Eco-friendly approaches to rejuvenate the Khadi udyog in Assam

Abstract

The handloom workers were the poorest, least respected, socially and economically deprived, living in debts and almost living like an island in the Indian society still in the 21st century. Besides, in large parts of India, handloom weaving lost its fame and prosperity. Basically, handloom weaving is a men’s domain but at this juncture, the significant contribution of women workforces cannot be over ruled. In the present study, efforts were made to make khadi fabrics more attractive with innovative designs through printing with colourants extracted from natural resources. In this article, a cost-effective and user-friendly technology for extraction of natural dyes from indigenous natural resources of northeastern part of our country has been developed. Those dye solutions is used for printing of eri silk and cotton fabrics in presence of various eco-friendly mordants in order to develop innovative designs for the markets with good colourfastness properties.