Soon, your silk saree or dress would be cruelty free

Nagpur: For those averse to using silk due to cruelty involved in making it, the Directorate of Silk is now working on what it calls ‘Ahimsa Cloth’.
Mulberry and Tusser silk are made across the state but a special effort is being made in Vidarbha to make silk from the Eri (Castor) plant. “To get yarn from larva on Mulberry trees, the larva is boiled to sort out the silk. But the larva in Eri tree leaves cocoon so there is no need to kill it by boiling,” explains Bhagyashree Banayit, director of sericulture. “The cocoon is pealed and the silk is taken out without harming the larva. So we are calling it Ahimsa cloth,” she informs. The project is in nascent stage and so the awareness is also low. Maharashtra won an award this year for the best emerging state in sericulture.
Based in Nagpur, the silk directorate is now working on numerous projects to promote sericulture and to make it a more lucrative alternative for farmers. “We are giving funds to purchase MRM and ARM machines for silk processing. The thrust is upon creating a forward linkage chain so there are buyers to buy the cocoons, yarn, thread and apparels and other products made from it,” Banayit says.
To achieve this, the directorate is building silk markets in Jalna and Solapur. Closer home, a Reshim Bhavan will be set up in Nagpur soon.
Banayit, who also heads the Maharashtra State Handloom Corporation, has also launched Tusser tourism and Sericulture tourism to popularize silk yarn and create a market for it. “At Agarzari in Chandrapur, we have created a butterfly museum and park along with sale outlets to create awareness about silk production. The Seri tourism is also being promoted in Aurangabad,” says Banayit.
Clusters of handloom weavers exist in Nagpur-Kamptee, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur, Andhalgaon, Mohadi and Mishti. “They have to be protected as they live in terrible conditions and their younger generation do not wish to do this work as they have suffered a terrible fate,” says Banayit.
“Now I am planning to set up stalls at government owned places like post offices where handloom products like bags, towels, bedsheets will be available for sale. We are now encouraging weavers to make these products for us and I have tied up with Amazon so they can be sold online,” she adds. Banayit says there is a good market for these products as brands like Fab India are able to sell them. “Smart marketing, good publicity, and customer reach is a must to give boost to handloom,” she adds.