For erosion-hit women of Simina, Eri silk spinning and weaving is the only hope to escape the whirlpool of livelihood crisis

From a distance, the bamboo poles in the hands of Maijan Bibi (40) and a group of women and children standing on the southern bank of the flooded Brahmaputra near an embankment looked like fishing poles. A closer look revealed an untold story of livelihood crisis gripping women Eri silk spinners and weavers of the embankment dwellers.

It is a hot and uncomfortable monsoon day in Simina village of Palashbari sub-division, Kamrup district in Assam after a weeklong incessant rain. Displaced several times due to erosion and now living on the embankment, Maijan Bibi has been busy catching fuelwood that comes floating on river current with a bamboo pole since morning. On any other day she utilizes most of solar hours for spinning Eri silk on a traditional Takuri or the drop spindle. She earns Rs.200/ a week but skipping it to collect fuel wood means a lesser income during monsoon days.

However, collecting fuelwood is important as wood comes floating on river current only on certain days during monsoon. And she does not want to miss the chance. Like hundreds of landless families surviving on embankments, Maijan Bibi, a mother of five, too, got a free LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and a cylinder. “We cannot afford to purchase gas cylinders at Rs.1200/ and try to collect as much fuelwood from the river.” Maijan Bibi’s attention is constantly on fuelwoods floating on the river as she is narrating her story. The gas stove has become a decorative piece, she informs.

The river, that receives discharge from all the tributaries of the valley is swelling up like an airbag. While trying to catch woods they must be very careful not to get sucked into the whirlpools and wait patiently for floating logs and small tree branches come near the bank. Even tiny pieces of woods are also considered good catch. Other women busy catching floating fuel wood, some along with their minor children risking their lives also have the same story to tell. Sand dug out from near the riverbank for raising and strengthening of the embankment has led to creation of many whirlpools making it difficult for them to catch fuelwood from the river. A piece of floating log, bamboo or tree brunch is drawn closer to the bank because of waterflow in the whirlpool but quickly drifts away if they are unable to pull it with the bamboo pole. They have to patiently wait for it again come near the bank in movement.

Eri silk spinning on traditional Takuri and weaving silk products on looms is not only a traditional cultural practice, but also a source of income for thousands of these Assamese women living on severely erosion-prone areas of Palashbari sub-division. The income may sound little, but crucial contribution for economically vulnerable families to make both ends.

The Eid festival is knocking at the door. Maijan Bibi’s husband and two sons went out in search of daily wage-earning work early in the morning. The rate for daily wage here is Rs. 400/. Only for the masonry work the rate is Rs.500/. With so many people coming out from the embankment in search of daily wage-earning jobs, it is not sure that they get a job each day.

The group of children do not have the idea of having a safe space called ‘home’. Today, all of them bunked their classes, as collecting fuelwood to help their families, is a crucial duty for them.

“Once upon a time, we used to have a safe home in village. In that space too, we used to spin Eri silk yarn and weave on looms. Fuelwood was abundant in our village. We need not had to collect wood floating on river water,” says Maijan Bibi. The congestion and filth on embankment do not permit her to set a loom. Today, spinning yarn on traditional Takuri is her only source of earning here.

These women only have a linear story to tell–uprooting of their ancestral villages several times that pushed back them to settle haphazardly on embankments. However, the hardship and crisis are not linear. As landless male-folk try to survive seeking various daily wage earing jobs, womenfolk spin Eri silk on their Takuris. Very few of them have looms on their tiny courtyards.

As Maijan Bibi and the group is busy collecting fuelwood, Hobijan Bibi (60) an elderly women is busy spinning Eri silk thread. She bears fond memories of rearing Eri silkworms at home when land was abundant and food plants for silkworms grew easily. Due to constant erosion of river Brahmaputra at Palashbari point over the decades, there are no more abundant land for foodplants. This makes the women to purchase cocoons from the local market.

“Due to my age, I cannot weave clothes now. I purchase 250 grams Eri silk cocoons at Rs.300/. After spinning I can earn Rs. 200/ as profit. It takes almost a week on a Takuri to spin 250 grams yarn, as we have to do all the household chores too,” says Hobijan Bibi.

She is happy that she still can add to the family income despite the hardship. In fact, most of these women feel contented for their earnings sitting at home.

“We know the art of how to make money and use. Throughout my life I have been spinning yarns, weaving Eri silk products and household clothes. With the money I earned by spinning eri silk and weaving I have educated my only son Fajal Haque, who has appeared in his final semester of his master’s in journalism from Cotton University” says Safiya Bibi (55).

She has stopped spinning yarn and weaving due to illness and an abdominal surgery last year.

From Mirza in Palashbari sub-division of South Kamrup to Goalpara, the entire area along the southern bank of the Brahmaputra has a rich tradition of rearing Eri and Muga silk. This part of land is also traditional home to colourful tribes like Rabha and Garo. Eri silkworm and pupae, that are sources of high protein, form large part of ethnic cuisines. After consumption of pupae, cocoons are sold in local market. A large portion of such cocoons also come from border areas of Assam and Meghalaya.

These village women purchase Eri cocoons from the local market and spin for traders. At times they also weave Eri clothes for traders as contract weavers. The rich heritage of Eri silk spinning and weaving also have strong linkage with the local and outside market. Eri products woven in Palashbari area find their route to different places of the state and to neighbouring Bhutan and Nepal. However, the trade to places like Bhutan and Nepal are mostly informal. Over the decades the market has been strengthened with involvement of numerous Eri yarn spinners and weavers languishing on embankments or riverside villages, petty traders and giant businessmen.

