Journal of Global Resources
Volume 5
July 2017
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

Page 82-89

11
MIGRANT WORKERS OF CARPET INDUSTRY: A CASE STUDY OF BHADOHI CITY,UTTAR PRADESH
Razia Bano
Research Scholar, Geography Department,
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
Abstract: Migration is one of the three major factors which affect growth and distribution of
population and the other two are nationality and mortality. The migration held place due topull or push factor. The means of livelihood is one of the most determinant factors behindmigration. The Present paper is the study of migrant workers in carpet industry of Bhadohi.
Carpet industry had engulfed large number of migrant workers in it. This paper deals thesocio economic life of migrant carpet workers such as sex composition, education, income,work participation, family size, etc. The study is based on primary source of data with thehelp of questionnaire to the respondent to collect the information pertaining to the socioeconomic condition of the migrant workers of carpet industry. Bhadohi city comprises 25
wards each ward surveyed through purposive sampling. For this 100 migrant workers haveselected purposively from carpet industry. Simple percentage method has been used toanalyze socio economic condition of migrant workers.
Key words: Migration, Socio-Economic Life, Carpet Industry
Introduction
Migration is a geographical phenomenon that seems to be a human necessity in every age.
Since man has a tendency to leave areas in which life is difficult, he migrates to the area
where life may be easy and better. The term "migrant worker" has different official meanings
and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad,including any people working outside of their home country. Some of these are called
expatriates. Several countries have millions of foreign workers. Some have millions of illegal
immigrants, most of them being workers also. The term can also be used to describe
someone who migrates within a country, possibly their own, in order to pursue work such as
seasonal work. The "United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families" defines migrant worker as follows: “Theterm "migrant worker" refers to a person who is engaged or has been engaged in a
remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national” (http://en.wikipedia.org).
Migration of workers is a human phenomenon which has historical roots and wider
implications. The term migration is very broad. It generally refers to shift from a place ofresidence to another place for some length of time or permanently including different typesof voluntary movements. “Migration is defined broadly as a permanent or semi permanentchange of residence. No restriction is placed up on the distance of the move or upon thevoluntary or involuntary nature of the act and no distribution is made between external andinternal migration” (lee 1969). Economic history of world, however, shows that the humanmigration is the natural manifestation of socioeconomic and technological
growth/development. The normal course of migration is that it takes place from relatively low
82developed to high developed regions/ countries. Migrations have economic genesis but
resulting socio-political cultural ramifications. Migration is an important feature of humancivilization. It reflects, human endeavor to survive in the most testing conditions both naturaland man-made. Migration in India has existed historically, but, in the context of globalizationand opening up of the world economy it has assumed special significance for the country
and the society. Present paper is the study of socio economic profile of migrant workers of
Bhadohi Carpet Industry. Carpet industry is a part of culture and tradition in India and over
the world since past .Carpet had been the luxurious items since the past and become
necessity in the modern era. Although many Indian states achieve its different identity in the
carpet manufacturing but Bhadohi is most dominating among these. Popularly known as the“Carpet city of India”, Bhadohi district is the biggest carpet manufacturing center in India,
most known for its hand-knotted carpet. Bhadohi alone employs 22 lakh rural artisans in its
100 percent export-oriented industry. It accounts for about 75 per cent of the Rs. 4,400
Crore total carpet exports from India, exporting carpets worth Rs. 2,500 crore (approx) in2010(www.bhadohicarpetcity.com) .In same year the carpets of Bhadohi received theGeographical Identification tag (GIS).Carpet manufactured from 9 district or region Bhadohi
Mirzapur, Varanasi, Jaunpur Allahabad collectively called “Handmade Carpets of Bhadohi. It
is famous for hand knotted carpet all over the globe. Bhadohi alone produce more than 70%
of carpet manufactured from India (www.aicma.co.in).
Literature Review
The review of related literature is an important pre-requisite to actual planning and executionof any research work. A review of literature on the research topic makes the researcher
familiar with the existing studies. Workers migration is not new to human race. Individual
want to migrate for adventure, hope desperation searching for the idol place to work and live
have travelled the world. (Ali, 2009) It reflects human migrates to find out the most testing
place in terms of natural and human conditions. In India, the labour migration is mostly
influenced by social structures and pattern of development. Uneven development is the main
reason of migration along with factors like poverty, landholding system, and fragmentation ofland, lack of employment opportunities, large family-size and natural calamities. The highland man ratio, caste system, lawlessness and exploitation at native place speed up the
breakdown of traditional socio-economic relations in the rural areas and people decide tomigrate to relatively prosperous areas in search of better employment and income (Kaur,2011). Migration of workers is a human phenomenon caused due to economic , social andpsychological process, its gives the development and prosperity to one region on one handand on the other hand backwardness and deprivation to other region.(Mathur 2013)
Study Area
Bhadohi (Sant Ravidas Nagar), district was created on June 30, 1994 as the 65thdistrict ofstate. The district is famous for its carpet universally. It is the smallest district of the Utter
Pradesh by area. It is famous by the sobriquet of “Carpet City”. It was part of the Varanasi
district prior to its creation on June 30, 1994 .This district is situated in the plains of theGanges river, which forms the south western border of the district. Ganges, Varuna andMorva are the main rivers .The district is surrounded by Jaunpur, Varanasi, Mirzapur andAllahabad by North, East, South and West respectively. The district has an area of1055.99km2.The district is divided into three tehsils, Aurai, Bhadohi and Gyanpur and six
blocks, Bhadohi, Suriyawan, Gyanpur, Deegh ,Abholi and Aurai .There are 1075 populated
and 149 non populated villages along with 79 Nyay Panchayats and 489 Gram Panchayats83

