Over the next few weeks, the Heggodu-based Charaka Society that supports nearly a thousand Handloom weavers, dyers, and tailors will distribute for free among the poor a chunk of Handloom garments that has remained in its stock.
The society, which closed down last week owing to choking of funds, is saddled with 87,000 m of Handloom fabric worth over ₹1 crore and garments that were stitched in its bid to provide employment in rural areas. While the society continued to purchase the Handloom fabric from weavers during the lockdown, it could not sell the garments through a network of 15 stores that the Desi Trust runs across Karnataka as footfall reduced post lockdown. Desi is also left with garment stock of over ₹1 crore. The combined stock with two organisation is close to ₹3 crore.
The distribution will also be a mark of protest against the “system failure” in the Handloom Department, said Charaka founder Prasanna said.
Meanwhile, the Desi Trust is working to ramp-up marketing to exhaust its stock even as the footfall to its stores has gradually increased. Gift coupons — both physical and virtual — are being discussed with corporates, who can distribute them among its employees. Recently, when a well-known foundation wanted to donate ₹10 lakh so that Charaka could restart, the trust instead gave the foundation gift coupons worth the amount.
It is also working to attract people living near its stores. “The salespersons in the stores will use a couple of hours of free time to go door to door in the 1-km vicinity of the stores and hand over a small gift pouch to invite people to buy the products,” Mr. Prasanna said.
The gift pouches will contain a handkerchief, mask, and small items that will be given free. If people are not willing to accept them owing to COVID-19 scare, the gift pouches will be dropped off into letter boxes.
Satyagraha at Heggodu
Weavers, dyers, tailors, and employees of Charaka will be launching a satyagraha at Heggodu on Friday by cleaning the panchayat office and its environs to send a “Gandhian message” for cleaning up of the administration. The satyagraha is being taken up to raise the “Atmanirbharata” of the urban and rural poor with the demand for jobs and not doles, Mr. Prasanna said.
“We are calling this the second independence movement and hoping that the local campaign will take a national character. Many persons, including Medha Patkar and Vandana Shiva, and many civil society groups in the country have evinced interest in taking this panchayat-level satyagraha across the country,” he added.