Status and Prospects after 25 years
Compiled by C N Krishnan
Abstract: Textiles sector has traditionally been the backbone of industry and commerce in our country till the colonial rule disrupted it in multiple ways, one of which was to move the spinning activity to large centralised mills in the cities, away from where the cotton cultivation and weaving activities were taking place. The DCS Program launched by the PPST after 1995 was a major initiative in modern times of reversing this step and restoring the traditional connectedness and harmony to the textile sector. This paper reports on the origin and evolution of this significant initiative of technological intervention that involved a large number of people and organisations from multiple backgrounds and locations , and spanning over 25 years. It compiles the basic history and essential details of the DCS Program, leading up to its present status, followed by brief summaries of the many significant learnings from it that has happened ,as seen by the major players who had initiated and driven the program. Beyond providing some deep insights into our textiles sector, the paper also attempts to bring out some larger lessons concerning the role of technological interventions in established sectors of economy mostly involving the poorer sections of our society.
It was the observation by a few members of the PPST around 1995 (particularly Uzramma from Hyderabad and L Kannan from Chennai, and their many associates) that, while both cotton growing and cloth weaving were largely decentralised small scale operations in our country, cotton spinning alone was dominated by a few large scale mechanised spinning mills located in a few cities. Fate of the cotton farmers who had to sell their produce to these mills, as well as of the weavers who had to depend on the mills for supply of yarn, were thus at the mercy of these mills whose operations were in turn dependent on global markets and finances. This disrupted the traditional harmony of our textile industry, and went against the interests of both the farmers and the weavers, as well as of the end customers of the fabrics. This disruption of our textile industry was one of the consequences of the colonial rule contributing significantly to the large scale impoverishment of our people.
It was the understanding of the PPST Team then that restoration of the health of our textile sector needed the removal of this gross anomaly through making cotton spinning operations also at about the same scale as cotton farming and cloth weaving , and located at places close to where these two were taking place – and thus was born the idea of the DCS program. PPST considered this to be a significant insight that could restore full health and vitality to our textile sector which has always played a key role in our economy, particularly with its capacity to provide employment to large numbers in the countryside. PPST could come up with such a bold vision because of its having members who were deeply immersed with cotton weaving and allied processes at the ground level , along with engineers who could design and build complex machines from ground up with little need for imported technologies and knowhow. At a more general plane, this was also seen as a paradigm example of how key technological interventions of the right type and size can transform large sectors of our economy, generate wealth in a more equitable and distributed manner, lifting millions out of poverty – and in the process also bringing out the possibilities of healthy partnerships between the Traditional and Modern sectors of our industry and economy.
This paper examines the progress of the DCS program since its beginning about 25 years ago, as well as its current status. It is based on inputs from many of the key players involved in the program – L Kannan and J Hema from Chennai whose Microspin Machine Works (MMW) Ltd took up the design and manufacture of the DCS Machines, Uzramma from Hyderabad and her Malkha Team , Jhumur Lahiri who was earlier with Malkha, Shyamasundari from Dastakar Andhra , G.Samyukta from Chitrika Foundation Hyderabad, etc.
Brief history of the DCS Program.
The first version of the DCS Machine was developed in the AU-PPST Centre in Anna University Chennai around 1996-97, following the 2nd Congress on Traditional Sciences and Technologies held in the University in 1995. In terms of the specifications and features set out for the DCS machine, the first version did not have any hard-and-fast quantitative specs, the general expectation being that the machines would fit into the handloom cooperative production eco-system and give the producers a market differentiator. Through the sustained work of Kannan, Hema and their team over the ensuing years, and with the learnings from their field deployments, the machine went through many significant refinements and enhancements, incorporating state of the art technologies like Electronics control of DC Motors etc.
The DCS Machine is located within the Cotton Textiles industry chain as below:
Presently the DCS machine from MMW has the following specifications:
300-spindles per unit, producing 100 Kgs of yarn per day, with 10 workers per 8hour shift, finally resulting in a yarn cost Rs. 350/Kg.
The yarn produced has medium fineness (10-40 counts) and is capable of weaving on warp and weft, on handlooms, power looms and rapier (shuttle-less) looms, suited for making woven end-products in the apparel and home (furnishings, towels etc) segment. The yarn does not meet some additional specs needed for the knit (hosiery) segment, which is nearly as large as the woven segment.
