Indian sari weavers fight for survival

The Indian city of Varanasi is on the River Ganges. It has a long tradition of sari making. The silk dresses are made by hand. But this skill is dying out. Nowadays, saris can be made more cheaply by machine. Many come from abroad.

Mohammad Sirajuddin's from a family of sari makers. He's worried the tradition will die with him.

Mohammad Sirajuddin: "Our production of handloom Banarasi saris has come down significantly. If you walk around this whole neighbourhood and look, you'll see that this is the only house with a handloom unit. Even this will be here only as long as I am alive. After that, nobody in this house will continue hand weaving."

These saris are well-known for their top quality. Customers pay over $400 for one dress, but the makers themselves only get paid a very small amount.

Expert Jaya Jaitly believes that this is a special, ancient custom. She feels the Indian government needs to support it.

Jaya Jaitly: "But I do still believe very strongly that the handloom must be supported because we have the largest number of varieties of handloom, techniques, skills and people employed more than anywhere else in the world. And I think that's truly a tradition to be proud of. No other country in the world can claim the variety of handmade textiles that India has."

India's clothing industry has faced problems for centuries. In the 1700s, cheap fabric came from England, and then in the 1990s it arrived from China. But Jaitly explains these hand-made saris are extraordinary. The cost is higher, but so is their national importance.

Jaya Jaitly: "So all of these were thriving industries. It got killed through mechanisation and even more so through Chinese competition and their push and their ability to produce huge quantities at very low prices. Now the economics works but the humanity doesn't work, the culture doesn't work, livelihoods don't work."

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