March 12, 2023 - NewsHub: Breaking Stories

Stitching traditional attire

March 12, 2023October 11, 2023 - by Yenda News Agency

By James Khangenbam Imphal 12 March 2023

Mosquito nets of all types, bed sheet with sponge or plain, Pillows ( mondum montek), blouse, tops, enaphi all that are required for a lady while getting married as a traditional gift. Ranjana Emporium at Sagolband Moirang Leirak is one such place where you get all the items. Few years back people had to scale the market to gather all the items but the trend now is that you get all the items in a single stop.

Ranjana the lady behind the emporium have received State Award in Embroidery section during 2006-07. Sabitri National Award for Embroidery in 2007, Dr Ambedkar Fellowship Award 2007, and first position in an exhibition held at Hapta Kangjeibung 2008, and Chief Minister of Manipur handed over entrepreneurship successful women award with a cash prize of Rs 5 Lakh in 2013.

How the industry works

Raw Materials

Materials are from outsides the State, thread, clothes everything. Most of the raw materials come from Delhi and Ludhiana. Cotton Sari full, Silk sari, Half sari, Salwar, are made from the clothes weaved by weavers of Manipur with threads procured from outside the State.

Employment

Current employment is huge as outsource work is also part of the business. Wages also differ according to designs of the garments.

Marketing

Participation at trade fair in New Delhi helps a lot in connecting to potential customers. Ministry of textiles organizes such trade fair at Guwahati, Delhi etc. Ranjana use to send her students with her products for participation.

Sanatomba, a Silchar based business runner use to buy her material in bulk for supply in Silchar market specially mosquito net, bed sheet, cotton sari full, wangkhei sari full. In Vidyawada, Andhra Pradesh where her two daughters study in School products like Cotton sari full and Salwar became a huge demand.

The emporium has sold products to customers at France however they cannot go for the second supply as the customer wanted uniform designs in size for all the pieces they would be sending and the demand was in bulk. Since the working style was not fully automated machine the variation in the print length and breadth differ even in little so they dropped. In Mumbai, they have sold Salwars after receiving orders. In Jaipur 1200 cotton Sari were sold. They asked for the second time but limitation in the working and product output became the barrier. Most of the outside link comes from participation in Trade Fair at Prakirti Maiden, New Delhi.

Fashion Show

So far, Ranjana has organized three mega fashion show which she believe was the real reason why people in large number started liking her designs. She opined that such show promotes her products and people get to know her work and after the show people started to search for her products and she continue to work on supplying the products. Her shows were organized at B.O.A.T where huge spectator turn up couple of years back.

Article

Brisk business of Bamboo in Manipur

March 12, 2023February 23, 2024 - by Yenda News Agency

By James Khangenbam Imphal 12 March 2023

Bamboo is used while constructing concrete houses and making tents for cultural, official occasions. Besides for many handicraft products and Bamboo shoots are eaten fresh or after fermentation in Manipur. It is a gift of the nature and as it grows abundantly many people make a living from Bamboo Business. Let’s us take a look into how few individuals make their living out of selling bamboos.

Accounts of some bamboo growers :

Procuring 450 to 500 bamboos in a single truck trip from the hill and selling them in retail in Imphal town has been a brisk business for some of the villagers in Manipur. They load around 65 Bamboos in one bullock cart. It is a retail business. The truckload of Bamboo cost around Rs 50 thousand. If calculated a bamboo costs Rs 100, they add transport, labour charge and sell at Rs 125, Rs 130 or Rs 135 respectively.

It is a profitable job. By selling Bamboo I can manage a family of five says Tarpon who is 74 Years old. Tarpon has been running the Bamboo business since he was 15 years old. Nowadays he uses to make less profit but definitely sells a bullock cart of Bamboo for a day. He went back home with at least Rs 1800 profit a day. Summing up to Rs 54 thousand a month if he sells a bullock cart of Bamboo per day.

The types of Bamboo that they sell are Nonga, Unan etc. Torpon also expresses that there is scarcity of Bamboo than earlier times. He is a resident of Sagoltongba. He uses to procure Bamboo from Keithelmanbi side. As such there are Bamboo bullock carts lined up along Moirang leirak till Wahengleikai parking early morning when the traffic is less and the demand is increasing for many construction works taking place in Imphal area where there is minimum Bamboo or no Bamboo grown now.

Herojit from Heibungpokpi

“A pair of Cow cost Rs. 90 Thousand unlike the olden days. In order to carry on my business I have to own a bullock cart. I have to take loan to start my business “, informed Herojit. Herojit use to earn a profit of more than Rs 20 thousand a month from the Bamboo Business. He is almost seven years into the Business. We use to stock a truckload of Bamboo at his home and sell them in the market. His trip frequency is twenty times a month. The least profit he use to make in a month is Rs 10 thousand depending on his selling capacity. He wakes up in the midnight and get ready to set out in his bullock cart at around 3 am to reach Moirang Leirak to carry on his business.

55 year Old Nimai

“ There are no Bamboos to chop down in the plain area we have to procure them from the hills. At one time ‘Saneibi Waa’ cost only Rs 50 it slowly rise up to Rs 60, Rs 70 and now it cost us Rs 120 or Rs130 or even Rs 140 sometimes . We sold them at Rs 170, Rs 180 or Rs 190 a piece depending on the quality of the Bamboo after transportation and labor charge is added.

A truckload of Bamboo is easily sold in a month. I can earn a profit of Rs 20 thousand a month comfortably. It is a hard job too as we have to bear the rain or sit in the Sun waiting on a roadside for our customers.