Bangalore is famous for it’s unique Mysore silk. The sericultural activities near the city are hugely responsible for taking Mysore silk to the world level. The industry has a well established product. The profits percolating down to the workers is a Utopian case and in the village Devagere, the situation is quite gloomy. Following are the findings of Archita Srivastava.
The Devagere village near Kumbalgudu city in Bangalore drags the attention towards it’s sericulture hub. There are always two sides of the story. What I observed was the darker one. In a familiarization trip with my mates of IIJNM, I got to know some gloomy aspects of workers engaged in the production of silk.
The workers are native of the village, who spent their time working in small plots for cocoon collection. I found that something was not right. I later found that the workers are exploited and their wages are low. The actual wages were lower than it must be according to the department.
The menstruation taboo became a bane for the women working in this village. The women were not allowed to work on their periods days, which lead them loose 5 days of wages that affects their living.
There are several other villages too facing the same issue. That couldn’t be considered by the department as well.
Let’s hope this sad reality reaches to the government and they work for the interest of sericulture workers.
