Revival of Handloom industry to get top priority in the New Year with government launching a number of initiatives in recent months, an official statement said.

The revival plan is to lay emphasis on increasing the earning of handloom weavers, which would in turn attract the younger generation to this profession.

The new strategy is to organize weavers’ clusters by providing basic infrastructure through Common Facility Centers with godown, office with internet facility, rest room, facilities for training and bulk processing in each block having concentration of traditional handloom weavers.

The government will also encourage handloom weavers to use Information Technology based intervention extensively for direct.

Benefit transfer under Jan Dhan Yojana, getting market information as well as for selling products through e-commerce.

The government has already launched ‘India Handloom’ brand for promoting high value handloom products with new design, Zero Defect (in fabrics), Zero Effect (on environment) and assurance to consumer to about genuineness and quality of the product.

Educated youth from weavers’ families would be encouraged to become weaver entrepreneurs.

Government would also link handloom with fashion and tourism, with a view to expanding the market, particularly exports.

Government would also involve private sector in design development and marketing, the statement said.