in the district and has nine police station..According to the 2011 census, Sant Ravidas Nagar
has a population density is 1531, its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was
14.81, its sex ratio is 950 and literacy rate is 89.14. The climate of the district is moist andrelaxing in winter and hot season. The year may be divided into four seasons. The averageannual rainfall is 1021.3mm on an average there are 50 rain days in a year in Bhadohi.
The General picture of carpet industry
The tradition of carpet manufacture in Bhadohi goes back to at least 400 years. “AinAkabari” (1600 AD) by Abul Fazal is the oldest record in which reference appears to carpet
weaving in the area. The hand-knotted carpets of Bhadohi constitute 95 percent of the total
carpet export from India. Only about 10 percent of the total carpet produced in India is locallyconsumed. The export of Indian carpets has reached to its peak at Rs. 3674.86 crores in
2006-07 (U.P. share Rs. 2829.64 crore) but global slowdown and demand of traditional
Persian carpet especially from Europe and US jolted the carpet industry. With some
improvement in global economy the trade has seen rising trend in 2010-11 to tune of Rs.
2992 crore (U.P. Share 525.87 crore) Industry has all hope that the value of export would not
go below last year figure in the current year. In 2010 the carpet manufactured in Bhadohi
region has also received geographical indication (GI) tag. While many Indian handicrafts
succumbed to the challenges of technological modernization, the carpet industry-one of theurban handicrafts-has not only successfully withstood the onslaughts of technologicaldevelopment, competition from china and Pakistan and global recession as well but hasflourished over the years. This is due to the adaptability that the industry has shown to newsituations. Carpet manufacturing involves a good deal of specialization. The wholeorganization opens unemployment opportunities to a large number of workers, andrepresents a tightly knit nexus of interrelationships among the people engaged in theindustry at different levels. The carpet manufactured in Bhadohi is not all woolen. The warp
is made of cotton twisted thread and knots of from different parts of the country such as
Jhansi, Agra, Kanpur, Fatehpur, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Gwalior. The local names of thecotton thread and woolen yarn are soot and anga, respectively. The different processes incarpet manufacture include picking and sorting of wool, carding, spinning, dyeing, weaving,trimming and washing. The tasks of picking and sorting of wool, and carding and spinning,are not much in vogue today. Some people still do this work in their own homes. A roughquality of yarn is supplied to the small manufacturers. The manufacturers are supplied withreadymade woolen yarn by different woolen mills also. A major part of carpet manufacture isweaving. Carpet weaving is carried out on looms by weavers in their own homes. In the
Bhadohi carpet industry alone about 25 thousand rural artisans are employed. Most weavers
have their own looms. Only a few do not own their looms and weave on looms owned bymaster-weavers or commission agents. Usually, commission agents or manufactures
advance some money to weavers to install looms. Such weavers are contractually bound to
weave the carpet for those, who have given them the money in advance. This contract isonly socially sanctioned and there is no formal legal agreement.
Socio-Economic structure of Carpet Industry
In general, carpet production was a small-scale cottage industry; almost all (perhaps 95
percent) carpet production was located in small workshops (sheds) and in households thatmostly used family workers. Most sheds were in villages, and most shed owners owned only
a few looms and employed very few workers, including children. Those shed owners were
not wealthy and often, not even middle class. A smaller number of much larger sheds were84

