Skip to content Skip to navigation

Assams Pride Muga Silk has become dependent on Chinese Yarns.

By Rituparna Goswami Pande |
The use of Muga and eri silk is quite closely associated with the culture of Assamese society and occupies a unique place in the socio economic life of the people of Assam. It is not possible to ascertain correctly the exact nature of how weaving was first introduced in Assam but in the olden days every Assamese house reverberated with the shuttles of looms and each and every women of Assam knew the art of weaving. Men folk in those days only wore those clothes which were woven by their mothers, wives or sisters. This may be attributed to the patriotic bent of the people of Assam in olden days and also deliberate measure by the government at that time for it was obligatory on the part of every Assamese household to contribute to the royal stores one seer of home spun silk annually. Today the name and fame of Assamese silks have spread far and wide and tourists make it a point to take home a sample of these woven magic. But sadly today due to the shortage of Muga silk yarn about 3,000 muga sector handlooms are depending on the cheap Chinese tassar yarns. According to scientists of the Central Silk Board (CSB) SN Mishra, there are about 50 kgs of muga yarn annually. Assam produces around 100 MTs of raw Muga silk yarn annually. With such a quantity of raw muga yarn, only 2,000 handlooms can be operated therefore the operators are left with the other alternative, that is the Chinese silk which is available in much cheaper rates as low as 1,500 per kg, against Rs 4,500 of muga yarn. Prohibition of this practice at present is not a solution as it would be damaging for the people engaged in these looms. The government should aim for higher production of muga yarn in order to keep these weavers employed and only then think of reducing the use of Chinese silk.Depending on the chinese yarn which is far inferior than the indigenous one will only diminish the muga legacy of Assam. The Assam government and the CSB plans to produce 250 MTs of muga silk yarn and 1000 MTs of Eri yarn annually by the end of the Eleventh Five Year Plan. The state has around 20,000 commercial silk handlooms engaged in this sector where many are even producing ‘kesa paat’ (raw silk) fabrics.. India is trying to develop bivoltine mulberry silk races for increasing silk production. The chinese invasion in our mulberry sector should be thwarted before it takes over the silk markets. India needs to make this venture a success and hold on to its own muga, undeterred and of course unadulterated

Comments

mayouri kalita's picture

Submitted by mayouri kalita on Fri, 02/11/2007 - 14:37
my self mayouri-- assamise muga & silk is best for the all other colth of in world. i know very well this meterial becase i am from --assam
jaay's picture

Submitted by jaay on Wed, 05/12/2007 - 04:16
Maybe because we don’t have time to sit back and ponder upon the rich heritage that we have inherited, that is leading to such situations. But how many women do you know who can weave a cloth for the men, my estimate would be NONE, that era is over and gone. Machines will demand investment and so will labor, subsequently raising the price and making it costlier. Chinese are flooding the market with sub-standard products, but then should we buying them? Logically NO, but we do, to save the money, which make traders run to China to bring in more stuff. If we want to save this tradition, then both government and people should come forward to make sure that we are not left with CHINESE stuff at the end, unfortunately we carry this burden of saving the tradition and pass it on to the next generation and make sure that they do the same to the next. Thought provoking article.
Billy Douthwright's picture

Submitted by Billy Douthwright on Sat, 12/09/2009 - 10:50
The article begins by mainly referencing Muga, and so, agreed that among all silks the world over it is incomparable, I tend to think of it as the Russian Sable of silks, and similarly have noted that it is often of premium quality when maintained closest to the raw state, when the natural golden effects sparkle and stream most richly across its surface! Though I suppose technology can find ways to maintain and even enhance this?! And as for Eri, just thinking now that focusing on the sericultural end of cultivating/breeding the worms to a) Produce finer and longer 'staple' lengths of the silk cocoons, and b) Becoming hardier in tandem with the Tapioca & Castor crops being cultivated to being hardier also, could be advantageous to sericulture in India and conceivably could enhance Eri sericulture as an Indian ambassador to many parts of the world, especially as climactic factors require this hardiness and adaptability more & more-- Am aware of Eri having been already exported successfully to Thailand & more recently to Africa...

Pages

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

HN Das to attend GPC program

25 Jun 2009 - 4:45am | editor
The former chief secretary of Assam, HN Das IAS (Retired) will attend the Guest of the Month program of Guwahati Press Club on June 27. It will start at 12 noon. During the program, Das will interact...

NDFB-S linkman arrested

3 Aug 2015 - 7:34pm | Hantigiri Narzary
Police apprehended a suspected NDFB-S linkmen identified as Milon Brahma of Dotma Sikhargaon in connection with extortion call made to the headmaster of Banargaon High school demanding Rs 5 lakhs in...

Adequate central fund to contain flood

27 Sep 2014 - 6:36am | AT News
The Centre is for Rs 1,000 crore fund to help Assam tide over the flood fury and to manage the post flood situation. This was what Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal said a day after Chief Minister...

Medanta doctor conducts GPC clinic

6 Feb 2017 - 6:37pm | AT News
Innovative healthcare program under the banner of ‘Evening with a Doctor’ at Guwahati Press Club in northeast India has completed six months, where the member-journalists of the press club along with...

Other Contents by Author

Reviving the cuppa- Assam Tea

Assam is one of the major producers of tea in India. Since its dicovery in the year 1823 Assam tea has traversed a long distance. Before the commercialization of tea began in Assam, the leaves of the tea plant were chewed by the local villagers with little or no processing. This still continues in certain inaccessible regions of southeastern Assam, as well as in neighboring regions of Myanmar. Robert Bruce is said to be the person who re-discovered the tea plant growing wild in the region at the behest of nobleman, Maniram Dewan and before his death in 1825, Robert passed on his knowledge to his brother Charles, who sent seeds of the plant to Calcutta in 1831.In 1833 the British lost...

First Assamese Bags IAAVR Award

Dr Tapan Barthakur was recently conferred with the prestigious Indian Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Research (IAAVR) Field Veterinarian award 2007, by IAAVR and the Indian Veterinary Congress of Bareilley held in Madhya Pradesh for outstanding contribution to the cause of veterinary field services. His Excellency Ramakant Tiwary, Honorable Minister of veterinary of Madhya Pradesh gave away the prestigious award to this dedicated veterinarian, at the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals, Mhow (MP). Dr Barthakur is the first field veterinarian from the region selected for this distinguished award...

Child Labour- the epidemic needs to end

Twelve year old Jayanta cleans, cooks, washes, grocery shops for the Sharma family for a paltry sum of rupees four hundred a month which in turn he sends to his family of five who live in the nearby village. Sharma’s son gets a sum of Rupees one thousand of which he spends rupees four hundred gorging on pizzas with his friends every month in the swanky Pizza Hut in town. On the contrary, Jonali, Fourteen, who is the full time maid of a family where apart from the daily chores she also has to look after the family’s toddler in return for a kitchen corner to sleep in and three meals a day.Child labour is an epidemic in Indian society and the world at large, a sore wound that is spreading its...

What is Global Warming?

The arctic ices are melting and so are the glaciers, the result global warming. Global warming is the increase in the average temperatures of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation. Global average air temperature near the Earth's surface rose alarmingly during the past century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes, "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations," which leads to warming of the surface and lower atmosphere by increasing the greenhouse effect. Natural phenomena...