Crochet
Lace Industry: Narsapur
Written by: Dr. Gandham Sri Rama Krishna
Published in CommoNman Indian Journal of Commerce and Management, Biannual
December, 2014, Vol.2, Issue.3, PP.66-69. Print ISSN: 2348-4934, Online ISSN:
2348-6325.
Lace is an ornamental fabric made by looping, knotting,
plaiting or twisting the thread into definite patterns. Hence, lace making is
the art of using the techniques mentioned above to create beautifully woven
lace in different patterns. The thread used is twisted mercerized cotton yarn
made of superior grade of cotton. A variety of accessories can be made with
lace which includes bags, bed spreads, purses, clothing and many more
varieties. These products are lovely and attractive and help in creative very
pleasing atmosphere in the homes and as well as in the offices. The dining
tables are decorated with round or square lunch on sets, the tea tables with
oval sets. There are also teapoy covers with centers to match for round tables
which would be of high decorative value. The callers, cuffs, petty coat lace,
napkins, pillow cases, bed sheets, table cloth, door curtains etc., are among other specialties with a
special accent on utility aspect. The specially of the lace product is its
artistic value. It can be used as an accessory to any kind of clothing to add
elegance and style and hence highly preferred in the fashion technology and
fashion shows. There is no machinery involved in the manufacture of lace
products except a hooked needle. Another
interesting fact is that all the tools it requires to make lace is only a
hooked needle which costs about 15 rupees but the products value is
priceless.
The lace industry at Narsapur is a stable business
which produces lace-goods for the global
market. Crochet lace industry is one of the important handicrafts with a
highly artistic appeal. Lace industry is one of the important handicrafts with
a highly artistic appeal, providing fruitful employment to nearly 2 lakhs poor
middle class women artisans of Godavari Delta at their homes.
The lace making is carried-out in putting-out system and
workshop manufacturing. Under the putting-out system women in the household
prepare the lace items for the agent or middlemen who in turn hands over the
lace items to the exporters. In this system there is no relationship between
the exporter and worker and the entire
relationship is carried-out between the agent and the worker. Exporter employed several agents – who visited the
artisans at certain intervals gave them the thread and the designs their
customers abroad had ordered and after a certain time they came to collect the
finished articles. Women sometimes also did the finishing work-stretching,
sorting out etc., of lace in the house of the exporters. The artisans were paid
piece rates. Agents were engaged on commission basis.
The another system of lace making is workshop
manufacturing. Where the exporter arranges the preparation of lace
items with the men and women workers. There is a general division of work
between men and women in this system the lace making including Chethipani (hand
work), Athukupani ( joint or attachment work), Kajakuttu (bordering and lining)
is done by female workers. Where as checking, repairs, finishing, washing, ironing, packing and forwarding are
performed by male workers. The average number of workers were 140 with each
employer on salary basis. The putting-out system and workshop of lace working
employed in different lace industries at Narsapur, West Godavari District,
where the entire lace making business is carried-out.
The Evolution of the Lace Industry
The history of the lace industry in
and around Narsapur in the West Godavari District is closely linked to the history
of colonial penetration into this area. Already before the Dutch, East India Company had opened a factory in
Palakol and choose Narsapur as their port in the 17th century.
Narsapur had been an important trading point, mainly for the export of excellent
textiles produced by the spinners and weavers in the hinterland. Narsapur seems
to have reached the zenith of its prosperity in the last quarter of the 17th
century, under the English East India Company and they provide part-time
employment to the poverty stricken women of this area.
The origin of the lace industry is closely
connected with the history of the mission in the Godavari Delta. In 1837 George Bear and William Bowden came to
Narsapur where they founded the Godavari Delta Mission. They settled down in
the abandoned “Dutch House” near the Holland
Wharf in Narsapur. Women
seem to have been the first to learn the craft of lace making. There are two
versions about its origins. One version has it that ‘Irish Nuns’ introduced the
art of crocheting around 1860. According to another version, lace making was
introduced in 1862 in this area by Mr. and Mrs. McCrae from Scotland who had joined the
Godavari Delta Mission.
It seems that, particularly during the famine years of
1877-78, lace making became a means by which the missionaries tried to help the
poor women to earn their livelihood. In
the early phase the missionaries gave thread to the women and taught them some
patterns then they collected the finished goods and sent them as gift parcels to friends and
dignitaries in Scotland, England and Ireland in order to collect
donations from them for missionary work. Mrs. Cain had started lace work in
Dummagudem of West Godavari District in
1882, lace making become a regular production process under the initiative of
her.
In 1900 the brothers Jonah and Joseph started exporting
lace on regular commercial lines. They wanted to give work to the poor women,
but at the same time they changed the production of lace from a non-profit
activity aimed at solicitation donations and aid for the poor women into a
value producing business. Messrs Jonah and Joseph organized the production of
lace along the classical and putting-out system. The lace industry at Narsapur
seems to have been a fairly stable business since Messrs Jonah and Josef stated to export lace. Later
in 1908 K.Soma Raju started exporting lace regularly on purely commercial
lines, which gave a great boost to the growth of lace export in West Godavari
District.
Around that time, about 2,000 women in Narsapur were
engaged this lace works. In the course of time the women of the more
respectable castes were also drawn into this lace industry. Above all the Kapu
women. The Kapus are a caste of agriculturists. The women of that community stated that they had always been ‘goshami
women’ , i.e., that they had observed a kind of seclusion and that they had
never worked in the agricultural fields. Later, these kapu women also began to
work for the lace exporters. Today, the majority of lace workers belongs to
this community. Christian, Settibalija
and Agnikulashatriya women are concentrated in
lace making.