The target specifications that MMW has set for the machines in future are:
1000-spindles per unit, producing 300 Kgs of yarn per day, with 5 workers per 8hour shift, resulting in 20Kg of yarn per person per shift. This , along with significant reduction in energy consumption should finally result in a yarn cost Rs. 250/Kg.
(For comparison, the following are some figures for large scale spinning mills: 30,000 spindles per unit, producing 10,000 Kgs of yarn per day, costing Rs. 250/- per Kg.)
Installations made so far:
Much of the DCS work was funded by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) , Govt. of India, and eight machines developed under it were delivered to the weavers cooperatives starting from 2002. Some of the installations were at Chirala, Buldana, Pullagurtha, Ellantakunta and Amravati. Beyond the MoRD phase, MMW developed the DCS machines mostly on its own using funds raised privately , very little of it being venture funds as such. Other than two of the machines installed in India, the rest were exported to Philippines (4), Brazil(1) and Nepal(1). Last of the installations in India was at Amravati in 2019, and a video of the same is available at :
Observations by Uzramma, Jhumur and Shyamasundari given later provide more information on what changes had to be made in the field to keep the DCS machines working and supplying yarn to the Weaver Cooperative Societies.
That countries like Philippines, Brazil etc are showing some interest in the DCS machine may not be of much significance as these countries do not have any established and mature textiles markets demanding stringent levels of quality and cost. Their interest appears to be originating from largely ideological-political considerations from some small niche segments, and not from any significant economic/commercial interests. It is too early to say whether these countries will adapt the DCS path in a big way to reduce exporting raw cotton and instead weave and make fabrics on their own. The income from exports can however fund further R&D work on the DCS machine.
One conclusion that can be arrived at from the above narrative is that , given the present deployment status of the machines in the country, the original vision behind the DCS Program of PPST largely remains unachieved, though significant learnings have happened in the process , along with some directions for further work – as pointed out in the observations given below.
I. Observations by Hema and Kannan from MMW Ltd., Chennai
On producing yarn using the traditional spinning wheel method:
Every "stroke" of spinning is about 1m, and 50-60K meters equals 1Kg of yarn.One stroke of the hand ,from close-to-chest to outstretched, and then back, of 1m length is equivalent to one to-and-fro movement of the arm, from zero to maximum out-stretch. This means that the hand has to move at 1.5 kHz with this amplitude of ~0.5m, to produce 15 Kg yarn/8h – obviously an impossible feat!
Clearly, this to-and-fro way of spinning is out of question. That is why "Khadi" has gone for the so-called Ambar Charkhas that are a miniaturization of the industrial method of "ring spinning" that involves no to-and-fro movements. [ By the way , the earliest method of mechanization of spinning during the industrial revolution involved a literal adaptation of such a to-and-fro movement, called 'mule spinning', working models of which can see in Manchester or Coimbatore ]. The "revolution" happened when all the traditional actions happened in a single continuous motion -- drafting, spinning and winding. And that has lasted till date as the 'gold standard' of spinning, Ring Spinning, for about 200 years now.
On the DCS Program:
As can be seen from the numbers, the yarn from DCS compares unfavourably with those from the large spinning mills, both in terms of quality and cost – something that is critical in a mature and highly developed textile market like that in our country. The quality issue is addressable if adequate funding can be mobilised for sustained R&D efforts; something that has not happened so far. We have not gone for any major venture funding drive for this work as we believe that it will not give the freedom needed to pursue the work as needed. As regards the cost, even though the DCS machine is many orders of magnitude smaller than what the spinning mills employ, the input costs , including manpower costs, do not scale down in a proportionate manner. Profits in the textile sector are realised at the point of trading, and no technological changes can be absorbed by the sector unless it guarantees the continuation and strengthening of this source of profit. In this sense, DCS may not pose a challenge to the large cotton mills as far as the generic cotton fabric industry is concerned, but it may have a role to play in certain niche market segments, including the elite markets.
In more general terms, it appears that technological interventions alone, however revolutionary, can not disrupt any sector of economy/industry. The strength and success of any sector of economy/ industry like Textiles ultimately emanates from the trading/commerce operations; technology is only a small component of it, and not its decisive factor.