Once considered as poor man’s silk, end products of Eri today have high market value. With experimentations like natural dye, products diversification and specialisation on designs, Eri silk fabric are sold at high prices in cosmopolitan showrooms of cities.

Such new efforts of experimentation, products diversification and specialisations, however, hardly reached the weavers and spinners living in Simina village, which is hardly 35 kilometres off Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, and its surrounding areas. They mostly weave a particular piece of cloth titled Bor-kapor which is three metres in length and 4.5 feet in breadth. They sell one pair of such piece of cloth at Rs.3000/.

Some erosion affected people are fortunate enough to purchase tiny plots of land in present Simina village way back in 1980. Only a very few of them have been allotted a house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) Scheme. However, all of them avail free rice under the National Food Security Act, which is five kilo per person per month. Most of them are deprived of the ‘Orunodoi’ scheme, a flagship cash payment scheme of the Assam Government under which an adult woman member of economically vulnerable families is entitled to get Rs.1200/ per month.

“The cost per kg Eri silk thread used for length is Rs.1500/, while per kg Eri silk thread used to weave the breadth is Rs.2200/ at local market. Investing this amount, I can weave two pairs of Bor-Kapor and earn Rs.6000/. After doing all the household chores, it takes me a week to weave one pair of Bor-kapor,” says Minuara Bibi (30), a mother of three. The family also has a small dairy farm in their sandbar in the middle of Brahmaputra River.

The contract weavers get only Rs.400/ for one pair of such cloths as remuneration.

“I received a Skill Development Training on Weaving organised by Directorate of Handloom and Textile. However, those skills are of no use to, as I cannot afford a Jacquard loom. The certificate I received, too has become only a decorative piece”, says Amina Begum, a mother of two. She is the only weaver interviewed by this reporter as part of Laadli Media Fellowship Programme, 2023, who received a monthlong training on skill development. The Directorate of Handloom and Textile, Assam organised the training programme under the World Bank financed Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project in January this year.

Not even one of these weavers have a Jacquard loom. Weavers cannot afford to purchase specialised Jacquard looms due to low socio-economic conditions. The looms they use usually costs around Rs.4000/ while a Jacquard loom costs more than Rs. 50,000.

Socio-economic condition of those who live in village is somewhat better than those who languish on embankment. Toilet is a major issue and most of the embankment dwellers use open space of the riverbank for the purpose. They use drinking water from tube-wells. It is also difficult for these families to be covered under Free Toilet Yojna due to dearth of space. Every inch is used for settling. Even the spur of the embankment is not spared.

“I had to face displacement for six times. Today, there is no space to settle. I have been living on embankments for decades. As I don’t have toilet, I need to wake up early in the morning and come out to open space for the purpose before anyone arrives”, Says Harap Bibi, a widow. She is yet to be covered under widow pension scheme.

Over the years a sandbar Laheswari, is created by changing course of the river in the place where the original Simina village was located. Male-folk also do winter paddy cultivation, vegetables, and jute on Laheswari Char. This also add to their income to some extent.

Most of these families are in debt, as they must take personal loans from the informal credit market for urgent household requirements for healthcare, education, marriage etc. They are hesitant to approach Bank and other institutions in the formal credit market for financial help, as they do not have land documents. Maijan Bibi, for instance, took a loan of Rs.80,000/ from a private financial institution two years back and is paying Rs.1000/ a month. She is unaware of the details like rate of interest or number of instalments.

According to Modified Project Report for Augmentation of Eri Cocoon Production through Landless Eri Farmers under RKVY-RAFTAAR in Assam for the year 2022-23, submitted by Directorate of Sericulture Assam, there are 60,200 acres silkworm food plantations in the state to support the silk industry. Of these 47,720 acres are for Muga silkworm, 9,086 acres for Eri silkworm and 3,394 acres for Mulberry silkworm food plant areas. There are 3,07877 families silk rearing spread over in 8,726 villages according to the Project Report.

“Assam State has achieved capacity to produce a total of 4861.15MT raw silk of which Eri silk is the largest contributor being 3960.7 MT followed by 168.92 MT Muga silk, 18.6 MT Mulberry during 2021-22,” the Project Report states.

The Project unfortunately does not have any components like equipment support to Eri Farmers or skill upgradation for weavers and Takuri spinners surviving in greater Palashbari area. A few of these women have manual spinning machines. However, most of them are reluctant to use those machines.

“An effective spinning machine can increase the potentiality up to six times. However, use of the machine cause pains and aches. Apart from these, eyesight is a major cause of concern for us,” Noorjahan Bibi (37), a weaver and a mother of three.

According to Fourth All India Handloom Census 2019-20, prepared by Ministry of Textiles Assam has 12,69,506 weavers and allied workers ( 12,52,188 in rural areas and 17,318 in urban areas). Survey findings shows that average days of engagement on looms in Assam is 171 days a year. With 310 days Maharashtra tops the chart of all states. According to the Census, there are 26, 73,891 handloom weavers and 8,48,621 allied workers in India.

Amina Begum feels that apart from providing Eri silk yarn on subsidised rate to spinners and weavers, proper intervention like introduction of Jacquard looms, experimentation new designs and more skill development training are needed to increase earnings and attract younger generation to Eri silk culture of the region.

Ratna Bharali Talukdar

All Photographs by Ratna Bharali Talukdar

Ratna Bharali Talukdar is an award winning journalist and the Executive Editor of NEZINE. She is currently a Laadli Media Fellow. This feature has been generated under the Laadli Media Fellowship 2023 offered by Population First and UNFPA. The opinions and views expressed are those of the author. Laadli and UNFPA do not necessarily endorse the views