Wave of joy sweeps through the wool weavers and artisans of Kathua's remote hilly regions after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mention of the country's traditional handloom sector.
Handloom artisan Sukhdev says, "I’ve been doing it for 25 or 30 years. We raise our own sheep and use their wool. Then it goes through a machine process, followed by spinning. Finally, we weave it by hand. It requires a lot of hard work. Preparing the raw yarn takes a great deal of time. It takes at least a month to complete one shawl. The challenge is that work stops during the snowy season, though the product itself is very useful to us in the cold, it keeps us very warm. We also sell the goods; previously, the stock used to go to the Haridwar area. However, the market for our products has shrunk a bit now. I’m not sure what the future holds, but because the market price has dropped, some people have given up this work. PM Modi spoke about it in the video, and it could create a market for us going forward. We might continue this work; seeing the video might help the trade grow and flourish. We are very happy about what he said. Because the products will reach places across the country and even abroad. If the fabric goes to big cities like Delhi and Mumbai, we’ll earn good money and get better wages…we want the government to ensure that handloom schemes actually reach us. Often, these schemes remain in lower areas and don't reach us. They need to reach us, and we should receive some benefits. If the government helps expand the market for these products, our work will thrive…”