorized as non workers. Work here could be any kind of work- factory work, agricultural work, daily wage work etc. In the village Kandra as per the 2011 census report, 33% of the total population was engaged in either main work or marginal work. 59% male and 6% female population are working population. Out of the total male working population, 51% male worked as full time or main workers and 8% worked as marginal or part time workers. For women, out of the total female

1 As informed by villagers Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 131 Chapter 5

working population, 5% worked as main workers and only 2% worked as marginal workers. These figures are very intriguing as it projects almost ‘no work participation’ for female population in the village. This number could be the direct reflection of the non identification of different kinds of work that women do but are not recorded as work and it could be also due to the invisibilisation and non representation of women workers in the Government records thus denying women of every right and privilege of a worker.

Another very interesting characteristic of this village is that most of the men of this village are working in Chennai as construction workers, men also work as facilitator for ferrying terminally ill patients to Apollo hospital in Chennai, Christian Medical College, Vellore and Tata Cancer institute in Mumbai since the villagers find it difficult to travel all alone, to communicate with doctors and make other necessary arrangements while one is under treatment. Many men also work in UP and Punjab leaving their women and children in the village. Women in the absence of men take care of every responsibility on daily basis. Though men do send some money back home, it is not always enough. The following table highlights the workers’ profile in Kandra village.

Table 20: Percentage of Working Population- Kandra Workers Main Workers Marginal Workers Non Workers Total 33.4% 28.6% 4.8% 66.6% Male 59.2% 51.5% 7.8% 40.8% Female 6.3% 4.7% 1.6% 93.7% Source: West Bengal Census report 2011 in www.indikosh.com referred on 21.7.16 at 4.30pm

2. Site Two: Village Laugram, North 24 Parganas District. Laugram is a small village under Baziknagar gram panchayat, Block division Barasat in North 24 Parganas district. The distance from Kolkata is around 85 kames and the nearest railway station is Bara. To reach Laugram one can take cycle pulling rickshaw or it could be also reached on bike. The village comprises of around 100 households, each household having minimum of three and maximum of eight members and in the village there will be close to 1200 population including children. The village is inhabited by Muslims all belonging to Scheduled Caste and have mostly migrated from Bangladesh during partition time. Some have also come in recent times but their numbers are very few. The important characteristics of this village is that hardly any young men stay in the village as most of them are working as tailors or in garments’ factories in different parts of the country including Gujarat and Mumbai. Hence the village comprises of mostly elderly people, women and children. Women of the village mostly as wives and daughter in laws are not very educated; very few of them have completed class ten and even fewer class twelve; though most of them have attended

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primary schools. The village has a primary school and almost every boy and girl of the village attends school, and girls also help their mothers with Kantha work. The village being village of Muslim families, women rarely go out and work in the fields. Few families own agricultural land and grow seasonal crops. In absence of working male members of the family, the lands are given for share cropping and hence the owners receive a share of the profit given by the actual tillers. Apart from agriculture, many practice animal husbandry, horticulture and vermin compost. Few also own petty shops and run businesses. For women, Kantha is the major source of income, as women on religious and cultural grounds are not encouraged to look for work outside homes and hence Kantha work is the only available option for women in this village.

3. Site three: Village Kak Ganchi, Hooghly District, Block Dhaniyakhali Kak Ganchi is a small village of 304 Households comprising of 1245 population2 as per census 2011.The village comprises of Muslim community, and caste wise comes under SC and OBC category. This hamlet is adjacent to village Mandra which comprises of only Muslim population and popularly known as Kak Ganchi Mandra. This village comprises of only women, old people and children. The young men of this village are all out of the village in search of better economic opportunity in different parts of the country and aboard. The village has a Madrasa and a primary school. The children, especially the girls help their mothers with Kantha work along with studies. Traditionally women in this village have been doing Kantha work and being Muslim, Kantha is the only best available option for them to earn without venturing the outside world. Like the other two villages, women get work through the middle men or the mahajan and give back finished product in stipulated time at a decided price.