This lace industry proved to be a profitable
undertaking, more people began to invest their money in the lace business and
became exporters. A new effort was made in 1952 to form an exporters
association. This time it was called the All India Crochet Lace Exporters
Association, Narsapur. At the beginning it had 36 members. In 1960 there were
57 and in 1961, 66 members were registered. At present they are 200
members.
Role of Alankriti
Lace Park
The State Government
with an objective of overall development of Andhra Pradesh economy is
focusing on the development of labour-intensive and export oriented industry
for generating both sustainable employment and valuable foreign exchange. Creating
a brand name ‘Alankriti’ and establishment of lace park in a cooperative setup
with a corporate framework and outlook at Narsapur to give a strong image to
lace business. Establishment of Alankriti Lace Park at Narsapur is the first
step in this direction in the year 2004 by Sri Sanjaya Jaju IAS, District
Collector. This Lace
Park has been
conducting training programmes for women and given the encouragement for women workers. West
Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh is the centre place for the handicraft
crochet lace and especially Narsapur is the heart of this lace craft. Narsapur
is a remote place in West Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. It is famous for
the crochet lace product. For many women at Narsapur area of West Godavari
District, crochet lace is the chief livelihood and has become the main craft in
terms of employment generation. It is estimated that around 2 lakh women are
involved in this craft which is a major foreign exchange earner for the country.
The foreign exchange is expected to the
tune of 42 to 50 crores ( U.S. $ 9 million) per annum in Indian currency.
The lace park came out of this dream. This organization
brings the desperate, scattered women groups into self-help groups under one
umbrella, brings in experts from outside for educating and training these
groups, allows experiments in improving the designs and skills and makes the
groups self-sufficient to market their own produce and decide their own future.
The lace park’s vision is to have uncompromising attitude on quality,
professionalism that sparks discipline, hard work and adherence to schedule,
something that was not known earlier in this sector.
In a tiny corner on
the South East of India lives a community of women whose fingers spin magic.
The art of lace work the women possesses here is a source of income to many
poor income groups. This income is very meager in comparison to the value of
work due to the exploitation by the middlemen in the business and also due to
the ignorance and illiteracy of these women. Another reason is the low productivity and quality
which fetches lower wages. It is here that an intervention was needed to lend a
voice to these women by constructively organizing them into groups, improving
upon their skills and quality consciousness by imparting intensive training and
providing them the space, facilities and quality raw material with all the
moral support they needed.
Lace entered into
the lives of the local poor women as a means of livelihood and to mitigate
their financial problems to some extent and to keep them away from the daily
grind of the bondages of life. Lace making came as a hobby but later on became
a craft and now it is a profession. Almost every household in the rural areas
at least one pair of hands are always busy knitting and knotting simple cotton
thread into beautiful designs. Lace making became a part and parcel of the
cultural life of the rural women folk. For rich and middle class it may be
hobby but to the poor rural it is the chief means of livelihood. The craft spread to the neighbouring villages
with a radius of 50 kilometers around Narsapur. Lace making can be seen in
Narsapur, Sitarampuram, Palakol, Mogaltur, Elamanchili, Poduru, Achanta,
Penugonda, Peravali, Penumantra and Tanuku mandals and other parts of West Godavari and Razole, Tekisettipalem, Antharvedi and Sakinatipalli
of East Godavari District.
Conclusion
The
crochet lace industry has high potential for women employment and foreign
exchange earning. The women in their part time are pursuing this work and
producing laces in different design according to the orders of exporters and it
is not a direct profession to earn their livelihood, they are not aware of the
actual cost of the raw material used for the lace making and the value added
after the lace is prepared and the rates at which the finished lace is sold in
the market. In other words, their work is totally restricted to their labour
only. Therefore, artisans are earn very less amount as a remuneration in this
lace making process.
It is observed that the employment conditions of lace
workers are not as expected due to middlemen. As the workforce is predominantly
female, the major reason for taking up the lace making work is to supplement
family income. The nature of work of female includes hand work, joints,
bordering and lining. In case of male workers the work includes checking,
repairing, finishing, washing, ironing, packing and forwarding. It can be
stated that the lace making is dominated by women workforce with a marginal
number of male workers. The income of the lace workers is less than their
expenditure and hence they are indebted. The physical working environment for
the lace workers is congenial but they are not given the statutory leaves and
holidays. The Minimum Wages act, 1948 is
applicable to the lace workers but the wages paid to the workers are not as
prescribed under the Act. There is lot of differences between male and female
workers wages. The social security legislations like Employees Provident Fund
Act, 1952 are applicable to lace workers which is not implemented so far. The
Factories Act, 1948 is applicable to the lace making work shops to provide
health, safety, welfare, paid holidays, leave with wages. But in practice no
employers is implementing the Acts for the benefit of the lace workers.
Reference:
1.
Export Promotion Council for
Handicrafts, Indian Handicrafts, New
Delhi, 1995.
2.
Government of India – All India Handicrafts Board Marketing
Clinic on Andhra Pradesh Handicrafts, February, 1976.
3.
Government of Andhra Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh District Gazetteers, West Godavari District, Hyderabad, 1992.
4.
Government of India, Towards Equally- Report of the Committee
on the States of Women in India,
Department of Social Welfare, New
Delhi, 1974.
5.
K.Paddi Raju, Lace Workers of
Narsapur, Dissertation Submitted in Andhra
University, Visakhapatnam, 1996.
6.
Miens, Maria, The Lace Makers
of Narsapur, Indian Housewives Produce for the World Market, Zed Press, London, 1982.
7.
P.V.Rama Sastry, HRD in Narsapur Lace
Park, Dissertation Submitted in Acharya Nagarjuna
University, Guntur, 2007
8.
The Hindu Daily on Dt. 24-07-2009
Page. 4.
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