Srinagar: A recent tie up between Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and khadi institutions from Varanasi and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh for processing Pashmina wool primarily produced in Ladakh region has concerned Pashmina artisans and traders in Kashmir.
The move, they said, will affect the livelihoods of lakhs of Pashmina artisans, traders and exporters in Kashmir and Ladakh, creating a potential shortage of the raw material required for making Pashmina products in future.
Khadi institutions of Varanasi have recently purchased 500 kg of raw Pashmina wool from Leh which have been brought to Delhi for processing.
The raw material – Pashmina wool required for hand spinning and weaving into Pashmina shawls – comes from special goats (Capra hircus) reared at an altitude of 12,000 to 14,000 feet. These graze in Ladakh and the higher reaches of Tibet’s Chang-Thang region.
“The globally acclaimed Pashmina wool products, which are indigenous to the high altitude regions of Leh-Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, will now be made in Varanasi also,” Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) said in a recent official statement, adding that KVIC has roped in four khadi institutions from Varanasi and Ghazipur for processing raw Pashmina wool and weaving it into fabrics.
Pashmina weaving is slated to start from January next near in Varanasi where 20 khadi artisans will go through 30 days of training in weaving processed Pashmina wool.
‘The globally acclaimed Pashmina wool products, which are indigenous to the high altitude regions of Leh-Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, will now be made in Varanasi also.’ Photo: meknits/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Opposing the move, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Kashmir (CCIK) has urged the administration to prevail upon KVIC to reconsider the decision.
“At this point, training artisans from outside J&K in our unique art of weaving Pashmina wool will affect the handicrafts industry badly,” CCIK said in a statement, adding that the huge quantity of raw wool export will additionally affect the industry.
“The raw wool needs to be processed in Leh and Kashmir only to boost our own trade and help artisans. We appeal to LG of Ladakh and LG of J&K to immediately look into the matter and save the industry,” the statement added.
The president of Artisans Rehabilitation Forum (ARF) in Kashmir Parvez Ahmed Bhat said that with this move, Pashima wool products can now be woven in Varanasi with raw material extracted from Kashmir and Leh-Ladakh. This will directly affect the livelihood of lakhs of artisans and Pashmina traders in Kashmir and Ladakh region, he added.
“There are lakhs of families in Kashmir who are involved in Sozni, hand weaving, dehiring, spinning, designing, dyeing and washing. Then there are others who work in finishing, selling and exporting Pashmina products. The whole chain will be disturbed if the raw material is taken out and all those who earn a livelihood from this industry will be affected by this move,” said Bhat
Bhat said the Pashmina wool was processed, hand-spun, woven, and then finally turned into Pashmina products entirely in Kashmir. These products include the authentic and much sought after Geographical Indicator-tagged Pashmina shawls.
‘The whole chain will be disturbed if the raw material is taken out.’ Photo: Majid Maqbool
Livelihoods could be disrupted
“It’s only possible when we have adequate quantities of raw material of Pashmina wool available here but when that raw material is taken out, it’s going to disrupt the whole process and disturb the entire trade cycle and identity of Pashmina,” said Bhat.
This tie up, Bhat said, will have a long term impact on lakhs of artisans and others associated with the long chain of the Pashmina industry. “The charm and identity of handmade Pashmina shawls unique to Kashmir will also be lost if this is not stopped,” he added.
“Kashmir’s cottage industry is a source of livelihood for lakhs of people but when the raw material is taken out from here, their livelihood will be affected and they will find less raw material here if this continues,” said Bhat.
Musadiq Shah, the senior vice-president of Kashmir Pashmina Organization (KPO), an amalgam of all Pashmina stakeholders in Kashmir including artisans, said that Kashmir is world famous for the processing of Pashmina products, starting from hand spinning and weaving to putting the final products on the shelves. These are valued and sold in Indian and international markets.
He said the 700 year-old legacy of Pashmina making will be jeopardised if raw Pashmina wool is taken out and processed elsewhere.
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In order to combat fake handicrafts and handlooms which adversely affect the livelihood of thousands of artisans, the department of Handicrafts and Handloom in Kashmir had brought seven crafts of the Valley under the GI tag which includes Kashmir Pashmina products.
“Although Pashmina is made in Nepal as well, the Pashmina shawls and other shawl products hand made in Kashmir are unique and have their own identity. When the raw material is taken outside, Pashmina’s unique Kashmiri identity will be diluted and the livelihood of lakhs of artisans in Kashmir will also be affected,” said Shah.
According to Shah, about 2,25,000 people are directly and indirectly associated with the Pashmina industry in Kashmir including workers involved in hand spinning, weaving and dyeing work. He says Kashmir’s shawl making techniques are very old and unique to this region and also famous worldwide. These have not been replicated outside Kashmir with success, despite attempts in the past.
Lockdowns and diminishing returns
“Pashmina was earlier a Rs 17,000-crore industry but due to frequent lockdowns from 2019 and even before that due to the impact of 2014 floods, the business has gone down by about 70% now,” said Shah adding that the whole chain from weavers to sellers, who are already in distress, is likely to be disrupted by the latest move.
Photo: Majid Maqbool
Shah said the Pashmina industry is already suffering losses due to back to back lockdowns over the past three years, starting from the 2019 lockdown and communications shutdown following the reading down of Article 370 by the BJP government in New Delhi, which was closely followed by a COVID-19 lockdown and the economic meltdown of last year. This is something ARF’s Bhat also said.
“There are fewer buyers in India and abroad for more than two years now due to the impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns and travel bans,” Shah said, adding that artisans and sellers have Pashmina shawls in stock but there are no buyers.
“The latest move to process Pashmina wool outside Kashmir will be a death blow to this industry,” he said.
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Director of the Handicrafts and Handloom department of Kashmir, Mahmood Ahmad Shah, said that while the concerns of traders and artisan representatives are genuine, there is a need to work more towards regaining trust among customers and create awareness so that genuine, handmade and GI-tagged Kashmir Pashmina products are sold by traders and bought by customers instead of cheaper, machine-made copies.
“Taking some 300-500 kgs won’t make that big a difference as the raw Pashmina wool, taken from a goat population of about 2, 50,000 from Ladakh, would not have been entirely consumed by Kashmir,” said Shah.
“Pashmina is also being processed outside in places like Kullu in Himachal Pradesh and Basohli in Jammu and even in Nepal, but their Pashmina shawls and other products are not of the same quality as the ones which are hand made in Kashmir,” the director said.
“Kashmir has the distinction as the skill set available here in processing and hand weaving is unique and very refined and the products are of superior quality unlike those made in other places. That is why we have given a GI tag so that customers can buy authentic handmade Kashmir Pashmina products,” he added.
Majid Maqbool is a journalist and editor based in Srinagar, Kashmir.
