Mohammad Jabir’s life these days is a constant fluctuation between idleness, boredom and an exceeding worry.
Jabir specialises in making dholaks (a folk percussion instrument) and used to be the sole breadwinner for his family of eight — his old parents, his four sisters and his wife. Since the second wave of the pandemic, he is without any work or income source.
As the virus spreads deep into small towns and villages of India, several state governments have reimposed the lockdown in the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic to contain its impact. However, this has had a fallout on the livelihoods of thousands of artisans like Jabir.
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The 29-year-old craftsman is a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha, situated almost 160 kilometres from the national capital of Delhi. The dholaks from Amroha have earned a distinctive reputation for their quality and are known world over.
According to Rajiv Kumar Prajapati, who is the president of Amroha-based Dholak Hastkala Association, there are almost 350 workshops and factories in Amroha that on an average produce an estimated 25,000 dholaks every day. The COVID19 pandemic has hit them all.
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Jabir told Gaon Connection that more than a dozen people from his village Panjusara in Amroha earn their living by making dholaks. But, since May 9, the state of Uttar Pradesh is under a partial lockdown (Corona curfew), which is expected to continue till May 24.
“I used to earn four hundred to five hundred rupees a day by making dholaks. This was just enough to pay expenses in running the household, Jabir told Gaon Connection.. “But now all factories are shut in the lockdown. Can’t blame the owners for it – if there’s no sale what will they do by getting the dholaks made,” he added.
‘No demand for dholaks’
Owner of a dholak-producing factory named ‘Saifi craft’, 46-year-old Shahkar Aftab Saifi is an entrepreneur who employs dozens of artisans like Jabir in his factory in Amroha.
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Saifi said that things were alright till Holi festival (in March) as every factory used to produce around 100-150 in a day. “Things are really worrisome now. Many workers have begun selling their tools to survive the lockdown. The work has completely come to a standstill,” Saifi told Gaon Connection.
“We as owners have enough finances to support ourselves but I feel bad at the fate of the artisans who are really helpless as they have nowhere to go and no work to do. My payment is stuck with the traders. I wish I could help my workers but I am not in a position to pay them without work,” he added.
Loss of market, short supply of raw materials
Prajapati’s family has been in the business for generations. The 33-year-old resident of Amroha told Gaon Connection that he has closely watched the business for about 18 years now.
“The situation is terrible. I have never seen anything like this before. The physical sale of dholaks is completely gone but we supply merchandise on online platforms as well,” Prajapati said.
“But even that has shrunk to ten to twenty per cent of the trade, I am worried that I’ll have to wrap up online business in the coming days,” he added.
Prajapati told Gaon Connection that there is a shortage of materials as well. “The handle used in dholaks used to be supplied from Aligarh. The poplar wood used for making dholaks used to be supplied from the districts around Amroha. All supplies are suspended due to lockdown, we are utlising the stocks we already have,” he said.
E-commerce platforms used to bring maximum sales to the dholak unit owners. “Almost seventy five per cent of my sales used to happen online. But even e-commerce demand is languishing now,” said Prajapati. According to him, for those traders who are dependent on the physical market for sale, it is a complete loss.
A large chunk of orders used to come from pilgrimage hotspots like Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Rishikesh; or during the festive seasons like Holi, Diwali, wedding season or navratri, inform dholak unit owners. The pandemic has put an end to most social functions and activities.
Can the ODOP policy help?
The Uttar Pradesh government has included Amroha’s dholak industry in its One District One Product (ODOP) policy. The objective is to connect the city’s craft with the national and international markets which is expected to give a new lease of life to the musical instrument making industry and generate employment opportunities.
“ODOP has made a lot of difference to our business. Our business grew because of this policy but in these circumstances like the pandemic and the lockdown, I don’t think I can blame the government for it. This whole loss is because of Corona,” Saifi told Gaon Connection.
Meanwhile, hapless Prajapati pointed out: “You can estimate how much the business has suffered by my own example. I used to employ 10-12 workers but now I barely have 5 of them left.”
