Months ago, Ahmed and his fellow craftsmen faced new odds when the Bangladeshi government allowed import of Indian Banarsi and other sarees. Most looms in Bangladesh are hand-operated while the Indian weavers have long shifted to the electric ones, which can really make enormous difference for Bangladeshi saree exports which bring home foreign exchange anywhere about $1million.

“The export revenue is much higher as different agencies including Bangladesh Handloom Board also issue the Country of Origin certificates,” says Teherul Islam, a top official of Bangladesh Handloom Board.

For poverty-stricken Bangladesh, the Banarsi saree manufacturers not only bring valuable foreign exchange worth millions of dollars but also save an even bigger amount by blocking their import.

Though private banks are eager to give loans, the uneducated and insecure weavers do not avail such opportunities. Unlike neighbouring India, Banarsi saree weavers remain frozen in time with little knowledge of labour rights and appetite for better techniques.

After the Independence of Bangladesh, Ahmed says, the government had ordered to set up a special Banarsi area in Mirpur but the allotted land was never handed over to its rightful beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the number of weaver families has reached to 600 from over three dozen in 1942.

Increasing influence of middleman poses the worst challenge to Banarsi saree makers. “While he is eating up huge profits from production and ultimate sale of the produce, we the artisans remain eternal losers,” Ahmed regrets.

“For instance, a middleman buys a saree for Tk 20,000 ($283) from us but sells it Tk 40,000 ($566) or even more,” Ahmed says.

Admitting such exploitation, Teherul Islam believes, “Due to educational barrier, the weavers cannot export their own products directly.”

Meanwhile, the artisanship has also been transferred to thousands of local Bangladeshis from the outcaste Banarsi craftsmen.

“The number of the locals who learnt from the Banarsi craftsmen will not be less than 300,000, spread across the country with their own looms,” says Mohammad Hanif, former president of Bangladesh National Handloom Association.

Hanif, a resident of distant Bikrampur district who obtained weaving skills from a Banarsi family, complains: “Apathy at bureaucratic as well as policymaking level risks livelihood of a bout 10,000 to 15,000 weavers, struggling to preserve cultural heritage against all odds.”

The Bihari weavers like Ahmad are ill-prepared to compete against an aggressive and well-established Indian power loom industry across the border. The authentic Banarsi saree may not serve as a cultural bridge across the inhabited world if organizations like UNESCO continue looking the other way.

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