Research methodology- The field experiences of meeting the women Kantha workers In the following part of this section, a detailed explanation of the journey of data collection; time taken to conduct the field work and the sample size would be given. In this respect, it is important to mention here that the information gathered are very specific to the location where the research is conducted but each of the three villages uniquely connect to the economic value chain of the entire craft keeping women at the centre of inquiry and highlights the different kinds of intermediaries and negotiation strategies that women involve into. Moreover, the selected samples are representative sample which reflect the

2 Source: www.hooghlyprd.org

Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 133 Chapter 5 characteristics of the entire population of the village close to accuracy. Three different sites of research were identified using three different approaches.

1) The first site that is village Gyanadas Kandra in Burdwan district was finalized after a series of telephonic conversation with a native woman of the village through common connections who suggested that traditionally the village women have been working as Kantha worker, though their work has never been discussed and investigated. When it comes to Kantha work, usually works of Shantiniketan and Bolpur gets highlighted and discussed and not Kantha works of other places. Apart from these two famous places of Kantha work, there are various other places in Birbhum, Bankura, Hooghly, Bardhaman and North 24 Parganas where women have been traditionally engaged in Kantha work. Hence Kandra became the chosen location to explore the lives of women who are working as Kantha workers. The contact point in Kandra who was this native woman had already informed the villagers about the research and the purpose of meeting them and asking them questions related to their work. After the preliminary arrangements were made, the researcher took a local train to Katwa, traveling 3 hrs from her place of residence and from Katwa, the informant received the researcher to travel by bus for around 1.5 hours to reach the village. From the main bus stand of the village to reach actual location of research, the researcher took a cycle rickshaw to reach the exact location.

The informant was very hospitable and invited the researcher to stay at her house. It was indeed a great experience to stay in a village, in house which had mud walls and thatched roof (Pictures in annexure), just one bulb to light the entire house, Bathroom away from the rooms and cattle herded in a small space adjacent to the living. It was winter of January 2016. On the first day, the researcher took a walk of the entire village to get accustomed with the people and inform each and every one that the researcher met about the research and the purpose of visit. Women who were the subject of the research were more than happy to be part of the study and wherever women were a little confused about the purpose of the study, their men and other members of the family helped women to agree to talk.

The techniques used for collection of data were random snowball sampling. Questionnaire was semi structured and the researcher adopted the life narrative techniques to allow women to talk about themselves and their journey as a Kantha workers. Participant observations was one of the major tools of research to structure arguments and understand the everyday lives of women Kantha workers in the village. 15 women across age, caste and religion were considered. The researcher spent 10 days in the village to collect data of 15 respondents. The interviews were conducted when women were relatively free to talk both Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 134 Chapter 5 during day and night time. Apart from this a lot of time was spent with the respondents to understand their everyday life. Although the 2011 census projects population amounting to 12,000, for the present study, only a small hamlet within the very same village was considered which consists of 60-80 households, consisting of 1500 population including children. The overview of the sample is as follows:

Table 21: Caste segregation of women respondent in village Kandra Sr. No Categories Numbers 1. Hindu ( SC) 6 2. Muslim (SC) 2 3. Hindu (OBC) 4 4. Hindu (Open) 3 5. Total 15 Source: Field data (December 2015 March 2016)

As regard to the marital status of the women, all 14 women were married and only 1 widowed. The age group of the respondents varied between 17 years to 62 years. Out of the total respondent only 2 had completed their primary level education; 8 of them had attended schools and left before class five and five women had never gone to school. All have their own mud house and at least one point electricity connection. Women usually cook in firewood and cow dung cakes. Apart from doing Kantha work which is their primary work, women also grow vegetables, make puffed rice, pickles and dairy products which they consume and also sale in the local markets.

2) In village Laugram, all 15 women interviewed belonged to Muslim community. 3 out of 15 respondents were unmarried and attending schools in class 7, 9 and 11. Rest of the 12 women were all married. Out of the 12 married women, 8 women lived with their in laws and extended family with children and their husbands were working as tailors in Surat. 2 respondents informed that their husbands were working as carpet weaver in Jammu and the rest two remained in the village and worked as farmers in their small plot of land. Being a Muslim community, women’s mobility was quite restricted and women in this village work in a group for a particular supplier who owns a chain of boutiques in Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and in the United States of America. These women informed that they only did the stitching part as is explained to them and have no idea where the finished product is sold and what was the actual value of the goods. In this village too similar technique of data collection was adopted. The researcher spent 10 days time to interact with the women. Although for this village, staying was an issue, the researcher traveled from her place of residence everyday to interview the women.

