SRINAGAR, SEP 15: Home to around 450 families, Kanihama village on the Srinagar-Gulmarg road is around 20 km away from Lalchowk, the summer capital of J&K. Popularly called the handloom village or Kani Shawl village of Kashmir; around 80 percent people are associated with weaving of Kani Shawls here.
Abdul Rashid, a resident of Kanihami in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district, regrets choosing his ancestral profession. Reason: he is struggling to feed his family like other artisans who are getting peanuts for their hard work.
“Even after making Kani Shawls for the last 30 years, I am earning Rs 250 for working 10 hours a day. We (artisans) owe money to banks and are not able to return it. We are struggling to make ends meet,” Rashid said.
Like Rashid, there are scores of artisans in Kanihama, who are struggling to feed their families as they are not rewarded back for their efforts and hard work.
Showkat Ahmad has been making shawls for the last 10 years.
“We are given just peanuts. Top businessmen and politicians wear these costly Pashmina shawls but the highly-skilled artisans are not even earning the wages of unskilled labour,” Showkat, who too hails from Kanihama, said.
The village is known for the production of Kashmir’s famous designed pashmina shawls. Kani shawl weaving is believed to be an art indigenous to Kanihama (Kashmiri village) and traced back to 3000 BC. The word ‘Kani in Kashmiri also means a small wooden oblong spool.
Depending on the intricacy and complexity of the design being woven, an artisan can weave a maximum of a few centimetres per day and may take between 6 and 18 months to be completed.
The ingredients used in this are high-grade Pashmina which is found in Ladakh. Each shawl can cost from Rs 10,000 and can go up to Rs 3 lakh.
Adil Ahmad, a resident of this village has been driving a load carrier for the last two years after finding it difficult to feed his family on earnings of shawl weaving.
“It was very difficult to survive on earning Rs 200 per day. I was not able to feed my family. I bought a load carrier and am earning at least Rs 700 per day,” he added.
