Skilled workers hope better deal in India’s crucial provincial polls

By Ahmad Adil

ALIGARH/ SAMBHAL/MORADABAD, India (AA) – As the election campaign takes a feverish pitch in India’s politically significant province of Uttar Pradesh (UP), hundreds of thousands of skilled workers are seeking a better deal and promises from politicians to address their issues.

Known as the skill capital of India, every district in this state hosts artisans who have expertise in specific skills like Aligarh recognized for manufacturing locks, Rampur for knives, Sambal for decorative items from animal horns, Moradabad for brassware, and Mirzapur-Bhadohi for carpet weaving, etc.

About 160 kilometers (99 miles) from the capital New Delhi, the city of Aligarh, besides hosting the world-famous Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is also known for the manufacturing of locks. Making various elements of locks is a cottage industry providing a source of livelihood to hundreds of thousands of families.

At the Upper Court locality of Aligarh city, skilled workers told Anadolu Agency that they are reeling under the rising prices of raw material, dip in exports due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rising electricity, and competition from low-cost Chinese products.

"If we talk a few years ago, the prices of raw material used for locks have increased. It has made our working conditions very bad. It was disappointing that conditions of businessmen are not dominating in the present elections,” said Waseem Khan, a lock manufacturer in the city. He said he will vote for the government that will make his life better and ease the business.

Some 135 km (80 miles) from Aligarh, in another skilled city of Moradabad, known for making international quality brassware, the artisans narrate similar woes. In the busy Bhatti Street of Moradabad, the artisans largely Muslims say they are looking forward to a new dispensation to address their issues.

The brass industry in the city is worth $2 billion industry. The exports alone bring $1.3 billion to sustain the economy of the city.

Imran Ahmad, a manufacturer of brass items, rues that over the years the situation has worsened for his trade.

"We are businessmen and for us, it is extremely important. But the support we were expecting from the government didn't meet our expectations," he said.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s decision of demonetization in 2016 and then three years later the pandemic has broken the backs of small and medium enterprises like his brassware units.

- Tough living

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ashutosh Khanna, a brass dealer, said he was looking forward to helping form the next government. He said artisans were now using iron instead of brass to make utensils. He said only those firms have survived who resorted to innovation and other techniques like using brass coating on ironware.

A one-hour drive from Moradabad is another skilled town of Sambhal, where at a predominantly Muslim locality skilled workers who make export-oriented decorative items from animal horns and bones are also facing meltdown.

In the Sarai Tareen area of Sambhal, artisans told Anadolu Agency that people were leaving the trade as artisans do not want their children to make artifacts because of low returns.

"The competition with China is very strong and then we are facing huge problems of raw materials," said Musharaf Ali Khan, who has been in the profession for over two decades.

"This is a big election and it will have an impact in the next general elections. So, I will vote for a party, which will help us to get these issues resolved. For us the business-friendly environment is the need of the hour," said Khan.

Estimates suggest that some 40,000 artisans are presently engaged in the trade of turning animal bones and horns into ornaments.