On “innovation and disruption” in general:
Broadly there are two kinds of innovations –
i. The end-offering is novel (say, YouTube)
ii. The means of producing or distributing the product is novel (say, e-commerce)
The first kind of innovation can spread relatively easily. The second kind requires an entire ecosystem to be aligned with the spread of the innovation; or an initiative backed by a lot of
capital to overrule the entrenched ecosystem.
The DCS project belongs to the second category, perhaps masquerading as the first (through claims of distinctive appeal, unique quality and features, etc.). The Organic Food sector began in the second category, but over the last decade or so, seems to have come to be recognised as belonging to the first (at least among a substantial section of the affluent classes). It could be argued that this transition was enabled by the same trade ecosystem that saw in this a path to better profitability.
II. Observations by Uzramma and the Malkha Team
1. The first DCS Machine from the Microspin Machine Works (MMW) Ltd Chennai was set up in 2002 in Chirala under the aegis of Rashtriya Cheneta Jana Samakhya, the handloom and handicraft artisans union headed by Shri Mohan Rao. Since Chirala was a weaving village, the artisans understood mechanics of spinning and generously shared their technical expertise with the DCS installation team. Being the first field version, the yarn used to break around 120 times an hour, requiring the operators complete attention. But once the issues were resolved, the yarn was in high demand by the same weavers who initially refused to weave it.
2. MMW then made significant changes to the machines installed at Chirala, especially by introducing DC Motors and Monitoring and Control Electronics. Different versions of the machine were installed in various locations such that each time the operators faced a new challenge. For instance, in the Buldana, Maharashtra unit, large coolers had to be installed to stop the Bridge Rectifier burning up frequently due to the Heat, Dust, Humidity, which added to the overall cost of the operations. Yet the overall success of the DCS units to produce yarn locally convinced the Pullagurtha Handloom Cooperative Society in 2011 to independently put in a request for a unit which was done jointly by the Malkha and the MMW Teams.
3. In 2017, the Pulugurtha spinning unit was shut due to operator and machine issues. Given the high cost of maintenance as well as expensive replacements of the electronic parts every few years, Durga Manikanteswara Rao, supervisor of the Pulugurtha spinning unit,decided to convert the machines from DC to AC components, with technical and financial support from Medathati Jagannadham and the Malkha Trust. A few DC motors like the beater motors were also removed, while the controls for the remaining DC motors were locally modified. Since the non-homogeneity of the DCS yarn count comes from the carding machine, Malkha team decided to keep the original MMW body but changed the internal components to AC motors. The rest of the machinery including the draw frame and simplexwas sourced from discarded large scale spinning mills. The Pulugurtha DCS spinning unit currently produces yarn for the weavers in the cooperative while also working part-time with Malkha to experiment with different non-BT and hybrid varieties of organically grown cotton by farmer producers in Jangaon District, Shabad and Punjab. The experiments brought out the unique ability of the Pulugurtha team of spinners to spin yarn from different cotton varieties including those that have shorter staple lengths. Unlike the long staple American cotton introduced during colonial rule, varieties like Punjab and PARTECH cotton have short to medium staple lengths and hence are considered unsuitable for large scale spinning mills. Malkha along with the Pulugurtha team of spinners used the organically grown PARTECH cotton to successfully produce yarn with the following parameters: yarn count 27s; output 20 Kg/day; No. of Spindles 360 ; Workers employed 8; estimated yarn cost Rs. 600/Kg. Given that cotton prices fluctuate widely, it is nearly impossible to determine the exact price of yarn.
4. Instead of looking at the DCS machine in isolation, Malkha supports the integrated ecosystem of organic farming, decentralized spinning, natural dyeing, handloom weaving and block printing processes. Malkha is an Experimentation and Research Program that views artisans as knowledgeable practitioners on par with research scholars. For two decades, Malkha weavers wove plain cotton fabric whose trademark unique texture was recognised by the market. Since 2022, the weavers have begun weaving more complex designs like natural dyed singles Ikkat and 4-pedal textured weaves. Within a few months, 18 Malkha weavers used simple 2 pedal looms to design 67 density variations of kora cloth from the PARTECH cotton spun at Pullagurtha. At Rs. 600 per meter for handwoven, natural dyed, organic cotton fabric Malkha is the most affordable authentic handloom fabric available in the country.
