Kashmir’s artisans and weavers face job losses due to shutdown

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Oct 28, 2019

Artisans and weavers in Kashmir are facing rising job losses and a slowdown in business as the area remains in a central government-enforced shutdown.

Business losses in the Kashmir region have risen significantly since the Union Government enforced a shutdown on the region and abrogated Article 370 on August 5. All areas of trade have been affected and the region’s artisans and weavers have suffered considerably, the Press Trust of India reported. 

"If we take the handicraft sector, people associated with the trade receive orders in July- August and have to deliver the products around Christmas and New Year,” the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s president Sheikh Ashiq told the Press Trust of India. “When they can implement these orders, only then would they be served. There is no connectivity, so there were no orders resulting in loss of jobs to over 50,000 artisans and weavers."

Ashiq also said that although the full extent of business losses are hard to imagine as the situation is ongoing, Kashmir’s businesses have collectively lost over Rs 10,000 crore ($1.5 billion) in the past three months due to the shutdown. One of the main contributors to the region’s staggering business losses has been the suspension of internet services, said Ashiq. Main markets in the area also remain closed.