varanasi the gold or silver lining to soft silk and intricate hues of vibrant red green or blue spread over the welcoming carpets have two things in common weavers and their povertystricken life anyone heading to the weaver hamlets in varanasi mirzapur bhadoi sant ravidas nagar or azamgarh would be forced to conclude this small dark damp and dingy homes in unplanned slumlike colonies are where most weavers live and often work a batterysupported led bulb is the source of light and one cannot see inside even in the daytime weavers work for 1014 hours each day but the golden touch to the fancy saree or kurta textile is not even enough to bring a sparkle in their eyes weavers typically earn rs 300400 less than 10 dollars per saree which may take 15 days to complete and in fact the money is paid when the piece is sold in the market the cost excludes kaati banana the job of making spools of thread for the actual weaving work at a rate of rs 5 per kilogram women usually earn around rs 2025 per day illiteracy particularly among women is a deterrent in their growth all these factors converge into the risk of tuberculosis the worlds biggest killer of human race in uttar pradesh tb kills some 200 people each day and the weavers community despite their political significance is the biggest victim of it to medical practitioners weavers and tb are like two sides of the same coin and still there are no specific strategies to save them from the disease and death the startling revelations came to the fore during an international union against tuberculosis and lung disease the unions media fellowships study for reporting on tb the vulnerable group vicechairman national task force revised national tuberculosis control programme and director vallabhbhai patel chest institute professor rajendra prasad said that weavers and their families are constantly exposed to cotton dust which slowly enters their body and settles in the lungs to cause a condition called byssinosis the condition affects their lung function and makes it prone to infections their cramped working conditions and tendency to smoke adds to the risk he said weavers are extremely vulnerable to tb because of their poor socioeconomic conditions and quality of life added lenin raghuvanshi secretary general of the peoples vigilance committee on human rights pcchr policies are usually based on the clich that tb affects the poor and undernourished decentralized sectorwise or regionwise strategies would help in achieving better results he added the view should make sense as there are more than seven lakh weaver families in the state and their vote is an election issue this means that a specific strategy for them will take the programme to more than 35 lakh people which is not happening with the current methods state of women is worse among weavers women are further marginalized they do not get their due despite their immense contribution said rajnikant of human welfare association