If one would remember, Azmeri Haque Badhon, the star of Rehana Maryam Noor, recently grabbed the spotlight when she was spotted on the red carpet during the world premiere of the film at the 74th Cannes Film Festival, held from 6 to 17 July in a jamdani saree (100 thread-count beige-olive half-silk jamdani saree adorned by golden ‘jori’ thread) and silver jewellery (designed and styled by fashion giant Aarong), that held everyone spellbound.
To the uninitiated, jamdani is a fine muslin textile (one of Bengal’s centuries-old, finest cotton muslins) reportedly produced for centuries in South Rupshi of Narayanganj district in Bangladesh on the bank of Shitalakhwa river. Popularly known as Dhakai Jamdani or simply Dhakai, this art of textile weaving has its roots in Dhaka, Bangladesh and is considered to be one of the finest varieties of muslin that is handwoven from cotton, the art of which flourished under the Mughal patronage even as the name, Jamdani, is of Persian origin and comes from the word ‘jam’ meaning flower and ‘dani’ meaning vase, which is suggestive of the beautiful floral motifs on the Jamdani sarees.
The historic production of jamdani was patronised by imperial warrants of the Mughal emperors while under British colonialism, the jamdani and muslin industries rapidly declined due to colonial import policies favouring industrially manufactured textiles even as the production of jamdani witnessed a revival in Bangladesh later on.
In 2013, the traditional art of weaving jamdani was declared a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity while in 2016, Bangladesh received geographical indication (GI) status for the Jamdani Saree.
Now, if reports are to be believed, Bangladesh is yet to see any big gains in the global market five years post recognising Jamdani as its first Geographical Indication (GI) product even as no guideline has come about from the state-run Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), the first to apply for the certification even as the BSCIC, had stated then, that it was attempting to facilitate weavers to brand the indigenous cloth in a better way at home and abroad.
It may be mentioned here that the GI is a name or sign used on some particular products to certify that they possess certain qualities enabled by the environment, weather and culture of a country. This in effect facilitates branding, highlighting traditions and reputations in the global market and creates a separate demand for the product while the path to commercial production, marketing rights and legal protection is paved even if GI-tagged products fetch higher prices compared to similar products in other countries.
Reports further add that BSCIC applied for the GI certificate, which is a form of intellectual property rights, on 1 September, 2015 even if the Department of Patents, Design and Trademarks (DPDT), which is under the Ministry of Industries, provided it on 17 November, 2016 and, as per the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) rules, the DPDT gives this certificate in accordance with the Geographical Indicative Products (Registration and Protection) Act, 2013 and as such, it was expected for the BSCIC to create a framework for commercial planning and training, production and marketing for weavers but unfortunately reports claimed it has no specific plans to this end till date and the sole visible development brought about by the organisation was reportedly arranging for weavers to participate in two internationally organised fairs, which, reports claimed, has come to little use as the BSCIC does not have any data on relevant issues such as the number of tagged products sold till date, the countries where the products were exported, the level of satisfaction it had on buyers, whether they would recommend it to others and so on.
Now, it is not only that Bangladesh was yet to see any big gains in the global market five years past recognising Jamdani as its first Geographical Indication (GI) product, even within the country, two decades past its establishment, the Jamdani industrial Estate is reportedly plagued by host of problems and is nowhere near living up to the expectations.
Set up on 20 acres of land at Noapara in Narayanganj’s Rupganj upazila, some 20 kilometres east of capital city Dhaka by the state-run Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) at a cost of around Taka 6 crore, hopes were high for it to usher in a new era for Jamdani, with its objective to enhance the production quality and marketing, supply designs and samples having high demand in markets and conduct research on improving qualitative standards even as it was also meant to provide infrastructural facilities to artisans, rehabilitate entrepreneurs and weavers and promote the socio-economic status of skilled and experienced craftspeople.
