Socio – Technological Transitions Vital for the Handloom Sector and their Contribution in Achieving Certain SDGS

The handloom sector is one of the most important sectors contributing to the Indian economy. Despite being one of the oldest occupational works in India, there are not many advances being done in this sector and weavers continue using the age-old looms, as there are no machinery or technologies developed related to reducing the burden of weaving and weavers. Weaving includes a lot of manual labour and physical strain, and weavers are forced to work in sub-standard, congested, and unhygienic work environments. All these lead to several health and occupational problems among the weavers, but are ignored due to various reasons like being paid less wages despite heavy manual work. Most weavers are old aged but forced to continue weaving due to several family reasons. This study tried to analyse the technological and social transitions that need to happen in the handloom sector for benefitting the weavers and providing them with decent work, economic growth, good health, and well-being; along with Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure development as these are considered to be three important goals among the various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Exploratory research was done to find out the occupational health and work-related issues of weavers from two handloom clusters of Telangana state. Results highlighted that weavers face work-related health issues like lung, back, neck, and shoulder problems, allergies, chest pain, and sight problems due to their heavy, strenuous, and repetitive work. Lack of technological advancements in their working mechanisms and infrastructural and skill-building support added fuel to these existing health conditions. These findings imply that socio-technological transformation must be done in the handloom weaving sector which can help the weaving community in contributing more to their family, improve their health and well-being, and the economic growth of our country. Finding independent weavers in the locations selected for the study was the primary challenge faced by the researcher while carrying out the current study. Independent weavers are the ones who are involved in the handloom weaving work right from the procurement of raw material stage to the selling stage. The number of independent workers have been reducing in the recent times as the younger generation in the weavers’ families are not taking up weaving as their occupation and the older generation have already become old and are not being actively involved in the weaving activities due to the the several occupational problems faced. Inspite of the several challenges faced, the research inteventions were successful in motivating some of the weavers to take up the concept of ‘value addition’ in their products, so that the consumers will be motivated to buy the handloom products as they have a new appeal, which can benefit the weavers directly or indirectly and reduce their occupational problems