CENSUS OF INDIA 1981 Part-XC Series 22 UTTAR PRADESH Handicraft Survey Report BHADOHI WOOLLEN CARPET INDUSTRY (A Rural Based'., ,ditional Handicraft) Drafted by Guided by R.K. Ram Assistant Director CHANDAN GOPAL Supervised & Edited by of the Indian Administrative Service R.K. SINGH Director of Census Operations, Deputy Director UTTAR PRADESH CONTENTS Pages Foreword (v) Preface (vii) Acknowledgment (ix) Map (xi - xxi) Chapter - I History of origin and development of the craft 1 - 11 Chapter - " Craftsmen in their rura'l setting 13-- 33 Chapter - III Process of learning 35 -43 Chapter - IV Manufacturing process 45 -63 Chapter - V Marketing 65 -73 Chapter - VI Craft and employment 75 - 91 Chapter - VII Conclusion 93 -97 Annexure tables 99 -135 Photographs 137 -177 Glossary of local terms 179 iii ROREWORD / The Indian handicrafts are knowl1 the world over for their rich variety, grace, elegance and skilled craftmanship. Nevertheless a number of handi­ crafts because of their stiff competition with factory made products, non­ availabiltiy of raw materials, exhorbitant increase in the manufacturing cost, lack of proper marketing facilities for finished products or due to a variety of other reasons have either become extinct or have reached the moribund stage. After independel7lce, however, a number of schemes were introduced by different governmen't agencies for their growth and development but still this sudden impetus have helped only a few crafts to flourish and thereby become spinners of foreign exchange for the country. Despite the unique position being enjoyed by the handicrafts especially in the realm of national economy, the general awareness among the people in the country about our crafts and craftsmen had been deplorably poor. Nothing was practically known about the commoditi'tes produced, techniques emplo­ yed for the manufacture of different objects, raw materials used, their availability, methods adopted for the sale of finished products etc. An attempt was therefore made in connection with the 1961 Census to study about 150 crafts from different parts of the country with a view to provide basic information on those crafts which were selected for the study. At the 1971 Census, the study on handicrafts was not taken up but this was again revised in connection with the 1981 Census. There has been, howeversome difference between the studies taken up in connection with the Censuses of 1961 and 1981. While the 1961 studies have covered both rural and urban crafts, the 1981 studies have focussed their attention only on traditional rural based crafts. That apart, the 1981 studies besides touching upon those aspects which were covered under the 1961 series, have laid emphasis on matters that are vital for the revival of rural crafts and thereby for the rejuvenation of the economy of the region particularly the villages. This is in consonance with the policy of the governmentto give due importance to the rural sector with focus on employment intensive\strategy of development in which next to agriculture, 'the small scale industti~s and handicrafts playa Significant role. I Theformats required for undertaking the.studywereformulated by Dr. KP. Ittaman under the able guidance of Dr. N.G. Nag, the then Deputy Registrar .General, social Studies Oivision.Dr.lttaman who succeeded Dr. Nag as Deputy Registrar General, Social Studies Division coordinated the study undertaken in different States/Union Territories by the Directorates of Census Operations. The reports received from the Directorates were examined by Shri M.K Jain, Senior Research Officer, with the help of Smt. Suman Prashar, Assistant Director of Census Operations and Shri Shyam Singh, Junior Investigator. I am grateful to all of them for organising this study. v The present report is the outcome of a study undertaken on woollen carpet industry of Bhadohi (A rural based traditional handicraft), by the Directorate of Census Operations, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow. I have immense pleasure in acknowledging the services rendered by Shri Chandan Gopal, Director, and his colleagues in the Census Directorate for bringing out this publication. V.s. VERMA Registrar General, India New Delhi the 1 st June, 1988 vi PREFACE 'Galicha' as locally well known, is the woollen hand knotted carpet. It is a symbol of our glorious rural based traditional handicraft which reflects the high standard of artisanship and imaginative creativity of human brain through its aesthetic beauty, individuality and floral designs with facinating colour combination. Whereas, on one hand, this item is Ii source of foreign exchange earnings, it has great pptentials of generating employment