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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at

http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

I SSN: 2395-0463

Vol ume 04 Is s ue 01

Ja nua ry 2018

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 268

Production Problems of Handloom Industry In

Kanniyakumari District

X. Maria Muthu Shanthini

Research Scholar, Women’s Christian College, Nagercoil-1

Dr. R.Rathiha,

Associate Professor of Commerce,

Women’s Christian College, Nagercoil.

Abstract

Handloom industry has attained a high degree of perfection in our country. The

industry has potentialities and had a glorious past. This paper is aimed at studying the

problems of handloom industry in Kanniyakumari District. The study found that ‘Lack of

labour’ and ‘absenteeism of labours’ have been ranked first and second since it identified as

the major problem with high mean scores. It suggests that weavers pay should be increased to

eliminate the problems of lack of labours and absenteeism. The study concludes that

Handloom sector has high potential to grow further, but it is a matured industry. Rapid

adjustments and changes are not easily occurring in matured industries.

Key words: Handloom industry, weavers and problems.

INTRODUCTION

In the Stone Age the human wear the leaves as clothes. In golden age, they used the

animal’s leather as clothes. After that stage, cloth was prepared with the help of thread. But

they are very thick clothes. When civilization is developed the thinking power of the human

also developed step by step. Afterwards they prepared proper clothes for them. Now a day's

man can produce beautiful clothes for our body. In the first stage man produce the cotton

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clothes only. Now days, cotton varieties are produced in different colours, and different

designs. Especially in all seasons cotton clothes are suitable and very best for skin.

Age old Indian Handloom Industry in the largest of all the Cottage industries. This

industry has attained a high degree of perfection in our country. The industry has

potentialities and had a glorious past. Other countries not preserved and uphold this very

ancient handicraft in such pure form or with such tradition left behind as India does. After the

invention of machines to produce cloth the fortunes of handloom industry registered, a steep

decline. During the pre-independence era, there was very little effort made to develop the

handloom sector and handloom weavers were pitted against modern textile mills. They

struggled to survive against competition from industrial products, exploitation by middlemen

and the vicious circle of debt. The production was generally of poor quality because of

inferior raw materials and badly organised marketing infrastructures. Due to poor market- knowledge, weak market linkages and inconsistency in the quality of products, weavers were

unable to get reasonable price for their products. In the 1960s, production and technical

improvements were encouraged, new markets were created, and road connections were

improved.

Objective of the Study

Objective of the article is to identify the various problems aroused out of production

of the handloom industry in Kanniyakumari district.

Area of the Study

A handloom industry in Kanniyakumari has been selected as it was a popular centre,

for production of Handloom verities. The leading productions are dhothies, sarees, bedsheet

and towel. Handloom weaving is an important cottage industry in Kanniyakumari District of

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I SSN: 2395-0463

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Ja nua ry 2018

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Tamil Nadu. Each weaver’s family in the village was equipped with at least one hand loom.

Those looms are manually operated and each looms is not at all mechanised, it requires many

technique and skills to organise before going for weaving.

Production problems of handloom industry in Kanniyakumari district

The production problems faced by the units are increasing day by day as it is

becoming a hectic problem in the industry. Since, the production problems of the handloom

units affect their further processes, it is imperative to analyse the importance of the various

production problems of the units. Even though the production problems are too many, the

article is confined to only eighteen problems. The sample respondents are asked to rate these

problems at five point scales from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’. The scores assigned

on the scales ranged from 5 to 1 respectively. It is analysed in the following table with help of

mean score.

TABLE 1

PRODUCTION PROBLEMS OF HANDLOOM WEAVERS

Sl. No Problems Mean score Rank

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Lack of labour

Lack of innovation

Absenteeism of workers

Aged labour

Lack of new design

Uncooperative workers

More cost of production

Low capacity of loom

Frequent repair of loom

4.76

4.48

4.31

4.16

4.03

3.89

3.47

2.39

2.33

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX