• Smt. Veena. R. Tirlapur

ABSTRACT India is a land of villages and the economy is rural based. India’s progress is based on the progress of the village. India has always been known for its splendid crafts and art man ship. Indian handlooms have created an aura among the people all over the world. Though weaving industry provides employment to millions of people and thus makes itself the largest provider of rural work force, it has not been given due attention like other sector in textile. Handloom weavers are facing several livelihood crises because of adverse government policies, globalization and changing socio-economic conditions. The national and state governments do have several schemes pertaining to production inputs, market support and development, meant to safeguard the interests of the weaving community. Ineffective implementation of the schemes and the changed context of textile industry, increasing competition from the power loom and mill sectors have been largely responsible for the crises in the handlooms. The handloom weavers failed to compete with power looms and mills. As a result they have tried to adopt occupational other than handloom weaving. They have adopted different types of coping mechanism along with occupation in order to overcome the crises. Hence this study has been taken up to know the socio-economic status and also the various hazards faced by the handloom weavers of Betageri village, of Gadag District, Karnataka. The main objectives of the study are to study the present socio-economic status and health hazards to the working environment, to know the products being manufactured by the weavers, to find out the technology being used in weaving industry, to identify the sourcing for raw materials and semi-finished products and their method of use in the cluster and to asses problems being faced and to examine livelihood problems of weavers in the cluster. The results shows that majority of the respondents belongs to the aged group of 31-40 years. By application of Chi-square it was observed that educational levels of male weavers were more than female weavers. By the application of Chi-square test it was observed that female weavers are having more health problems compared to male weavers like dust allergy, asthma, back pain, muscle pain and hearing problems. Weavers are skilled they are competitive enough to weave any type of products and still using traditional technology in weaving rather than modern technology. Thus the hypothesis of evolution or change in the handloom industry did not bring any significant improvement in the socio-economic condition and health related problems of the weavers was accepted.

Key words: Hand Loom, Socio Economic Status, Health Problems, Type of Products and Technology.

"A STUDY ON SOCIO ECONOMIC STATUS AND HEALTH PROBLEMS OF HANDLOOM WEAVERS OF GADAG – BETGERI.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 8, page no.253-259, August-2018, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1808679.pdf

"A STUDY ON SOCIO ECONOMIC STATUS AND HEALTH PROBLEMS OF HANDLOOM WEAVERS OF GADAG – BETGERI.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 8, page no. pp253-259, August-2018, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1808679.pdf