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3) The third and the final location of data collection was Kak Ganchi, a small hamlet of Mandra village in Hooghly district. This area was chosen after talking to some of the academics and friends who were aware that traditionally women in this region have been working as Kantha workers. The Kantha workers are all women and these women live alone in the village in absence of their husbands who are working as gold smith and silver smith is Ambala and other parts of Punjab. Few of the men are also working in the gulf. Through informal dialogues with several groups, it was also known that a major part of Kantha works gets done in Kak Gaanchi and Mandra along with works of Shantiniketan. Though works of Shantiniketan and Bolpur are more famous in the International markets, Kantha work of Kak Ganchi is famous within the country and the finished goods have a good market in Mumbai, Delhi and Gujarat. In this village too, 15 women all Muslim were interviewed for the study. Out of the 15 respondents, 10 women were married, 3 were widowed and 2 were unmarried at the time of interview. As regard to the age, the youngest respondent was a young school going girl of 17 years studying in class eleven, and the eldest was 52 years old. 13 respondents, all had children of varied age and numbers, the least being 1 and the highest being 3 in number. Only one woman who is also a widow didn’t have children. Both her son and husband died in a bus accidents and the woman now lives along with her mother in a separate household in the same village that of her deceased husband. In dept interviews, focused group discussion and life narratives were recorded of the women to understand their real situation.

Research Findings - The story of Kantha

1. Getting into the craft

“I got married when I was 20 years old. My husband is a daily wage labourer and most of the days he is at home. He doesn’t get regular work. I used to be at home and realized that I need to work too as there was no money. My daughter has epilepsy so she requires regular medicines. From where do I get money for all this? So I decided to do Kantha work. A lot of women in this village do Kantha work. I went to few of them who did Kantha work for long, and requested if I too could get some work. I knew the basic stitching but Kantha stitch is different. So for a couple of weeks I just observed and learnt the skills of stitching and after a month’s time when I was a little confident, I took one sari from the mahajan3 and started working on it. I couldn’t give much time to stitching since I have to take care of my daughter and do all household work. The first sari took five months to complete and I was to get Rs.

3 Mahajan is one who provides the saari, the design and the thread to the women and keeps a regular check on the progress of the work and collects the finished product from the women paying the decided amount. Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 136 Chapter 5

750/- but when the mahajan came to collect the sari he only gave me Rs.500/- as he said that the stitching done was not neat.” (Alo Manjhi, 36 years, Village Kandra, 3rd January 2016)

“I am 62years now or may be more. I cannot walk. I used to work for long hours in my land and that took a toll on my waist and knees. I have undergone three operations till date; sold my land and also a part of my house. I have only one son. He used to work in Chennai as a construction worker but now he is at home to look after me. He is married and has a son who is just 1 year old. I couldn’t be a burden on him so I decided to do the Kantha work. My son helps me sit on this chair (as in the picture in annexure) and once I am on the chair, I stitch the sari continuously. This is the only work that I can do. Yes, the money that I get is very little but at least I am able to contribute something to my family.

(Basanti Saha, 62 years, Village Kandra, 5th January 2016)

“My husband is working in the Gulf and I am all alone in the village with my two daughters and one son. He comes once in two years and stays for a month. Yes he sends money and but it is not always enough and I was left with no option but to do some work. We as Muslim women have very limited option to work. We can’t work outside homes and hence Kantha was the only option for me. Being a Muslim, I learnt the art of stitching as a kid, that is what we all learn and as per our tradition, if we can acquire the skills really well, then it’s easier to find good match for us. So during my marriage I already had a variety to display and bring it with me to my husband’s home. I never knew that I would earn out of this skill. But now I am earning money doing Kantha work. Yes, the money is very less but it is enough to give to my children who are all attending schools”

(Haseena Khatun, 30 years, Village Kak Ganchi, Mandra, 19th December, 2015)

“Ever since I came to this village post marriage, I saw every woman doing Kantha work. So I also joined my family and others in the village and started stitching Kantha. This village is a very small village and far from the main town. So we cannot go anywhere. It is Kantha work which keeps us together. We spend a lot of time stitching and we also help each other completing work on time. Yes the money is very less but at least it’s better than nothing in hand.”

