Hunching over a loom for 10 hours a day may not sound pleasant, but for Chottelal it's a change for the better.

The job means the difference between security and wondering where his family's next meal will come from.

At his home in the bucolic Indian village of Narhet, he crouches like a baseball catcher on a long board, where he'll sit for most of the day. He works diligently with his wife, Kanni Devi, who wears a bright orange head covering fringed with white around her ...