owned and operated by manufacturers supplying exporters with carpets and processors
supplying exporters with other materials and services. At the top were the major exporters
and carpet manufacturers who owned hundreds of looms and relied on a hierarchy ofmanagers and contractors. Some of their carpets were produced in big factories operated
directly by the exporters or their managers. For other carpets, the exporters gave orders tocontractors, who distributed the orders (and often the looms) among many sheds andhouseholds in rural villages and (less common) urban neighborhoods. Granner, E. (2001).
The base of the industry’s socioeconomic structure consisted of the weavers and lower level
employees. They were predominantly male and low ranking in all studies. Enforce, as it was
nearly impossible to trace the connection between local looms and the responsible
manufacturer or exporter. The carpet industry in India was concentrated in eastern UP statein traditional core “carpet belt” districts and an extension area. The core area accounted for
70 to 90 percent of the total carpet production in India. The long-established carpet industry
in Jammu & Kashmir specialized in silk. Newer areas for carpet production included Jaipur(Rajasthan state), Panipat (Haryana state), and Agra (western UP), which were growing inimportance due to their accessibility, better infrastructure, and proximity to the national
capital and main tourist sites. There were reports that new carpet production areas werebeing established in districts of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh states by migrants
returning from working in the carpet belt.
Objectives
The present paper is an attempt to show the general picture of migrant workers in carpet
industry in Bhadohi city. Migrant workers among the various sectors constitute verysignificant amount and added their effort in the socio economic development of the region.
The present study is about the carpet weaving workers that comes from the neighbouring
state and contributes their skill to making the marvellous carpet. The main focus of thispaper is to highlighting the socio economic condition of migrant workers in carpet city.
Methodology
Present study is based on the primary survey that is done through schedule. Purposive
samplings have been done to determine the number of respondents. Bhadohi city comprises
25 wards each ward from which 100 migrant workers have selected for study. The interviews
have done in June 2016.The simple percentage method have used to analyses the socioeconomic condition of migrant workers.
Socio-Economic Life of Migrant Workers in carpet industry in Bhadohi City
Socio Economic study is a multi dimensional phenomenon, it engulf many indicators in itself
such as economical, educational, living standard, indoor and outdoor environment, healthstatus, infrastructure condition etc. which determine the socio economic condition. The term‘socio economic’ has been the major concern of most of disciplinarians because of its
multidimensional nature. There are lots of factor which does impact on socio economic
condition of people whether directly or indirectly. The most important factor among these is
the means of livelihood because it determines the level of income which becomes thecontrolling factors of other socio economic conditions. Migration in India is mostly influenced
by social structure and pattern of development. Uneven development is the main cause of
migration, added to it are disparities, inter-regional and among different socio economic
classes .The landless poor who mostly belong to, lower caste indigenous community andeconomically backward regions constitute the major portion of migrants (migrant workers:
present position and future strategy)85

Migration of workers is always gender selective depends on the nature of work.
Carpet weaving in Bhadohi city is done through the male workers commonly. There is sometrifling that is done through female workers such as wool unbinding, finishing and designing.
Among the respondents of carpet workers there is 85% workers are male whereas 15% arefemale. The respondents have selected mainly weavers and weaving is done throughdominantly by male workers. So this is reason behind such difference in number of malemigrants and female migrants. The female migrant workers are those who come with theirhusbands after marriage. Among the respondents 68% are married and remaining isunmarried.
Carpet Industry has comes under the cottage and handicraft industry it does not
required the higher educated workers in the manufacturing level of carpets. The most of the
respondents of migrant workers are indulged in the manufacturing process of carpet making
such as weaving, washing, designing, coloring, finishing etc. These workers are mostly daily
waged and irregular workers. Among the respondents there is 65% are literate while 35%
are illiterate .Among 15% female migrants there are 10% literate and 5% are illiterate.
Among the literate workers 85% have passed their 5th class only while 8% have completed
their 10th and 7% has done 12th .Among the women respondents they all have high school
passed. The very low level of education among the migrants is due to poverty and lack ofopportunity at their homeland.
The income condition among the workers are low because they are mainly
temporary based workers in which most of them are daily waged that paid much less incomparison to the other workers. There are various categories of work in carpet
manufacturing. There are number of stage of making a single carpet. The category of workin carpet manufacturing is involves the designing, coloring, weaving, washing, dying,finishing and packing. All these work requires manual labour that done by the daily waged
workers. Among the respondent, weavers can earn only 180 Rs/day. The other category of
washer man that earn 100-150 Rs and this constitutes only 5% among the respondents.30%
respondents belong to the category of dyer and finishing workers they also get only 180200Rs /day. The group of designers among respondents are 3% and earn 200-300 Rs /daythat is much satisfactory than the weavers and other groups. The 15% of migrant workers
among the respondents are also involves in carpet making process. The women workers
among respondents are indulged in wool binding. They can earn 50-60Rs/day along with all
household chords.
Family Size is the most important indicator to assess the Socio-Economic conditionof migrant workers. There is high family size among migrant workers of study area. The
largest group among the respondent of family size is 7-12 shows the highest concentrationthat is 58%.The second highest group of family size is 5-7 that constitute 28% of
respondents.16% of family size lies in the group of 1-5. Housing Condition of these migrant
workers are very pathetic .There are only 25% of respondents having their own land .The
other 98% migrant workers live on the monthly rent. The majority of migrant workers are
confined to live in under a single roof with high family in a congested indoor environment.There are 75% of respondents confined to live in 2 rooms of a house with such a large
family size.25% of respondents have to satisfy their needs under a single roof. Among the
2% of respondents those have tier own land also lead a pathetic living condition.68% of
respondents have not a toilet facilities at their house and only 23% of respondents are livingwith separate kitchen at their home. Respondents of migrant workers are also suffering with86

