Textiles of Rajasthan

By Fidan Karimova

Jaipur is the largest city in the state of Rajasthan, India. It is best known as “The Red City” since everything in the city is built from red stucco. Aside from its fascinating architecture, walking around the streets of Jaipur you can observe many sewing machines, textiles, and people dyeing fabric. The textile industry in the state of Rajasthan (10% of the state population is employed in the textile industry), as well as the country as a whole is of major importance, both culturally and economically. The cultural importance is the preservation of years of textile industry knowledge, whereas the economic importance is the availability of jobs for people.

Nevertheless, there is a downside – an increase in the textile industry correlates to an increase to environmental pollution. Consequently, the Sustainable Textiles for Sustainable Development project was launched in Rajasthan to tackle that concern. This four year project, which was launched in January of 2009, is aimed to improve both the environmental issue, as well as the working conditions of the textile workers, since the average income in the state of Rajasthan is below the national average and the high percentage of people in the area employed in the textile industry.