But it all lost focus along the way, even as hardly any guideline, monitoring or financial support has reportedly come from BSCIC while reports suggest that the Jamdani Industrial Estate has not seen any development work for a decade amidst reports that claim that in some places in the estate, sewage overflows onto the roads, causing waterlogging even as locals have claimed that a little rain causes knee-deep waterlogging while entrepreneurs there have reportedly claimed that the estate’s sole water pump had stopped operating since 2010, which luckily was repaired recently at a cost of Taka 42 lakh, but water supply line was yet to be built.
“The authorities are aware of these problems. Then again, I will talk to them. I hope we can resolve the problems step by step,” reportedly said the estate’s Chief Officer Shahjahan Ali while BSCIC Chairman Mostaque Hassan reportedly agreed that there are flaws in the estate’s planning, one of which is letting weavers live there with their families.
Now, unable to recoup their investments and compete with the Indian varieties while also facing severe crunch of working capital, entrepreneurs at Jamdani industrial Estate are either wrapping up their businesses by selling off their plots or shifting to other trades, claimed reports while adding that the number of weavers has come down to less than 2,000 now, even if a survey carried out by the BSCIC in 2002 maintained there were more than over 2,500 weavers then.
Deprived of wages that are commensurate with the long hours been put in by these weavers, who reportedly develop over the years back pain and suffer from decreased ability to see, the weavers, who are renowned for their exquisite skills — it reportedly takes at least around 10 years for an apprentice to gain the skills required to be acknowledged as a weaver even if the intricate geometric designs on the fabric, reflecting local flora and fauna, reportedly come from instinct and are passed down verbally through generations — are now switching over to other professions even if their next generation is also preferring to opt for other professions, which have now led people from the industry to cast apprehensions about the existence of such weavers in the days to come.
Contrary to the so-called sort state of the Jamdani Industrial Estate, the acceptance and demand for Jamdani products, however, has significantly increased in the past 20 years, claimed many.
Said a salesperson at the Adi Jamdani Cottage in Dhanmondi Hawkers Market of Dhaka, “The demand for Jamdani products, especially sarees, have increased by 4 to 5 per cent in Bangladesh in the last 10 years.” However, on the other hand, the industrial estate’s entrepreneurs, who reportedly earned as much as Taka 45 crore to Taka 50 crore annually some 20 years ago, earned around Taka 30 crore to Taka 32 crore in 2020, a strong indication of their gradual decline in the business.
The Government should first build up a marketplace for Jamdani from where we can sell directly to buyers from different countries of the world; this will enhance the reputation of our products as well as the market for Jamdani, suggested some entrepreneurs, which reminds of the demand of the BGMEA wherein the then President Rubana Huq called for fund allocation for creating a global platform, like Amazon, eBay and Alibaba, so that Bangladesh can export clothes of local brands to the international market even as she underlined that in case of online sales, the Government should provide 5 per cent cash incentive for exporting products, 10 per cent cash incentive for exporting products of local design and brands and 15 per cent for products made with local fabrics, such as jamdani, muslin and tant, which undoubtedly was a good proposal.
“Jamdani is a special product for which it is very important for its raw materials to be of special quality,” underlined the Director of fashion brand Kay Kraft Khalid Mahmood Khan, adding, “Supply of quality raw materials should be ensured throughout the year at fair prices…It is also important to take special care of artists involved in making the product. And so, focus should be on increasing capital flow, diversities in designs and overall development of quality of life of the employees.”
Under the mounting pressure brought about by the declining business over the years, some of the entrepreneurs at the Jamdani Industrial Estate have now tied up with many established local lifestyle brands to supply their products.
“Entrepreneurs have to take up initiatives to sell their products online,” maintained Jahangir Hossain, a weaver of the estate, as to the way forward.
Given the current state of affairs, all one could hope is that the Jamdani Industrial Estate is able to revive itself to live up to the expectation for which it was built while also hope that the local lifestyle brands extend their helping hand for these entrepreneurs to tide over the existing situation even if the country’s garment exporters, who supply apparel items to almost all the leading brands and retailers world over, should also try to figure out, if they can in some way to help to popularise one of Bengal’s centuries-old, finest cotton muslins in the global arena in some way, if possible.
