The Aak Awakening: How Rural Women In Rajasthan’s Thar Are Spinning A Fabric Revolution
Look at the women in traditional attire harvesting the wild Aak plant, now a livelihood option for them and an innovation in sustainable fashion.
Published : May 30, 2025 at 1:43 PM IST
Barmer, Rajasthan: Their bangles clink, veils flap and their anklets make that tinkle when they face the desert wind. Clad in bright attire with odhnis, as is typical of Rajasthani dressing, these women of Rajasthan’s Thar are out in the fields, to do something different. Sporting oversized sunglasses, they clutch sacks with one hand while pick and pluck pods off a gnarly, grey-green shrub - Aakda, that is spread all across the fields, in the other. Written off long back as a wild and worthless, the Aakda's fruit - Aakpadiya—today has become their lifeline.
The pods collected are processed and segregated for use in three different ways - where their fibers are spun into warm, lightweight fabric—used for quilts, jackets, and even military sleeping bags. The seeds are pressed into oil which are used for medicinal purposes while the coat of the fruit is used to make paper.
This fabric revolution has taken the form of an uprising among Barmer women led by fashion designer and grassroots changemaker from the state Ruma Devi, who through her Ruma Devi Foundation has been training women - online and offline about the importance of pods and how to collect and process it for further use in the textile industry. The initiative is transforming the barren lands of western Rajasthan into hubs of rural entrepreneurship. Her bold experiment has turned into a model of sustainability giving the women an opportunity to be financially independent.
“We used to ignore these plants because we thought them useless. They grew randomly on our fields and we would uproot and throw them. But we never knew this plant would be so important to give us a respectable earning," says Chandra Devi of Agor village.
The Aak plant, (botanically Calotropis) has been growing as a wild plant in the harsh terrains of Rajasthan. It does not require water and is self-sustaining. The plump green pods are filled with silky fibers, strong yet light which are processed into fabric which can handle temperatures as low as -40 degree celcius.
Explaining the qualities of the fibre Ruma says, "This is warmer than wool and works like modern-day insulation. But most people were not aware of its qualities. Once research was done, the findings were eye-opening and we decided to make the best use of the Aak pod."
When the initiative took roots under Ruma Devi’s foundation, collecting enough Aakpadiya seemed like a challenge. “Not many people showed interest. On the first day, somehow we collected just 2 kilos when had a target to do 40 quintals. It felt impossible,” Ruma recollects while bursting a pod in a field as the fibre flew into the wind. But within eight days, 200 quintals were collected.
Today, Aakpadiya is being collected from places like Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Osian and Kuchaman. In a week's time, over 150 quintals were harvested, 100 from Barmer, 55 from Jaisalmer, and the rest from other districts. Since there is no processing plant in Rajasthan, the pods collected are sent to Noida where these are woven into threads. "But we may soon have one processing plant here," says Ruma.
The women are paid Rs 25 per kilogram of pods by the foundation. Many women said spending a few hours in the fields to collect pods fetches them about Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. "Ghar ka kharcha ho jaata hai," is how they say with a smile.
Ruma Devi, who is a self-taught artisan from a Barmer village, began with embroidery work before rising to global fame for her fusion fashion. Today, she spearheads initiatives that uplift women by training and employing them.
Chandra Devi smiles ear-to-ear as she remembers the first payment she received. “I collected 30 kilos of Aakpadiya and got Rs 750. The next day, I got Rs 1,000. It depends how much we collect in a day and the money is a big bonus,” she says.
Sugni Devi, another local woman, says, none cared for these plants till sometime back. "It never struck us that the plant we thought was useless could give us financial independence. Now we all guard these plants as we know their worth,” she chuckles.
The Aak is known in different names across the states. Some call it madar, ark, arka and akoua and it was traditionally being used for religious rituals and medicine. Now it has a fabric identity as well.
As Ruma says, the research on Aak fiber began in 2010 but it gained importance only after a decade. Trials began, but that did not impress the villagers who were skeptical till they reaped the fruit and earned well.
The Ruma Devi Foundation's project is supported by the Central Cottage Industries Corporation (CCIC) and the Ministry of Textiles. The North India Textile Research Association (NITRA) has also certified that the fibre is viable. According to NITRA Director General Dr. M.S. Parmar, “Aak is promising. As a raw material, it has emerged as sustainable, indigenous, and empowering in the recent years.”
Tagging it a breakthrough community-based initiative, the Union Textile Minister Giriraj Singh had also praised the initiative.
“We had got the gift from the desert since long but we never cared for it until we looked at it again and again as a fibre. It needed research but also the belief that something we discarded could be a game-changer.”
Read More
