Looms of Ladakh -A real example of women empowerment

Ladakh is surely a spectacular place to visit and the people of Ladakh are hard-working as they survive there in harsh weather conditions. The primary occupation of the locals is agriculture based on the Indus River for their livelihood. Barley, wheat, buckwheat, peas, rapeseed and beans are the main agricultural products. Apples and apricots are grown in warmer regions of low altitude.

Ladakh's eastern and south-eastern border contiguous with Tibetan Highlands is called Changthang. The communities living here follow their traditional occupation of rearing long-haired goats and sheep to earn their livelihood by trading the wool, which is another primary occupation of the locals.These herdsmen are called Chang-pas. Changthang is also known as the cradle of finest cashmere or pashmina.

Recently it was noticed that the locals started following the trend of migration. The Chang-pas started migrating to Leh and other urban settlements for a better lifestyle. This became a major concern as it might affect their way of life. Another reason for major concern was that the locals living there are sentinels of the border, hence it was important to find a way of keeping the locals motivated to earn their livelihood there itself.

This issue was acknowledged by Looms of Ladakh (launched in July 2016). Through the project Laksal which means 'skills' in Ladakhi language, the project aims to train the unemployed women of these communities to make finished products with resources which are available to them like pasmina, yak, camel, sheep wool. These finished products are hand knitted and hand woven.

The motive behind the project Laksal is to stop the locals who are migrating in search of better livelihood options, by giving the women of the community, an opportunity of forming a women cooperative.

Birth of the idea

On one of his district tours to Chumur, Deputy Commissioner of Leh, G. Prasanna Ramaswamy IAS, noticed the women knitting beautiful garments for their family. This was when this idea stuck him to hone the women’s innate skills along with introducing weaving, so that they make marketable products.

His wife Abhilasha Bahuguna and he had also discussed promoting Pashmina products during courtship when on many of their exhibition visits they were surprised on not finding Changthang Ladakh pashmina sellers when it is the source region. Everybody else was selling Pashmina and everything under the brand name using the cooked up marketing tactic of fabled Pashmina shawl that can pass through a ring when genuine fabric cannot pass through a ring. So they strategized and worked together on Project Laksal to create the brand Looms of Ladakh. Other likeminded and dedicated officers and individuals joined hands to contribute in the success story of Looms of Ladakh Women Cooperative.

With a clear vision in front of them they aimed to establish sustainable Pashmina, Bactrian camel and Yak wool small scale industry with responsible environment impact in Ladakh. This was much needed so that the locals can remarkably benefit from their own ecosystem; this high end raw material comes from.

With their observations over many visits to the place, a comprehensive scheme was laid out.

Looms of Ladakh has tie ups with financial partners and designers who are helping this self help group of women to reach a desired goal. This self help group includes women of eight villages namely Chuchot, Pheyang, Kharnakling, Stok, Chuchul, Merak, Perma and Sato. 150 women are working under an executive body. This is a perfect example of using traditional skills and achieving a sustainable production.

How are they different from other retail entrepreneurs in cashmere, Yak and Sheep wool?

• They don't work for any entrepreneur.
• They are entrepreneurs without schooling.
• They hire management graduate, but they themselves take care of other executive functions.
• They have office bearers like Chief Executive Officers, Cashier and product officers who are not schooled but wise and passionate enough to run the cooperative. These positions are elected every two years. So one who is CEO this year can be a member after two years. Similarly, a member can be elected as a CEO.
• A certain percentage goes to the members and rest is kept for buying raw materials next season and paying bills. Some amount is kept for welfare funds for the members who can get small loans for health and child education only.
• Social audit are also done of the women cooperative to maintain understanding, motivation and transparency among the team.
• They are also working for insurance and other artisan benefits for the members.

They are not just entrepreneurs, but social entrepreneurs. They are not working for an entrepreneur, but they are together entrepreneurs working for themselves.The group of women has not only won hearts of the people with their work, but they have been an inspiration for the world.

-The Roving Feet

The reason behind nose plugs and face tattoo among the women of Apatani tribe of Arunachal

India is a country where each state has its own beliefs, practices/customs and rituals. These traditional rituals and practices usually carry some meaning or logic attached to them.

The traditional practice of nose plug and face tattoos, among the women of the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, also had a hidden reason behind them.

There was once a time when every woman had to wear these bizarre accessories, but since the middle of the 20th century, the custom began to die. According to the Apatani, the practice of nose plug was a way of protecting the women of the tribe. It is believed that the women of Apatani tribe are most beautiful among the Arunachal tribes, so the women of the particular tribe were kidnapped by the neighboring villagers.

To make themselves look unattractive to the other tribes, these women began to wear black nose plugs and tattooing their faces with a horizontal line from the forehead to the tip of the nose, and five lines on their chins. With time this practice became a tradition or practice of the Apatani tribal women.

But the tradition of the Apatani nose plug hasn’t been practiced by any woman born after 1970, and as time passes, this custom will probably soon be forgotten.

The dying practice of nose plug and face tattoo still draws the attention of the tourists to the village.

The traditional practice of tattoo is quite popular in north eastern states of India, but the meaning behind these tattoos differs from tribe to tribe.

Stay tuned for reading more.

-The Roving Feet