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UPSC EDITORIAL ANALYSIS 15 APRIL 2021

EDITORIAL 1: CRISIS LOOMING IN HANDLOOM SECTOR
Topic: General Studies Paper-3 (Economic Growth and Development)
Context:

• Handlooms in India have a rich cultural heritage and craftsmanship is renowned for their
work since ancient times.
• Though the cultural significance of handlooms has been on the wane in recent times, its
special charm in the textile market is not lost yet, much like how a good painting can be a
show-stopper in the era of digital photography.
• However, this charm would not lead to improvement in the socio-economic status of the
weavers, which is evident when the production of handloom cloth is compared with the
income of weavers.

Current status of Handloom Industry:

• According to the Handloom Census 2019-20, the number of weavers has decreased by 19
per cent from 43.31 lakh in 2009-10 to 35.25 lakh in 2019-20.
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• However, during the same period, the production of cloth in the handloom sector has
increased significantly (Figure 1).

• Thus, there has been an increase in the yield, but it did not result in any significant
improvement for the weavers as 67 per cent of the weavers earned lesser than those of
unskilled labour.
• Further, the Handloom export market is concentrated only around products like carpets,
rugs and other furnishings; other handloom products, which have the same richness in
quality and heritage, are not exported much.
• In the last few years, Exports of handloom products have been stagnant.

Problems in Handloom Industry:

Figure2
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1. Flow Income: As per the minimum wage rule, a handloom worker should be able to earn a
minimum amount of ₹6,275 per month. But 67 per cent of handloom weavers( 27,48,445) earn less
than ₹5,000 per month, Leading to weaving, not a sustainable economic activity.

2. Reach of credit facilities: In rural areas, the banking penetration is just 20% among 87 per cent of
the weavers. Even at an aggregate level, the banking penetration is 23.3 per cent, indicating that
around 76 per cent of the weavers do not have access to banking facilities.

Due to this, weaver households depend on other sources of credit, which have higher rates of
interest.

Out of the 31 lakh weaver households in India, only 39,438 households (1.3 per cent) have access to
credit from any source, which is a significantly low number.

3. Attracting new weavers: As an age-old tradition, the art of handloom is passed on from
generation to generation, but in the current scenario, weavers are hesitant to encourage the next
generations to take up weaving.

It could be seen from a fall in the number of weavers less than 35 years of age from 26.13 lakh in
2009-10 to 16.07 lakh in 2019-20.

4. Raw material: As per the 2019-20 Census, 76.6 per cent of yarn is purchased by weavers from the
open market and the rest from cooperative societies and government. Since most of the yarn is
purchased in the open market, they cannot afford to stock raw material which leads to low margins
and lower profits.

Figure3
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5. Marketing: The handlooms industry of India has prominence only in their locality and people
elsewhere are unaware of the existence of many other varieties. Poor marketing and the industry’s
inability to adopt newer marketing techniques is the main reason for fall of Handloom Industry.

Around 64 per cent of the open market sales happen in the local markets further, they are unable to
utilise e-commerce marketing as digital literacy amongst weavers is low.

The ‘Indian handlooms’ website is promoting e-commerce sales via platforms such as Weavesmart,
GoCoop, Amazon, Flipkart, etc. but these are either generic marketplaces, which deal with a large
variety of products or websites exclusive to handlooms but confined to products of a specific
region.

Each of the existing eCommerce channels has its own set of problems, hence there is a need to
develop an authentic e-commerce website purchase of handloom products which would help in the
improvement of the handloom industry.

6.Branding: Private brands like ‘FabIndia’ and ‘Raymond Khadi’ are selling handloom products due
to which the prices of the products going up but not benefitting the weaver due to the presence of
middlemen.

Also, the creation of brands by external players camouflages the weavers’ identity and place of
origin of various handloom cloths. For example, when customers purchase a khadi Kurti, they do
not know where it originated from.

7. Purchase behaviour of consumers: Since people prefer to shop online over offline, weavers
cannot reach online consumers directly, and they are also not aware of the exact demand for their
products and are unable to get good margins.

Recommendations:
1. Weavers should be trained to use e-commerce websites, which, would help to bridge the gap
between the consumers and weavers. It would also help in increasing the foreign sales of Indian
handloom products.

2. Need to create an exclusive e-commerce website to sell authentic Indian Handloom products,
along with relevant logistics support, which would provide a sales avenue for weavers, by
increasing visibility and help reach the Indian handlooms to the consumers.