(Nazma Mondal, 28 years, Laugram, 18th January 2016)

These are few of the voices of women recorded during the course of study in the three villages under study and each and every woman had a different story to share, the story of

Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 137 Chapter 5 how women became Kantha workers. All these impressions that women shared brought out one very striking reason for taking up Kantha work- as a source of livelihood in the midst of limited options for this group of women in the job markets. Women in these three villages have taken up the Kantha work not because they have a lot of time on hand but because Kantha is the only available employment options for these women who otherwise have no opportunity to explore the labour markets with limited education, no skills to do other work and find it difficult to leave family and households work to work out side.

Moreover women’s mobility is restricted due to cultural rules and hence this is the only one work which women have access to. In the past, Kantha work was done by women at leisure times, usually during afternoons when women otherwise had no other work to do and in absence of any other recreational activity, Kantha work was the only means of recreation and a way of connecting with each other, bond and share everyday life. Over time, the activity of leisure became an activity for survival. With the growth of the economy and revival of indigenous handicrafts, Kantha became a popular product of economic value, which could be marketed for earning good revenue. At the same time Kantha was also visualized as an effective mode of employment creation for rural and less educated women who already knew the skills of stitching and could work from home and earn livelihood. In fact Kantha has shown women that there is money in the art and hence a lot of rural women are engaged in this craft though they receive a paltry sum of money. In reality, the creator of the art remains most deprived and exploited, remaining almost invisible in the market. This aspect would be dealt in detail shortly.

As mentioned in the narratives, for Muslim women, Kantha is an integral part of their existence. As young Muslim girls, they learn the skills of stitching and by the time they are of marriageable age, they already have a pile of products made to be taken to their husband’s house. For the Muslim women too, who otherwise did not explore the labour markets like their Hindu counterpart started engaging in Kantha work as work and earned livelihood to support the family. Though when asked if they considered the work to be a job, women responded in the negative as they said that they hardly get any money out of it to call Kantha work as work. Saying so they also said that Kantha has definitely helped them with everyday household expenditure for which they had to otherwise ask their husband or other male members of the family which was not possible all the time. Even if it’s less money, yet women said that Kantha has given them a sort of freedom and independence in terms of spending and they do not have to seek permission from the patriarch all the time for spending money. This is a huge change that Kantha has brought in the lives of women in general. Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 138 Chapter 5

2. Doing Kantha work

“One day I received a letter from my husband who is working in Ambala as a silversmith. In the letter he mentioned that he won’t be able to come home soon as he has workload in Ambala. He also mentioned that he would be able to send only Rs.1200/- per month instead of Rs.3000/- as he has bought a house on rent and the cost of living is very high there. What would I have done, I was already running short of money and I didn’t know how I would take care of the need of my children. I had a goat which I sold for Rs.6000/- but that money was spent in no time. I had to do something, I couldn’t starve. My neighbor knew my condition and one day she gave me one of her sari to do Kantha work on it. I was so happy that I got work and I remember I got Rs.200/- at the end of 15 days. That was it. I knew about the man who came to our village to give Kantha work to women. I met him once and got work directly from him. For a lotus sari4 I was given Rs.1050/- and I took around 3 months time to complete. So in a year, if I do work regularly, I can complete four sari and 50 salwar suits which costs anywhere between Rs.75 to Rs.150. (Noor Bibi, 35 years, Kak Ganchi, Mandra, 2.2.2016)

