RESEARCH ARTICLE A STUDY ON ANTHROPOMETRIC MEASUREMENT, SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH PROBLEMS OF BALUCHARI SHARI WEAVERS OF BISHNUPUR 1 Mousumi Ganguly and 2,* Arindam Ganguly 1 Department of Nutrition, Bankura Sammilani College, Bankura-722102, West Bengal, India 2 Department of Microbiology, Bankura Sammilani College, Bankura-722102, West Bengal, India ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Baluchari Shari is a type of graceful handloom garment that has a long tradition of excellence and unique craftsmanship. The ethnicity, emblematic design and exceptional colour combination depicting mythological folk-tales, rural life styles bear international repute. Though this handloom product is enjoying a ready market both at home and abroad, there are some grey areas demanding immediate attention to sustain and further improve the weaving industry. An effort has been taken to study the nutritional status, socio-economic background and occupational health problems of the Baluchari Shari weavers of Bishnupur. Handloom weavers numbering 62 in the age group of 17-75 years who were willing to co-operate for the study were selected by convenient sampling method. The assessment of nutritional status revealed high prevalence of malnutrition (53.22 %) among Baluchari Shari weavers. The age-wise distribution of the weavers divulged that majority (56 %) of the males belonged to the age group of 18-35 years while most (33.33 %) of the female were in the middle-age group of 36-45 years. This weaving society was mostly dominated by males (80.65 %). Joint family (77.4 %) type still prevails in the weavers' community in which 67.74 % were medium in size. Expertise workers (40.33 %) who had experience of jacquard weaving for more than 2 decades were predominant in the population. Further, it was observed that majority (77.42 %) of the weavers were engaged in weaving activity for 8 hours a day. The literacy rate among Baluchari workers was 72.58 %. The economic profile disclosed that the average monthly household income (Rs. 3620) and standard of living of the handloom weavers were miserable. The musculoskeletal pain, dimness of vision and abdominal discomfort were reported in 46.88, 21.87 & 25 percent of cases respectively. Another serious complication of the weavers was the prevalence of fungal infection (6.25 %) and resultant intrusive black spot on belly. Copyright © 2015 Mousumi Ganguly and Arindam Ganguly. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. INTRODUCTION Temple town Bishnupur has a rich cultural heritage of handloom industry and handicraft. It is world famous for terracotta temples and for most beautiful and exquisite hand- spun and hand-woven textiles. Once, Bishnupur was the capital of Malla dynasty and different kinds of crafts flourished under the patronage of Malla kings. Baluchari Shari weaving was also introduced to Bishnupur during this era. Baluchari Shari is a type of graceful garment worn by women across the world. It reflects the mythological folk-tale, pastoral life style of rural India. In the eighteenth century, Murshidkuli Khan, Nawab of Bengal patronized its rich weaving tradition and brought the craft of making this shari from Dhaka to the *Corresponding author: Arindam Ganguly, Department of Microbiology, Bankura Sammilani College, Bankura- 722102, West Bengal, India. Baluchar village of Murshidabad district, from where it got the name Baluchari. Due to sudden flood in Bhagirathi river and subsequent submerging of the Baluchar village, the industry eventually moved to Bishnupur during the reign of the Malla dynasty. Initially, it prospered under the assistance of Malla kings but this flourishing trend later declined, especially during British rule, due to political and financial crisis and it became a dying craft. After independence, around 1956, two well known Bengali personalities Shri Subho Thakur and Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay felt the need of recultivating the rich tradition of Baluchari craft. They insisted master weavers of Bishnupur: Akshay Kumar Das and Gorachand Diasi, who then learn the technique of jacquard weaving and worked hard to reinstate the tradition (Government of India, 2011). This Baluchari Shari of Bishnupur is labour intensive, tradition oriented, having a legacy of unrivalled craftsmanship with a ISSN: 0975-833X Available online at http://www.journalcra.com International Journal of Current Research Vol. 7, Issue, 07, pp.17722-17729, July, 2015 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CURRENT RESEARCH Article History: Received 25 th April, 2015 Received in revised form 05 th May, 2015 Accepted 09 th June, 2015 Published online 28 th July, 2015 Key words: Baluchari Shari, Weaving community, Body mass index, Socio economic background, Occupational health hazards. Citation: Mousumi Ganguly and Arindam Ganguly, 2015. “A study on anthropometric measurement, socio-economic conditions & occupational health problems of Baluchari Shari weavers of Bishnupur”, International Journal of Current Research, 7, (7), 17722-17729.