Godavari Delta Women Lace Artisans Co-operative Cottage Industries Ltd., Narasapur

About us

Godavari Delta Women Lace Artisans Co.Op Society situated in a small town called NARSAPUR which is on the west bank of river godavari in west godavari dt. The riverEnds here and mingles in the sea the Bay of Bengal. Narsapur is famous for lace making which is noted around the globe for more than 100 years. Most of the rural and semi urban women who belong to the poor communities are making out their livelihood by this profession.

To, say, this lace making was first introduced by a lady namely Mrs.Macro of Soctland. Unfortunately as the time proceeds the lace artisans were exploited by the middle men, who are interested in money making and not in the lace making. The artisans were paid low wages and there amassed large amounts by exporting them to overseas. Even then there was no certainty that the women artisan would have work round the year. Employing at then women the way dependent on the orders they get from their buyers. These women artisans were deprived at this work whenever the middle men exporters were not getting the orders as there main interest was to among wealth. The middlemen had a monopoly in the entire lace business and exploited the poor artisans. The wages paid on the middlemen were meager and not at all sufficient for their family maintenance.

The work involved in making laces is voluminous, the beauty and the finishing the products manufactured is exquisite.One of such exploited lace artisan is the exquisite mainly is Mrs.K.Hemalatha frustrated on the continuous exploiting by the middlemen approached the All India Handicrafts Board for help and was vivid by the board to form Cooperative Society. Thus she became the founder president and designer of the society. She faced many troubles (both technical and others) to get the Society registered with an aim to betterise the financial conditions of the lace artisan . She made extensive tours covering over 30 villages. Most of them were inaccessible, intention and could only be covered on foot. This process took more than 2 years to convince the women artisans about the necessity of forming a cooperative society and the benefits it would give.

Thus Mrs.Hemalatha gathers the artisans as members and applied for registration form the government as a cooperative cottage Industrial society. The middlemen exporters tried with their influence to prevent the registration of the society. At a certain stage some had to go through a hunger strike at the premises of the Industries Department at the district head quarters for not registering the society. The matter was also taken to the ministerial level and finally she was successful in getting the society registration on 19th May 1979.

The present strength of the society is 610.