“In my village most of the women are doing Kantha work. In fact you will find at least one female member of the household doing Kantha work. A man has been coming to our village for many years now to give work to women. He comes with sari, blouse piece, salwar suits, stoles, dupattas, sheet, all with designs embossed in them, give the threads and explains which color to be used where and we take work as per our capacity. I have been taking only sari from him as that gives more money than the rest. The man whom we call mahajan comes in between to check the progress of work and also to gives us thread to continue stitching. Our work is just to stitch and fill colors with thread as per the design which we do. (Sarita Mondal, 29 years, Gyanadas Kandra, 8.1. 2016)

“Every month around 15th a man comes to our village bringing work from Kolkata. He is very nice and he tries to give us more work. It is on us as to how much we can do. If we can complete work fast, then we get more work but that is not always possible as we have to do other household works. Moreover, eyes and back hurts sitting in one position for long hours. Many a times I feel that my fingers have gone numb. I cannot feel anything, even the needle but I have to work. If I don’t do the work, there are others waiting to take my work and earn. I can’t stop this work. Kantha helps me run my family. (Aleya Bibi, 32 years, Laugram 10.2 2016)

4 Saari depicts different designs and accordingly the cost varies. The lotus saari depicts lotus all over the saari and the cost varied between Rs.750 to Rs.1250. Saari which has designs only on boarder and aanchal costs Rs.350 to Rs.500. Similarly there are different prices for different kinds of saari. design is usually a detailed designed saari. Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 139 Chapter 5

While it is poverty which pushes women to become Kantha workers, the work and the remuneration drawn from the work seldom changes the economic and social position of the women worker. Women expressed that there are already too many Kantha workers for too less work. In the recent times, the number of Kantha workers have increased as the women started visualizing Kantha as a money making commodity for earning profit. In the real situation, women have been rarely enjoying the share of profit as it is the entrepreneur, the business men who have captured the market completely by controlling the creator, the artisan, giving them only a very little share of the actual income keeping them in abject poverty and helplessness. All women who were interviewed in the course of the study univocally expressed that they had no idea where and how were their products sold and at what costs. Gathering from women’s narratives, the following chart explains the way women get to do the work.

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Figure 15: Layers of intermediaries in the Kantha work

The figure above is a graphical representation of the level of intermediaries engaged in Kantha work. The figure also highlights the level of hierarchies which exist among these layers of intermediaries and very sadly, women, the creator of the craft are at the most disadvantageous position being completely dependent on the intermediaries or the middle men (MM). This kind of hierarchical arrangements finds similar grounds with Marxian stratification of class where only a handful of bourgeois are at the top controlling all other lower in the hierarchy and keeping the large number of proletariat at the mercy of the bourgeois. The hierarchy also suggests a network of different actors involved in Kantha work.

The entrepreneur or the business man is the person who supplies the raw materials and the capital that is the sari, design and the thread along with remuneration to be given to the woman. The entrepreneur is only connected to the first level of intermediaries and is not concerned about the women who produce the work. The first level of intermediaries has many people working under him who constitutes the second level of intermediaries and this second level of intermediaries are in contact with the third level of intermediaries who are in

Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 141 Chapter 5 direct contact with the women and get the work done as demanded and ensures that the work is completed on time, in good condition and as desired by the entrepreneur. This last level of intermediaries usually are local men staying in the same village where the women Kantha workers reside; are very much familiar with the women and hence are equipped enough to ensure delivery of work on time and in good quality. Any issue at any one level of intermediaries, the entire system is bound to collapse. Women on the other hand have no knowledge about this complex web of intermediaries and only know the last level of intermediary- the supplier of work and deals with the man for all issues related to payment, quantity of work and time of work. The connections at all these intermediary levels are at an informal level and particularly at the women’s level, it is more informal. It is the mahajan at the ground level who accommodates issues or problems faced by women while doing Kantha work, but they never compromise about the money aspect of the Kantha work. They in fact try to pay less at the time of collection to women giving various reasons to keep a larger share of money with themselves.

