Varanasi:
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushes for his 'Make in India' campaign, in his own constituency Varanasi, an infectious disease is threatening the weavers' community, which creates the city's world-famous handmade silk sarees.
The narrow lanes of Kutwa village in Varanasi hide the dark reality of the 'Make in India' dream.
Ramzan Ali, barely 15 years old, is hunched over a loom which produces the beautiful sarees that are sold around the world. But Ramzan is very sick; he has been a Tuberculosis or TB patient for two years. He regularly suffers from fever and cough, which are often accompanied by dizziness.
"We try and give him whatever (food) we can. We earn the bare minimum, so how much can we afford," she says.
In October this year, popular television show
Satyamev Jayate had highlighted the story of her elder son Ghulam, who was also a TB patient. He lost his life barely 15 days after the show went on air.
Ramzan and Ghulam are from a family of weavers which has been practising the craft for generations. The work is hard and the returns are low. It takes 15 days to complete one saree, for which they earn only Rs 1,000, says Ramzan's father Farzan Ali.
Local health worker Praveen Kumar Singh, who works with a programme aimed at controlling TB, says many remain undiagnosed either due to lack of access to treatment or the stigma attached to the disease.
"Every household here will have one patient if everyone is checked," he says.
The working conditions for these weavers - most of them work in cramped rooms - magnify the risk of the disease. Most looms are located inside small houses where many weavers work with each other; a cough is often dangerous enough to infect those around.
The village health centre, constructed five years ago, is lying in shambles.
Farzan Ali has not heard of PM Modi's 'Make in India' slogan, but hopes that his Member of Parliament will help the over two lakh strong weaver community in the city tide over the bad times.