Low market prices for mill-made BT cotton cloth are the result of extensive subsidies, manipulations and authoritarian controls, industrial backing and legitimacy, combined with large scale use of chemical pesticides. Malkha is based on the resilience of artisanal knowledge networks and the sustainability of its decentralized modes of production.
III. Observations by Jhumur Lahiri
The DCS above all is a social project. Its aim is to connect the cotton farmer to the spinner, the weaver and preferably but not exclusively even to the local customer, without the raw cotton having to travel thousands of kilometres away, and without handloom weavers having to buy mill yarn at prices inflated by market dynamics.
Our understanding as summarised below is largely based on inputs from Kannan and Hema of Microspin Machine Works (MMW) Chennai, Uzramma and the Malkha Team from Hyderabad, Arvind (formerly with Malkha), and Satyanarayana, the recently retired secretary of Pulugurtha Handloom Weavers’Cooperative (through Shyamala and Jagan):
The machines supplied by MMW had many problems at the operational level, the main difficulties being with their electronic controls and frequent failures. Neither the electronic components nor the technical expertise was available in the vicinity. A largely problem free and stable DCS installation at Ellantakunta was finally assembled from a set of standard spinning mill components (without any electronic control) that was procured from Coimbatore. This was successfully used to achieve high productivity, but unsold cloth soon started piling up and yarn production ultimately had to be discontinued.
The Pulugurtha Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society too procured a set of MMW machines and got them operational in their shed in the same village. They too developed problems , and as repairs were very costly, the machines were left idle for quite some time. The Society then decided to retain the MMW carder and the ring frame, but replaced the MMW draw frame and the Simplex with machines sourced from Coimbatore. These two new machines were identical to what was already used by the Malkha team at Ellanthakunta. Though they had some issues also with the MMW carder, it was retained because it gave a unique texture to the yarn, giving the fabric a khadi-look. This new combination of hybrid machines has been performing reasonably well, producing 25 kg/day of yarn with 420 or less number of spindles.
Pulugurtha Society is going on with its own production and marketing of fabric, using its own DCS yarn. The yarn uses as raw material, locally available BT cotton and the dyes usually used are chemical dyes. The products include sarees and dress material. The market for sarees includes customers/whole-sellers from across the country, mostly from the urban centres who are well aware of Pulugurtha Society’s products. (This is a very special advantage enjoyed by this society, being a top performer in Andhra Pradesh since many years. Every society does not have such reputation and out-reach) The market for dress material is mostly local. The khadi look encourages the local politicians and social workers to buy the fabric. The society also sells stitched shirts some times. Price of this fabric is somewhat higher than the standard fabric, but not much higher.
The out-going secretary of Pulugurtha Society however said that he would not recommend setting up DCS units to other cooperatives or local entrepreneurs, because as it stands today, setting up and maintaining these machines needs technical expertise that has to be necessarily out-sourced. This may be financially burdensome and unviable in the long run for a business enterprise.
Some tentative conclusions:
The concept of DCS, germinated and nurtured carefully by the AU-PPST Centre in Anna University Chennai, Fractal Foundation/MMW Chennai and Dastakar/Malkha, Hyderabad has clearly survived, albeit in an unforeseen hybrid form reflected in the peculiar combination of running machines in a rural setting.
For the first time, a producers’ organization ( the Pulugurtha Society) has owned up decentralised spinning. Using the DCS yarn they have produced handloom cloth and marketed by themselves in both urban and rural markets. It is important to note that these markets are different from the markets served by Malkha and Dastakar.
However, diffusion of DCS to other cooperatives seems improbable at this moment. Because, operation and maintenance, as experienced by Pulugurtha Cooperative, are extremely uncertain and expensive for them.This point needs to be understood in depth and addressed in right earnest.
On a broader plane of technology development and deployment:
The criteria for technology selection in an ‘ideal urban situation’ may be precision in control and monitoring. But in an actual rural setting, availability of affordable component and service support at the local level is of utmost importance, and this may play a crucial role in determining technology choices. Also, in any production scenario, use of readily available standardised parts is preferred to customised non-standard items, as this generally minimises both frequency of failure and cost of maintenance. With this in mind, can we take a relook at the DCS machines?
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