Will High Demand For Gamosa This Bihu Pose a Challenge?

Rati Duporoloi Kati Xutalahi

Dhonoloi Bihuwan Bolu

Rongakoi Asuri Basi Pane Bota

Tipote Lukuwai Tholu

Gamosa is a handwoven rectangular piece of cloth attached with lots of sentiments. Any Bihu or auspicious occasion of the Assamese community including wedding rituals among others is incomplete without the presence of at least a single gamosa.

With only four days left until the occasion of Rongali Bihu, markets of Guwahati are filled with beautiful gamosas.

Following the proud moment of gamosa getting the Geographical Indication (GI) tag, the Assam government took the decision to ban powerloom gamosas procured from outside the state to raise awareness of the traditional weaving industry.

To support this vision, the Assam government launched 'Swanirbhar Naari' scheme to empower the local weavers by providing financial assistance to support their families.

A portal (swanibharnaari.assam.gov.in) was developed for local weavers producing benchmarked items that will be procured directly from the indigenous weavers without the involvement of middlemen.

Through this portal, a total of 4,80,080 applications were approved out of 5,08,351 applications that were registered after thorough verification.

Although the need for gamosas in Assam exceeds the 50 lakh mark in this Bihu season, only 80,044 fulam gamosas were procured.

Following the ban on sale of powerloom gamosas procured from outside the state in markets, it will be a challenge for the government to fulfill the need of the people.

The markets in Guwahati though filled with various gamosas yet some of them are not even suitable for one-time use. If one notices the gamosas quite intensely, they will find that these are not handwoven.

In contrast to the quality provided in the market, the prices have comparatively become high, which in turn discourages consumers to spend their hard-earned money. As only around 80,000 gamosas were procured from indigenous weavers, it will be a challenge for the government to meet the demand of Assamese community for gamosa in forthcoming Bohag Bihu.

A few of the gamosas being sold in the market could be noticed as being powerloom produced, however, one cannot claim if these were procured from outside or within Assam.

A source from the Directorate of Handloom and Textile said, "Through the Swanirbhar Naari scheme, we were able to procure over 80,000 fulam gamosas from local weavers. We are aware that gamosas of very low quality are sold at the rate of Rs. 200 minimum. These sellers do not procure items as per the needs or requirements of the public. However, our state government had made a benchmark and fixed rates for the items as per weight, yarn count and size with the lowest being sold at Rs. 175."

The rates for various ethnic gamosa-type products fixed by the Assam government are displayed below:

While speaking on the powerloom made gamosas seized after the ban, the source informed, "We have initiated to conduct a statewide drive against powerloom gamosas where we have seized a significant number of gamosas with continuous efforts made by our officials."

The following is the latest data shared by the source on the number of gamosa seized from April 1-11:

Assam

• Number of Shops Inspected: 3754

• Number of Gomasa Seized: 31,711

Kamrup (M)

• Number of Shops Inspected: 249

• Number of Gomasa Seized: 581

Although the gamosas were seized, no action could be taken against the accused as no conclusive evidence was there to support that the seized gamosas were produced outside Assam.

"After seizing the gamosas, we had to send the samples to the Regional Office of the Textiles Committee in Kolkata as we do not have any authorization from the Ministry of Textiles or facilities to conduct the test here, however, we are trying to get authorization from them. The regional office takes quite a time to send the report so we cannot say if the seized gamosas were procured from outside Assam. Apart from this, until and unless we do not receive the reports we cannot take any action against the accused from whom we seized the items," the source said.

This is the first time the Assam Government made a benchmark for sale of gamosas following the GI tag and is thinking of attempting the same initiative in the upcoming years.