3. Where’s the money ask women…..?

There are different rates for different kinds of products made by women. Although the women agree that there is a huge market potentiality for Kantha goods they are also concerned about the expanding networks of intermediaries who takes away the major portion of the share of their income keeping them in poverty. When asked if there’s any alternatives? Women replied in the negative. Women expressed how difficult it is for them to be part of this web of intermediaries and get work directly from the entrepreneur or produce goods by themselves and sell it in the market directly. Women said that though stitching is primarily a women’s job, all other associated jobs are that of men and it is the men who control women and their work. In absence of any support system, education, restriction on mobility, women continue to become victims of exploitation.

Since the main aim of the narrative was to highlight how much women earned by doing different kinds of Kantha work, women informed that they received different payment for different products. Kantha work is paid at a piece rate and as mentioned earlier, in absence of any bargaining women silently accepts whatever they get. Many a times it so happens that the middle men pay much less than the amount fixed at the time of finalizing the work on petty reasons like work not done neatly, work not completed in time, materials not kept well while working and many such similar reasons. The following table highlights the type of work and the cost per items that is decided by the middle man.

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Table 22: Kantha items and cost per piece

Sr. No Kantha Items Time take to What the Market complete women get in price (Rs.) (Rs.) 1. Lotus sari in tassar 6 months 750- 1100 4500-5500 silk 2. Lotus sari in 5 months 450- 650 3500-4500 Bangalore silk 3. Sari with borders and 3 months 250-300 2000-2500 aanchal5 4. Sari with various 4 months 350- 500 4000-above motifs 5. Dupattas ( full work) 2 months 200-250 1500-3500 6. Stoles 1 month 50- 100 1200-1500 7. Salwar suit ( cotton) 1 month 80-120 750-1800 8. Blouse 3 days 8-15 90-110 9. Skirt 1 month 40 500-750 10. Bed sheet ( double) 3 months 450-750 2000-3500 11. Bed sheet ( single) 2 months 150-250 650-1100 Source: Women’s narratives during fieldwork (Dec 2015- March 2016)

The above table gives an account of the different kinds of work that women do and the money that they get at a piece rate as told by women during the course of the study. Similarly the actual market price of these products is shared by the middle men, a few of them who agreed to talk. The actual value of the goods varies from place to place- though these goods are sold at a cheaper rate in the local market, when the goods reaches Kolkata the price differs and similarly when the goods are sold in out of the state market or at an international market, the prices vary. What is important to note here is that although the price of the Kantha products vary from location to location, women do not benefit in any ways and they have to remain content with such low price for work, and it is the middle man and the entrepreneur who are enjoying all the profit at the cost of the women. The narrative suggests that in order to earn more money, women usually aim to take up multiple works like sari and salwar suits, and that way ensure continuous work and more income. The following table gives a village wise distribution of work done by women and average monthly income taking a representative sample of 5 respondents across three villages. The sample ensures diversity in terms of age, total work done, time spent to complete the work and average income that women in each villages earns.

5 Aanchal is one end of the saari which falls from the shoulder. Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 143 Chapter 5

Table 23: Kantha work and average monthly income of the women Respondents Village 1 Village 2 Village 3 (Gyanadas Kandra) (Laugram) (Kakgaanchi) 1 Rs. 335/-(1 sari + 2 Rs.562/- (5 dupattas) Rs.1220/-(12 stoles) blouse+10 salwar suits) 2 Rs.240/- (3 skirts+ 12 Rs.240/-(6 Skirts) Rs.800/- (8 salwar blouse) suits) 3 Rs. 400/-(1 bed sheet Rs.1130/- (3 sari+ 8 salwar Rs.375/-(5 stoles) double+ 2 sari with suits) boarders) 4 Rs.600/-(2 lotus Rs.562/- (5 dupattas) Rs.240/- (6 skirts) saari+10 blouse+1 dupatta) 5 Rs.587/-(3 motif Rs.200/- (1 double bed Rs.450/- (6 stoles) saari+5 stoles) sheet) Source: field data collected during December 2015 and March 2016

The table above suggests that in the three villages under study, the least that a woman earns doing Kantha work is Rs.240/- and the highest amount that she receives is Rs.1220/- per month. Though these earnings are calculated as per individual head, women informed that many a times, women help each other to complete work on time and distribute their share of earnings amongst each other as per the level of contribution of work. Whatever may be the case, on an average count, women ends up earning the above mentioned amount on a monthly basis given the fact that they are getting regular work. This income increases during the festive seasons where the work pressure is more and similarly women have no work during the lean season.