health problem due to congested and unhygienic living environment .The weavers are
exposed to suffocating loom house during working hours .The woolen carpet weavers are
suffering with respiratory problems due to inhaling of that air which dissolves the woolensuspended particles.45% of respondent have reported the health problem such as
backache, respiratory problems and lung disease. The 55% of remaining respondents
showed healthy condition.
Table 1: Demographic Variables of Migrant Workers in Carpet Industry of Bhadohi City
Demographic Variables
Religion
Muslims
Non Muslims

90%
10%
Sex Composition

Male
Female85%
15%
Age Structure

20-45
45-50
50-60

68%
30%
2%

Marital status
Married
Unmarried
Source: Researcher collected data through field work in 2016

68%
32%

The above socio economic condition of migrant workers needs attention of government toprovide them good and healthy living environment. Their social and economic status
required the planners concern to support them to lead better life.
Reason of Migration in Carpet industry
Migration is always caused by broadly two factors that is push and pull factor. Basically,
migrant workers in carpet industry are temporary workers and daily waged. Carpet industry
provides the ample opportunity of employment of those unskilled and uneducated people
that could hardly get employment in other sector. This industry is considered the best pull
factor to suck the number of migrant workers from the neighboring areas.
Pull factors
Pull factors are that factor that attracts the people to leave their place of origin and migrate toother place. The agricultural workers of rural area are tends to migrate neighboring place insearch of their means of livelihood in the off agricultural season. Carpet industry in Bhadohi
itself a pull factor of these unemployed workers that gives them the opportunity to earn theirlivelihood. There are various factors that constitute the pull factor such as employment,
education, health and religious. These entire factors are responsible in the migration ofworkers in carpet city Bhadohi. There are 86% of respondents that belongs to Muslim Julaha
community that is well known for weaving. Bhadohi city leads in the number of thiscommunity and only this place this community lives very reputed and satisfactory life incomparison to the other neighboring place. This is also the leading factor behind the migrant
workers to tend to migrate in carpet city of Bhadohi. Among the respondents there are 85%that reported the cause of their migration is employment opportunity. Because the most of
the workers are farmers and they tend to leave their occupation and find the other substitute87

of employment. They can earn here easily without any specific training. Besides this factor
the remaining participants reported cause of migration is the educational facilities andmedical facilities to their new generation. Among the participants of migrant workers, 15%reported that they leave their home place for seeking the medical and educational facilities totheir children. All these factors are playing the role to attract the workers in the city.
Push Factor
Push factors are those factors that become the cause of leaving their home place andsearch a new place in order to find out their better means of livelihood. Among the
respondents there are 89% of workers that have migrated from Bihar and 11% of
respondents from other neighboring district. Bihar is the one of the poorest state of India that
constitutes the most migrant workers in other sector and in other state of India. The poverty
and hunger is the main cause of the migrant laborers of any state. The respondents of
migrant workers reported that the main reason behind their migration is to find out better job
and earn money during the off agricultural season. The problem of unemployment leads theother socio economic problem such as poverty and hunger and illiteracy and illness andother social problems.
Problem of Workers
Socio-Economic life of migrant workers of respondents is highly discouraging. They
encountered with number of problems. Among the respondents, 85% have reported thatthey are not satisfied with their living condition .These are discussed below:
Low Wages: The income of workers for sustenance of better life has become insufficient.
The weavers group of respondent that share largest proportion among migrant workers.
Irregular Nature of Work: Migrant workers have complained irregular nature of work. They
hardly get 20 days of work in a week. This problem leads further migration of workers toneighboring place for means of earning.
Poor housing Condition: Among the respondents 98% of workers are living on the renthouse of one or two rooms with such a large family size. They are very much exposed to
suffocating indoor environment .This poor indoor environment has become the major causeof bad health. There is 45% of respondent that reported several health problems.
Conclusion
Carpet industry of Bhadohi has proved its artistic glamour over the world. It exposed themarvelous piece of human artistic skill that is done by the aesthetic sense of human mind.
Carpet industry has spread over the several pockets in India. Each region of carpet belts isfamous for its own specialties .Bhadohi carpet is renounced for hand knotted carpets .The
weavers who weaved this intricate pattern of carpet is leading a miserable condition. Daily
waged migrant workers are unskilled and low educated that makes them unable to findbetter job opportunity. This caused their poor economic and living condition.
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