Socio-Economic Status of Guledgudda Khana Weavers

Many clusters of Karnataka state use traditional designs and intricate weaving methods. The more traditional sarees of Karnataka are the Molkalmuru sarees of Chitradurga and the Ilkal sarees of Bagalkot. The traditional Guledgudda Khana (Choli or Blouse, elsewhere called Khana), which is only one traditional cluster making blouse fabric in India. Khana are the choli or blouse material with extra warp dobby figures, which are the traditional products of northern Karnataka. Earlier it was woven on pit loom having no warp beam using silk warp and cotton weft. Now-a-days due the existence of powerloom most of the weavers are using extra warp beam but dimension of the material remains same. The body is fully covered with extra warp figuring with dobby shedding mechanism and each Khana piece is about 80cm width and 50cm length. India’s textile is presenting the most intricate and variegated traditional designs to its end users in the world which constitute one of the costly source of textile designs also but this sector is beset with various problems, such as lack of skill, obsolete technology, haphazard production system, inadequate working capital, weak marketing links and health problems like eye sight weakness, joint pain and dust allergy. The study was conducted to know the socio-economic status and associated health problems of Guledgudda Khana weavers of north Karnataka. The information was collected through personal interview method from the weavers. The study revealed that situation of the weavers was worrying due to illiteracy, financial constraints and health problems.