Siripuram, Nalgonda district

• The original residents (the Padmashali weavers community) named the village Siriconagaram (Siri-Gold, Nagaram-village or city), in their words "sirilu Unna nagaram". They chose this name as they considered their threads as their gold. Since then many people have migrated and settled here.
• The Nizams ruled the village of Siripuram and the last Nizam to rule Siripuram was Aurangzeb. Though the Nizams continue to rule Hyderabad, they no longer have control over Siripuram. The Communist Party leaders helped the people of Siripuram to rule out Nizams.
• Ikat is identified to be in existence since the 5th century through the sculptures of ajantha caves. The exact origin of Ikat in Telangana is unrecorded but the people of Siripuram claim to have been weaving Ikats for the past 150 to 200 years. The women of Hyderabad considered wearing ikat as a show of prestige and grandeur.

There are four Schools in Siripuram - Nethaji High School, Zphs Siripuram, Zilla Parishat High School and Nethaji Primary School.

Siripuram has two hospitals, Siripuram Panchayath and Vijaya Clinic Siripuram.

It also has two restaurants and a hotel.

By train - there are three trains from Hyderabad.

• Janmabumi express
• Narayanadri express
• Falaknuma express

The nearest railway station to Siripuram is Ramannapeta (5.2 km away)

By bus - Imlibun bus stand to Choutuppal. Then Choutuppal to Siripuram. The nearest bus station is Siripuram bus stand.

Nearest airports

• Rajiv Gandhi International Airport
• Begumpet Airport

Siripuram 2011 Census Details

Total Population 4379

Total No of Houses 1144

Female Population 49.9% (2187)

Total Literacy rate 61.5% ( 2692)

Female Literacy rate 25.7% (1125)

Scheduled Tribes Population 1.0% (42)

Scheduled Caste Population 9.6% (421)

Working Population 49.0%

Child (age 0-6) Population 377

Girl Child (age 0-6) Population 47.2% (178)

The local Language is Telugu.

• Most of the population of Siripuram are Hindu.
• There are four temples in the village as well as one mosque.
• Goddesses Yellamma and Uppalamma are prayed every day for good fortune.
• Varunadeva (god of rain) is also paid homage to. The ladies of the washer community hold a frog, tie it in a cloth to a stick along with some neem leaves and flowers. They carry this frog to every house and ask the lady of the house to shower the frog with water. They believe that Varunadeva will be pleased and shower them with rains and keep their washing profession alive. After it rains, they marry the frog with another and complete their tradition.

In a village with a population of over 4,500 people, 2,000 of them are weavers out of which 20 families are Muslims and the rest are Padmashali Hindus. Men and women both do the weaving, walking, spooling, spinning, tying and dyeing, There are nearly 30Master Weavers and very few people work on their own and sell their products on their own. Not all the artisans weave; nearly 400 people out of 2,000 weave.

• The government provided weavers with geo-tags. Karvy institutions took a survey of all the weavers who own looms and provided the government with the survey results and the weavers with the looms received geo tag. Not all the weavers are provided with geo tags - in the village with 2,000 weavers, only 201 people with looms received geo tags; other artisans who spin who warp who dye who tie who design are not considered under this geo tag program.
• The people with geo tags are supposed to get a subsidy from the government; if they buy their yarn from NHDC [National Handloom Development Corporation] they receive a 10% of discount if they buy the aliens directly from NHDC. Two people from a family can get the subsidy under one geo tag.
• People with geo tags can also register on another government authorised program called the thrift fund. The people who register under geo tag can deposit their money in the savings account and if they provide 8% of their total earnings to declare recurring deposit the government will provide them with double the savings they have placed in the AD [Assistant Director] account in they can withdraw the amount after 3 years period. Not all of the weavers with tags use the facilities that are provided, with only 170 out of 201 Weavers using the geo tag, thrift fund facility.
• Previously they were provided with insurance and health card through the ICICI Lombard scheme wherein they were provided with the health cards if they paid 7,500 rupees a year period. There was also a MGBBY scheme [Mahatma Gandhi Bhunkar Bima Yojana][3] where they were provided with Life Insurance worth 500,000 rupees; they have to pay 80 rupees per head to avail this Yojana. All the schemes were later removed by the central government. The unregistered weavers do not get any subsidy or any help from the government or the society.

Most of the fabrics woven are for the home décor market, but dress material and chunni are also woven. Some of the motifs and designs found in Siripuram Ikat are: Geethalu, Pan patola, Rajasthan, Mamidipinde, Malle rekha, Malle mogga, Kota komma, Jaggu, Indhradhanasu, Chakram, Kaya, Pedha kaya, Chinna kaya, diamond, etc. They use bright colors and sometimes they use darker colors according to the market demand. The weavers use white weft to tone down the colors of the warp. The designs are given by the market to the Society and Sahukars who pass on the design to the artisans. Very few artisans get the privilege of designing their own fabrics and carrying out their own business at market.