3. Generally, Handlooms are exported in their traditional Indian attires, To increase their demand
abroad, handloom products should be tailored as per the needs of the foreign markets. A group of
designers can be hired to understand foreign fashion trends and guide the weaver community to
make products accordingly.

Conclusion:
✓ With the change in consumer preferences towards comfort and sustainability, handlooms
are regaining prominence, however, the recent pandemic has hit handloom badly.
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✓ If the industry had a good digital presence, revival would have been easier for the industry.
There is an urgent requirement for the handloom industry to leverage technology and
digital platforms to become sustainable and have greater reach in India and the world.

Reference:
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/crisis-looming-in-handloom-
sector/article34304248.ece/amp/

EDITORIAL 2: INSTITUTIONS, CASTE AND THE VITAL COG OF

TRUST
Topic: General Studies Paper-3 (Economic Growth and Development)

Context:

• There is a positive relationship between trust and financial markets development.

• Trust impacts the income and growth of an economy through markets and public
institutions.
• Markets operate on the trustworthiness of debtors, as legal methods of recovery of dues are
time-consuming and involve heavy expenses.

Trust Factor:

• In the labour markets, higher trust leads to higher levels of cooperative relations between
labour and management and higher levels of unionisation.
• Firms that have unions representing their employees, easily adapt to new management
methods and show better productivity.
• There is a strong positive correlation between trust and the quality of the legal system.
• Similarly, trust and the quality of governance also correlate.
• Whether trust in institutions such as state government, judiciary and police varies by caste
is studied in this article.
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The key term is confidence:

• India Human Development Survey (IHDS) of 2005 &2012 measures Trust in public
institutions in terms of levels of confidence: a great deal of confidence, only some
confidence and hardly any confidence.
• Caste hierarchy reflects socio-economic status. Brahmins are considered at the top,
followed by High Castes and Other Backward Class and then the deprived including
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe. The residual category of Others is mixed but akin to
High Castes.
• Thus, the General category combines Brahmins, High Castes and Others, while other castes
are are OBCs, SCs, STs.
• Though SCs, STs and OBCs have a quota in education and public sector employment, few
segments of SCs and STs are still among the most deprived and vulnerable to poverty.
• According to IHDS Survey 2012, People had very low confidence in State governments and
high confidence in the judiciary.
• A large majority of people had a great deal of confidence in the judiciary, a moderate
proportion had only some confidence and an extremely small proportion had very low or no
confidence.
• However, contrast emerged in the case of the police. A low proportion had a great deal of
confidence in it, a majority had only some confidence and a more than moderate proportion
had hardly any confidence.
• According to IHDS Survey, the most trusted institution was the judiciary, followed by State
governments and the police.
• Based on the 2005 IHDS Survey, In the composite caste category, General being the highest
population had only some confidence. 30% had a great deal of confidence while about a
quarter had hardly any confidence.
• A higher proportion of OBCs reported a great deal of confidence, and a much lower
proportion had hardly any confidence.
• SCs, the highest proportion around 45% displayed a great deal of confidence, a smaller
proportion had only some confidence, and a much smaller proportion had no confidence.
STs displayed a pattern similar to OBCs.

Quota as a reason:

• One of the reasons for SCs high confidence in State governments is quotas followed by
conjecture.
• While the other high Castes have confidence based on relative affluence.
• SCs are largely reliant on state munificence, while STs though dependent on quotas are so
isolated that they have limited experience of social safety nets.
• However, trust in the judiciary is highly pervasive across all castes.
• A large majority of each caste displayed a great deal of confidence, with nearly three-fourths
of STs reporting a great deal of confidence.
• Only 5 to 7% had no or extremely low confidence.
• These findings are surprising given the judicial overload of cases and prolonged delays.
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• Similarly, police as a law enforcement agency had low confidence among the public. Over
30% displayed hardly any confidence, with the highest among SCs and STs mostly due to
rampant corruption and discrimination against lower castes.

Need for inclusion

• One component of trust is shaped by beliefs inherited from earlier generations, and another
depends on the contemporaneous environment.
• Trust in these institutions rose between 2005 and 2012.
• However, in recent times there is a sharp erosion of trust, due to State government policies
that are far from inclusive, judicial verdicts that do not conform to high standards of
autonomy and fairness, and police actions that are brutal and violate the rights of citizens.

Conclusion:
✓ Thus, there is a need for a policy environment that is inclusive and transparent and
corruption-free so that institutions like state Government, Police and Judiciary can regain
public trust and confidence.

Reference:
Institutions, caste and the vital cog of trust: https://thg.page.link/GQymr8gaC3g6RTyT8