If one analyzes the price of the product that women receive and the actual market price which goes to the entrepreneurs and the middle men, one will realize that there’s a huge margin. When asked why women are silent about such exploitation, women across three villages said that it is next to impossible for them to procure the raw materials, orders and the designs of work from different sources and do the work. They feel they won’t be able to travel long distances to main markets which are in big cities, negotiate with different kinds of intermediaries, including the businessmen who give the order, the supplier of the raw materials and how to market the finished goods. With very less education, no support system in the family and no collectivization, women are happy that they get work sitting at home even if they are paid less and often not paid for the work done.

Women further say that in today’s time there is a lot of competition and a lot of workers who are ready to do Kantha work at a cheap rate. Moreover in absence of any collectivization women are not in a position to strike a deal with the entrepreneur and the supplier. When

Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 144 Chapter 5 asked why they have been not able to form a collective, women replied that not all women are equally skilled to undertake the Kantha work and most of the women who do this work are elderly women and women who are married with children and have no other work opportunity. These categories of women have learnt the skills by themselves without any form of professional training and reproduce their everyday life using symbols and figures stitched by needle and thread. Moreover due to cut throat competition women prefer to work on their own to earn more money and not share work with anyone. In such a situation, it is difficult to form a collective and function as a collective. Women further expressed that since the entire Kantha work is flourishing due to the middle men and the entrepreneur, no one would want to encourage collective or union as that would bring loss to their business.

When asked about what all they did with the money earned, women very sarcastically said, “Where’s the money?” As the above table suggests, women hardly received any money from the work done and whatever little they got, all was spent for the family. A sari which earns her Rs.750/- in 4 to 5 month means that she is earning around Rs.150/- a month which in today’s time is very little and doesn’t suffice the need. Women across three villages shared their tales of poverty and misery and how it is difficult to sustain everyday life when their husbands are either out of regular work or are away from home. In order to earn additional income, women expressed that they also do other work like selling puffed rice, pickles and pappad, selling cow milk and goat milk, eggs and vegetables that they grow. So Kantha alone is not sufficient for women to take care of everyday needs. Hence women along with Kantha work are doing different other kinds of work to support themselves and the family. Here it is also important to mention that though women remained part of the extended family, yet each one of them had a separate unit to themselves, that is they hardly shared their earnings and expenditure. Every family ate separately and hence functioned as a single unit household within the village. The following table highlights women’s income as Kantha worker and the household income which includes income of their husband and/or other income that woman earns by doing extra work alongside Kantha work.

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Table 24: Village wise distribution of women’s earnings alongside monthly household earnings Respondents Village 1 Village 2 Village 3 Women’s Household Women’s Household Women’s Household Income – income Income income Income income Kantha (Rs) Kantha (Rs) Kantha (Rs) (Rs) (Rs) (Rs) 1 335 3000 562 2500 1200 2500 2 240 2500 240 4000 800 3000 3 400 2000 1130 2000 375 4500 4 600 3500 562 3000 240 2000 5 587 3000 200 2000 450 2000 Source: Narratives of women respondents during field work (December 2015- March 2016)

The above table is an expression of the representative sample to highlight women’s monthly income alongside the household income of the family which includes women’s income from Kantha work, men’s income from different sites of work and income from alternate work that women do along with Kantha work. The three villages under study project a very low socio economic background of the subjects under study. The reason being while the women earn a very low income doing Kantha work; their men too are not able to earn a lot of money as most of them get irregular work and hence earn low. Most of the men either work as daily wage labourer, as vendors, as helpers in shops, as agricultural labourer under 100 days work scheme of NAREGA6 , working out of states in various kinds of jobs and engaged in irregular and petty jobs. Those who stay out of states or out of country, send only limited remittance as women suggested that the cost of living is quite high for their husbands, and hence are able to send them a petty amount which is not enough to run the households. In such circumstances, women are left with limited option and Kantha work comes as a major source of livelihood.

