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About
the Collection
This
study is concerned with a Muslim Bengalee Dorji community
dwelling in a region Metiabruz-Maheshtala of West Bengal.
The study focused on a tailoring community, developed
itself from within. This occupation, on the other hand,
suited with its history, culture, tradition as well as
socio-economic environment. The study deals with the
historical background of the community, its culture linked
with the evolution of labour processes involved in the
garment industry and also the nature of its business. A
long time ago there was a custom of wearing non-stitched
garments like dhoti, chadar, sari in Bengal and other
parts of India. At the time of Emperor Ashoka, both men
and women of India wore one piece of garment, a plain
length of cloth. Though the stitched pieces of garments
appeared as early as 11th century and sewn military
uniform has been in vogue even earlier since the third
century B.C., it is only since the 13th century A.D. that
tailored garments became widespread enough to make
tailoring to be pursued as one of the occupations in
India. Charles Fabri observed in Indian Dress, A Brief
History(1977) that There is a true milestone with the
arrival of the Iranian and Central Asian fashions. Not
only do women now accept sewn garments, which they had
never worn before, and not only do they henceforth cover
their upper bodies, which they never did before, but the
dress of the men is totally changed. The Muslims are in
overwhelmingly large number engaged in tailoring
occupation. They had an inclination in different
artisanship by tradition.1 As an industry garment making
developed in India in response to the war needs and of the
late, it has emerged as one of the major export-oriented
industries of our country. Throughout the world, the
garment industry is one that still heavily depends on
manual labour. The apparel or garment is a fragmented and
labour-intensive industry. With low capital and skill
requirements, it is ideally suited to the early stages of
industrialization of the countries like India. The reasons
lie very much in the nature of the product itself. The
frequently changing tastes of people for fashion garments
and the consequent nature of the labour process involved,
dampen the scope for further automation in this industry.
In this study we are concerned with a Muslim Bengalee
Dorji community dwelling in a region Metiabruz-Maheshtala
of West Bengal. While dealing with the subject in
question, we would like to focus on a tailoring community,
developed itself from within. This occupation, on the
other hand, suited with its history, culture, tradition as
well as socio-economic environment. For the sake of this
study we have to deal with the historical background of
the community, its culture linked with the evolution of
labour processes involved in this garment industry and
also the nature of its business. From the point of view of
formal structures of industry and business, we may call it
an informal sector. But we did not proceed strictly with
that point of view because of the varied nature of this
particular community-based industry.
Collection
Map
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