A major threat that Banarasi Jamdani faces today is the high job dropout rate of weavers due to inadequate wages. The weavers are paid a meager wage averaging about Rs.150 per day. Due to poor wages, several weavers have quit working with looms. Weavers are forced to look out for other jobs with better wages over the craft that’s been practiced for generations. There’s no bigger loss to the industry than the loss of these highly skilled weavers who form the very backbone of the textile industry.

Banaras is still fighting sweatshop culture like poor working conditions as well as the menace of child labor. Many children from the age of eight and above are still seen working in small-scale textile industries. Most of these underage-labour belong to extremely downtrodden families of marginalised castes and they are systematically forced with no choice but to work in order to fulfill their basic necessities of foot-shelter-and-clothing. Several Indian fashion designers, NGOs, and government are taking measures to promote and revive this beautiful craftwork and working conditions in Banaras. But then, there are several other lesser-known textile hubs in India where the scene could be much worse than what I found in Banaras.