Concluding remarks: Women have been historically working as a needle woman and Kantha workers are just one amongst them. Kantha work in very specific way brings out the ‘feminization of labour’ and the ‘gender stereotypes’ which characterizes the Indian labour structure. The narratives of the Kantha workers suggest that though the art has an immense market value, those who create the art are in no way benefited. Kantha evolved as a story which women very neatly stitched into to keep them and their loved ones warm during winters; into handkerchief and stitch the names of her lover to express love, to use discarded sari and create a new

6 NAREGA stands for Mahtma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act which ensures 100 days of wage employment in a year in rural households. Sutapa Majumdar, Ph.D. Thesis, 2016 Page | 146 Chapter 5 sari with beautiful motifs stitched all over. In fact women brought out their every life in the form of symbols, and stories, songs, and images, all threaded into clothing, as a decorative piece and never was thought of as a saleable commodity to earn livelihood. An activity which was done once for pure pleasure became a livelihood and survival tool for many rural women.

The narratives also suggest that there is not enough work for all women Kantha workers now and hence women ends up doing whatever work comes their way without any demand and bargain for a rise of pay. The fear of losing work is more evident amongst women than the desire of collectivizing and unionizing and demanding for better pay and other provisions. Moreover even Government, NGOs and other civil society are not very pro active about the upliftment of Kantha workers. Though the present Government has issued artisan card which the artisan can use for bank loan, for attending handicrafts fair, but not all have got the card or are aware of such scheme. All 45 respondents in the three villages had no knowledge about such provisions. Moreover Kantha as a form of handicrafts is not mentioned in any categories and thus the Kantha workers gets subsumed with weavers and textile artisans and receives no benefits.

Government of West Bengal, Labour department has further initiated old age pension scheme for artisans in the unorganized sector known as ‘Bhavishyanidi’ or State Assisted Scheme of Provident Fund for Unorganized Sector Workers (SASPFUW) 7 for all wage employed and self employed male and female between the age of 18 years and 55 years of age whose family income is less than Rs.6500/- . Those who are interested to join the scheme will have to deposit Rs.20/- per month to a maximum of Rs.240/- per year to which the Government will also make equal contribution and the member can withdraw the saved amount along with interest as he/she turns 60years. There is a list of occupation and industries within unorganized sector that are eligible for the scheme but unfortunately Kantha work is not mentioned. Though embroidery and zari work is enlisted as eligible to be included in the scheme, women say that they are very different from Kantha work and hence it wouldn’t be right to consider Kantha as mere embroidery work. In such a situation where Kantha work is not included in the list, women are not benefiting from this scheme and remain deprived.

7 For more details see SASPFUW report on www.eservices.wb.gov.in

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The entire process of acquiring and delivering work with so many levels of intermediaries leaves no scope for women to negotiate and hence women continue to remain poor, deprived and exploited. Within the given circumstances, it is necessary that Kantha is accepted beyond art and as a form of livelihood; their work recognized as work in the unorganized labour markets and hence eligible for every scheme and benefit that is sanctioned for unorganized markets labourer. Moreover NGO’s and women’s group should take active interest in organizing regular training and capacity building workshops for Kantha artisans so that they can match up to the latest developments and demands of the consumers. If the civil society encourages collectivization and unionization process with Kantha women, then they might break the vicious cycle of intermediaries and they themselves will be equipped enough to deal with the consumer directly and thus able to keep major share of the profit. Along with this, village panchayats, local block office, supplier of raw materials, distributors all should work as a collective for a strong working force and given all kinds of support and encouragements, Kantha will once again evolve as the most prized possession of economic upliftment.

References:

Bhattacharjee, Sharmistha (2011). ‘Contribution of Muslim Women in Trade and Commerce: A Study of Kantha Workers in Rural Bengal, International Journals of Multidisciplinary Research Academy, Vol. 1 (2).

Basak, S. (2007). Nakshi Kantha of Bengal, New Delhi: Gyan Publishers.pp24.

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