The first meeting of the recently constituted All India Handloom Board was held in New Delhi, on 19th April, 2016. The Chairman and Union Textiles Minister, Santosh Kumar Gangwar gave an overview of the various initiatives being taken by the Government for the development of the sector.
The Textiles Minister said that the new strategy is demand-driven, so that production can be made according to consumer preferences. He said that the most important initiative in this regard has been the launch of ‘India Handloom’ Brand, aimed at regaining consumer confidence, through quality endorsement in terms of authenticity, azo-free dyes, and fast colours.
He informed that ‘India Handloom’ Brand registration has so far been granted to 170 handloom producing agencies and weavers in 41 product categories. Shri Gangwar said that this is being supported through a comprehensive marketing campaign. He said that India Handloom brand producers have reported a sale of more than Rs.15 crore within a period of about four months.
The Minister said that on the supply side, the Government has significantly expanded its support to handloom clusters, in terms of Common Facility Centres (CFCs), skill upgradation, assistance for loom upgradation and effective project management through services of full time Cluster Development Executives and competent designers.
Speaking of the initiatives taken to improve managerial skills in the handloom sector, Shri Gangwar highlighted the introduction of four-year course in handloom technology, at Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT), Salem and launching of handloom entrepreneur course at IIHTs at Bargarh, Varanasi and Salem.
The Minister informed that the Government has come out with a new model of credit for handloom sector; this has been done by combining elements of concessional credit such as margin money, interest subvention and credit guarantee cover with the innovative features of MUDRA scheme, launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. He said that a pilot project has been successfully implemented in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, and is being extended to seven other clusters.
The Minister informed that the per capita credit has gone up from about Rs. 23000/- to more than Rs. 50,000/-; some loans have been sanctioned even up to Rs. 5.00 lakh. The beneficiary is given a RUPAY card through which he/she can withdraw money from ATM. Gangwar said that the Government has decided to implement the scheme all over India, for which he sought cooperation of state governments.
The Minister informed that life insurance and health insurance benefits to handloom weavers will now be provided through national social security schemes. The Minister said that the Health Ministry has issued instructions to all state governments to ensure coverage of handloom weavers under RSBY with immediate effect. The available assistance will now be Rs. 30,000/-, as against Rs. 15,000/- earlier. He added that the Government is in the process of providing coverage to handloom weavers in Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojna; it will provide an insurance cover of Rs. 2.00 lakh in case of death due to any reason, as against the present life cover of Rs. 60,000/- in natural death and Rs. 1.50 lakh in case of accidental death.
The Minister said that under the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project of National Handloom Development Corporation Ltd., weavers will be able to place indents online, track status of their indents, view the stock of materials in yarn depots, get information about unused quota in yarn subsidy scheme and get important information on dispatch of material through SMS in their local language.
During the meeting, the Textiles Minister launched a web portal for continuous upgradation of details of handloom weavers, which will enable effective and easy implementation of various schemes. He said that a dedicated website has already been launched, where applications for ‘India Handloom’ Brand registration can be submitted. The Minister announced that a portal-based application for allotment of stalls in sale exhibitions will also be launched soon; this will enable handloom weavers to register their application online, doing away with the need to go to Weavers Service Centres for the same. He said that the allotment of stalls will be done through the software and will be displayed on the portal for full transparency.
Due attention is being given to effective implementation of Handloom Reservations Act as well, the Minister said. Gangwar said that effectiveness of the implementation can be judged from the fact that in FY 2015-’16, 140 FIRs have been lodged till February 2016, as against 88 FIRs in the year 2014-15; 119 convictions were obtained this year, as against 66 last year.
Textiles Secretary and Vice Chairperson, RashmiVerma; Development Commissioner (Handlooms) and Member Secretary Alok Kumar, and other members of the Handloom Board were also present for the meeting.
Source: PIB