opportunities, on the other. In an economy like ours where there is abundance of labour force and shortage of capital, this handicraft industry has far wide scope of expansion. Through this report an attempt has been made to probe into various aspects associated with the development of rural based woollen handicraft. For detailed study three villages viz., Malethu of district Jaunpur, Lala­ nagar of Varanasi and Bhainsa of Mirzapur were selected from Bhadohi­ Mirzapur carpet belt. The salient finding of the study are that craftsmen are exploited by exporters on one pretex or other. In fact they are not getting due reward of their hard labour. There is no proper training facility. Shortage of raw material on one hand and rising cost on the other has hampered its over all development. Not only this, steps taken by the government are not sufficient to all sure the craftsmen to continue in this profession. The biggest challenge for this industry is the stiff competition which it has to face in the international market with Iranian, Chinese and Pakistani products. Before the commencement of field work forthe actual study, a lot of spade work such as indentification, orientation and location of areas accomodating craftsmen was done by a team of dedicated officials and officers of this Directorate listed separately. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Shri V.S. Verma, Registrar General, India and Dr K. P. Ittaman, Dy. Registrar General (Social Studies) for their valuable guidance in planning and execution of field survey and drafting of reports. I am also grateful to Shri M.K.Jain, Senior Research Officer, and his colleagues in the Social Studies Division of the office of Registrar General, I ndi~, for minutely scrutinizing this report and giving valuable suggestions for its improvement. Shri R.K. Singh, Dy. Director, deserves thanks for his overall supervision and editing/finalization of the report ans Shri R.K. Ram, Asstt. Director, for supervising field work and for the pains taking job of drafting of this report. vii In the end I am also thankful to Shri B.P. Jain, Deputy Director of the office of Registrar General, India and S/Shri R.K. Singh, Deputy Director, R.S. Pandey, Assistant Director and R.K. Saxena, Senior Technical Assistant (Printing) of this Directorate who had kept constant watch upon the quick printing of this report. Lucknow: CHANDAN GOPAL the 9th September 1988 Director of Census Operations, Uttar Pradesh viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Field work and Tabulation 1. Shri Achchhu Ali, Investigator 2. Shri R.B. Yadav, Investigator 3. Shri D.,.P. Sinh~ Investigator 4. Mr. B.K. Srivastava, Investigator 5. Shri Banarsi Lal, Statistical ~ssistant 6. Shri Mohammad Ahmad, Statistical Assistant 7. Shri E.Rahman, Statistical Assistant 8. Shri Lalit Kumar, Computor 9. Shri R.C.L. s'rivastavaJ~C;omputor 10. Shri M.L. Rawat, As~'...Q0mpiler Typing 1. Smt. Manjeet Khanna, Jr. Stenographer 2. Shri S.K Sharma, Lower Division Clerk Mapping 1. Shri V.K Jain, Sr. Artist 2. Shri S.P. Ra~, Draughtsman 3. Shri J.S. Bisht, Draughtsman 4. Shri Deepak Verma, Draughtsman Cover design/sketch 1. Shri N.C. Bose, Artist Proof Reading 1. Shri Nanhaku Singh. Statistical Assistant 2. Shri Thakur Prasad"Statistical Assisatant 3. Shri Rasheed Ahmad Khan, Proof Reader 4. Shn Durga Prasad, Asstt Compiler ix 76' 80' 9" 36 36· INDIA MAIN WOOLLEN CARPET PRODUCTION CENTRES BOUNDARY, INURNATIONAI. _, _ BOUNDARY, STAli I UNION tEIIRltORY 32 32 KILOMETRES 100 100 200 300 400 ...... 28 20 20 B A y o F ARABIAN BEN G A l SEA 6· \ I , 12 12· ANDAMAN SEO\ .. '*'<0 <II , ;. '''1) 8 , tl~ 'G>' 8 \' ~ "'10 \l_ ~ INDIRA POINT N D A E A N 0 88' 72 East ()f G,eenwlch © Government of lndl, copyrlghl 1988t Based upon Survev of IndIa map wIth (he permfislon of (ft. rtf. bounda,y 0' M.gh,,'aya shown on this map Ir ., mt.,p,(tled ',om th' North Eastern Artas (Reorg.ftISlllon) Act 1971 bl,ll h" yet 10 be v,,.fr,d Surveyor General of IndIa The terrnotlal wilters of India extend Iflto the sea to a distance of Iwglve lTlIr..tl(;t1/ mrles measured /rom ,".!" iI~(,J;1 1071111 Dale }r?-s 83' 80' ,,0 8i' I I I I I UTTAR PRADESH DISTRICTS PRODUCING WOOLLEN CARPET D Wo.llon carpet producing dlltnots - 21 4; _l _l _l I 80· 8'· 8i· l{3' BASED uPON SURVEY OF INDIA MAP WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE SURVEYOR GENERAL OF INDIA LOCATION OF SELE'CTED VILLAGES IN DISTRICT JAUNPUR, VARANASI & MIRZAPUR KILOMETRES \......, ,/ R Z AI P U 'f, A. ~ L /'- W'l I (_I , <; '<l ~~,J''''-C."'l~.~:::::". o 1-\ BOUNDARY STATE. DISTRICT --- " TAHSIL, , -- - HIGHWAYS. NATIONAL NH7 " STATE, , RLY LINE. 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