Debt trap looms large over A.P. weavers

At 6 a.m., when most homes in Angara, a village in Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district, are still asleep, the looms in Balla Koteswara Rao and Balla Janaki’s cramped room are already at work. For the sexagenarian couple, a day means over 13 hours of work, putting in effort to weave one saree to barely save up ₹250 to ₹300 after expenses. Their labour keeps the loom moving back and forth, but delayed government payments keep them constrained to just meet ends.

“We manage to weave one saree in a day. After setting aside expenses for warps and wefts, we are left with ₹250 or ₹300 a day,” Janaki says, questioning how this is sufficient to run a family.