Traders have stopped promoting it in Pedana and Machilipatnam, fearing authorized problems
Traders have stopped promoting it in Pedana and Machilipatnam, fearing authorized problems
The woodblock-printed Kalamkari textile artwork is struggling for its survival in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh owing to the absence of black jaggery out there within the wake of enforcement on its sale and commerce by the State authorities.
Black jaggery is the prime ingredient for extraction of black dye by fermenting it for 21 days with iron and salt water. In Kalamkari artwork, black is taken into account because the ‘mother of all natural dyes’ as it’s used to extract different colors by including varied pure elements.
Kalamkari artists making ready black dye from black jaggery in Pedana of Krishna district.
In the latest years, mushrooming of Kalamkari models, that changed pure dyes with chemical ones, have paralysed the home marketplace for the famed artwork and introduced disgrace to its fame that the artwork has been having fun with because the Mughal period.
The material printed with pure dyes being washed within the pure movement of water within the Krishna river.
However, a minimum of a dozen of Kalamkari models are retaining the artwork alive through the use of pure dyes extracted from totally different pure elements in Pedana and Machilipatnam cities in Krishna district.
In the previous couple of months, just a few black jaggery retailers have been despatched to jail by the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) on the fees of promoting it to these concerned within the manufacturing the illicitly distilled (ID) liquor.
“In Pedana, our family has been selling black jaggery for more than two decades. Kalamkari units are our old customers. In the last years, my husband has been accused in four cases pertaining to sale of black jaggery for brewing ID liquor. He has been framed. Now, all merchants in Pedana and Machilipatnam have stopped selling black jaggery, fearing police cases,” Ok. Jaya Sudha informed The Hindu.
In May, black jaggery retailers in Pedana and Machilipatnam cities have declared that they might not promote black jaggery any extra.
‘No alternative’
“We cannot be blamed for the rise in the ID liquor brewing. It is the government’s job to check the liquor mafias. The Kalamkari art will have no alternative to black jaggery. Now, the merchants have no clue about how to procure black jaggery,” mentioned Ms. Jaya Sudha from Pedana.
In December 2013, then Krishna Collector M. Raghunandan Rao granted commerce licence to retailers in Pedana for the sale of black jaggery, upon a request from the Kalamkari manufacturing models. He had additionally solved such issues in session with the Excise Department.
“We have asked black jaggery merchants to sell it to the customers based on submission of the necessary details such as the exact purpose for which black jaggery is used. There is no ban on the trade and procurement,” mentioned Krishna District ASP (SEB) Asma Farheen on Monday.
However, the retailers are usually not satisfied.
Impact on exports
“For over two months, the merchants have not been selling black jaggery in Krishna district, fearing legal issues. If such issues are not addressed properly, it will deliver a death blow on the Kalamkari art. The exports both domestic and abroad- Europe and USA – will be disrupted,” mentioned P. Srinivas, whose father P. Veera Subbaiah had introduced the Kalamkari artwork from Machilipatnam to Pedana city in Nineteen Eighties.
Former U.S. Consul General Katherine B. Hadda, second from proper, taking a look at preparation of pure dyes at a Kalamkari unit in Pedana of Krishna district in 2018.
“Black jaggery is the prime ingredient for extraction of black dye. At a time when the trade is showing a speedy recovery from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the enforcement of law has hit it hard,” added Mr. Srinivas.
In 2013, the Kalamkari artwork was registered as ‘Machilipatnam Kalamkari’ within the Geographical Indications (GI) Registry. At least 1,000 folks, largely girls, are concerned within the artwork within the area.
Source: www.thehindu.com
