A powerloom census has been taken up up in the State to ascertain the number of powerlooms and weavers engaged in the activity.
According to officials in the Department of Handlooms and Textiles, Mysuru, the census is also expected to find out if the COVID-19 pandemic had forced weavers out of the business.
The census was being carried out jointly by officials of Department of Handlooms and Textiles and Academy of Management Studies, New Delhi/Lucknow.
“We would like to appeal to the weavers, if they had been left out, to contact the officials of the Department in Mysuru for their inclusion”, said an official.
It may be recalled here that COVID-19 had impacted the weavers to a large extent. A huge drop in demand for products due to the pandemic and a substantial rise in the prices of raw materials is feared to have pushed a large number of weavers out of the profession. A number of weavers are likely to have taken up different vocations.
The official also pointed out that Department provides subsidised power to powerlooms. “We need to know if the powerloom units are not running. If any powerloom unit has been closed, we need to write to the electricity supply companies to cancel the power subsidy”, the official added.
Though the officials said they were not aware when the previous census of powerlooms was conducted in the State, the Department of Handlooms and Textiles, in its website, has said that there were 1,20,000 powerlooms in the State.
It may be mentioned here that Karnataka is known for silk and traditional weaving. Karnataka is not only the largest producer of mulberry silk in the country, accounting for about 65 per cent of India’s raw silk production, but also grows abdundant cotton and produces around 20 lakh bales of cotton annually. Traditional weaving in Karnataka dates back to the 8 th century.
