For 66-year-old T.S. Subramaniam of Kancheepuram weaving silk sarees is a matter of pride and prestige.

“We have original handloom weavers and our speciality is weaving twisted yarn. Silk sarees manufactured here can be used by three generations and the quality will remain perfect,” he said. But today, he is worried about the future of the silk industry in Kancheepuram.

“At present, 90 per cent of silk sarees available for sale in Kanchee-puram are not produced in this city.

They are non Kancheepuram sarees, but sold in this city under the Kancheepuram pure silk sarees brand name,” he said, adding that societies, which manufacture and sell only pure silk sarees made in Kancheepuram currently have stock for more than 18 months, while previously they used to have only 15 days of stock.

Further, the industry is also slowly dying due to lack of weavers. “We had more than 50,000 families engaged in weaving pure silk sarees in the 1970s.

By 1990s, the number has come down to about 25,000 families and today, we hardly have 12,500 people involved in this cottage industry,” said G. Thanigaivel of Kanchipuram Murugan Silk Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society.

He noted that low wages and lack of continued employment had pushed people to move towards easier and remunerative jobs.

“A family gets about Rs 2,500 to Rs 10,000 for weaving three sarees. If three family members are involved in the work, it could be finished within 20 days.

If there are not enough hands, it could even take about 40 days,” he said, adding that today’s generation prefer to work in industries and take weekly wages.

“Even middle-aged people are not interested in hard work, but prefer to work as watchmen and security and earn a minimum of Rs 7,000 per month, whereas in the silk industry, they get paid only when they complete assigned jobs,” said K. Sambandhan of Kanchipuram Tiruvalluvar Silk Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society.

He added that only elders are still weaving silk sarees. However, the new integrated silk park is expected to review the dying silk industry and bring a change to silk weavers.

Ahimsa silk finds place in wardrobes

It doesn’t call a premature death of cocooned silkworms for that classic and favourite drape of yours.

Numerous variants such as ahimsa silk, silk from banana fibre and even from spider webs are being explored for people to be rid of that guilt of having snapped a life while flaunting their lovely Kancheepuram sarees.

Normally, silk comes from cocoons of the silkworms that are killed by steaming or dropping them into boiling water when they are 10 days old, before they metamorphose into a moth. Silk is believed to be the finest at this stage.

However, ahimsa silk, patented by Kusuma Rajaiah of Hyderabad, is a trite different. He lets the moths slip out of cocoons before he takes them up for spinning, thus ensuring no death.

“It was the innocent query of Mrs Janaki Venkatraman, the wife of former president, that got me working on this,” says Kusuma, an officer employed with Andhra textiles corporation, APCO.

And since 2001, he has been making sarees and dhotis on request and bigwigs, including Pundit Ravi Shankar, Sathya Sai Baba and Sheila Dixit have donned his fabric.

“While ahimsa silk may lack the shine of regular silk, it is comfortable to wear, wrinkle-free and has a better fall,” he adds.

Recently, Thoothukudi-based mechanical engineer K. Murugan, claimed to being able to make out of banana thread spun from his banana yarn separator machine.

His contention was that of the 15 layers of the banana plant stem, 14 could be used to produce silk. The Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology has also certified the quality of his silk thread.

But that’s not all. A woman researcher on arachnoids, Annasudha Devi of Nagercoil, had recently claimed that silk sarees can be made even from spider webs.

The former head of zoology department of Scott Christian College of Nagercoil had presented a research paper on spiders in which she has claimed the spider web possesses similar properties as silk. That’s some good news for animal activists, surely!

CM’s 75-acre silk park to boost industry

In a move that could take the Kancheepuram pure silk cottage industry to the next level, the state government recently allocated 75 acre of land to start a silk park at Kilkathirpur, 10 km from the main city.

Named as Perarignar Anna Handloom Silk Park, about 10,000 weavers are expected to get work, of which the majority would be, women.

About 24 private players, six co-operative societies and 74 dyeing units have joined hands to float a new company to develop the park that is expected to have latest facilities for weaving, dyeing, embroidery, printing and designs.

“About 2,160 handlooms will be installed inside the complex. A common effluent treatment plant with zero liquid discharge facility will be set up inside the premises.

The park will also have a dyeing plant with a per day capacity of 33,000 kg,” Dr S. Sundararaj, minister for handlooms and textiles, told this newspaper.

The project started in April 2010 picked up steam after the present government allotted its own land for establishment of the park, the minister said.

“Last week, we released a subsidy of Rs 7.54 crore and the remaining land cost of Rs 6.2 crore has been given to the park as interest-free loan repayable within five years,” he added.

“After the land allotment order, statutory permission from the department of environment have to be obtained. We hope to start shed construction work in six months,” said Silk Park CMD N.V. Rajesh.

He added that many societies and private players in Kancheepuram have already evinced interest in setting up units inside the park.

TN Handloom Weavers Federation general secretary T. Muthukumar, who was also instrumental in the project, felt that the silk park would play a pivotal role in the revival of the ailing industry.

However, he noted that instead of handing it over completely to private parties, the government should also play an active role with a substantial stake to ensure the central funds reach the weavers in full.