8th National Handloom Day celebrated today
Need to connect
weavers and artisans with e-commerce; emphasis should be on their onboarding on
GeM portal: Goyal
All govt departments should buy handloom products for their textile needs: Goyal
Need to put the Census data of Handlooms of over 35 lakh handloom workers in
public domain: Goyal
Focus on quality, consistency and use of technology in Handloom Sector: Goyal
Appealed to all to participate in the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry; Consumer Affairs; Food and
Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal stressed upon the need to
connect weavers and artisans with a greater clientele with both domestic as
well as International customers. Stating that the e-commerce initiatives should
be utilized to the fullest, he said the emphasis should be on onboarding of
Handloom Weavers and Handicraft artisans on GeM portal in large numbers, while
simultaneously making it incumbent upon all Govt. Departments to purchase
Handloom Products for all their textile needs. For this he urged the Ministries
of Commerce, Industry and Textiles to join hands to facilitate the process.
He was addressing on the occasion of 8th National Handloom
Day, a function organised by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. The
Minister for Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
and Textiles, Piyush Goyal was Chief Guest for the function. Darshana Vikram
Jardosh, Minister of State for Railways and Textiles was Guest of Honour for
the function.
Goyal stressed upon the need to put the Census data of Handlooms of over
35 lakh handloom workers in public domain for transparency and validation so
that the benefits of handloom schemes reach the genuine beneficiaries.
Minister of Textiles asked for organizing a large scale exhibition
involving all awardees of Handlooms and Handicraft since inception of the
awards to celebrate their achievement, and inspire others to emulate them. He
highlighted the need for quality, consistency and need for selective use of
technology to reduce drudgery without compromising the basic character of
Handlooms. Addressing the gathering, he told that Prime Minsiter is the biggest
Barand Ambassador of Art and Crafts made in India, and always prefers gifting
Handloom and Handicraft items to dignitaries during his foreign visits.
Concluding his address, Minister of Textiles appealed to all to
participate in the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, a campaign to mark the 75th year of
India’s independence through Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Secretary (Textiles) UP Singh and Development Commissioner (Handlooms)
Shri Sanjay Rastogi were also present for the function.
Five Design Resource Centres at Inbdore, Kolkata, Nagpur, Meerut and
Panipat were inaugurated. On the occasion, 82 Sant Kabir and National handloom
Awards were given away. The function was joined in person by Awardees and their
families, weavers from different parts of the country in person, besides
dignitaries from different ministries including Ministry of Textiles The
function was widely participated from different corners of the country.Handloom
Clusters from across the country, Weavers’ Service Centres, Indian Institutes
of Handloom Technology, offices of National Handloom Development Corporation,
Handloom Exports Promotion Council, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts
and NIFT campuses.
Besides audio-visual inauguration of Design Resource Centres, an audio
visual presentation was made on the weaves of India.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State, Darshana Vikram Jardosh
hailed the sector as a sparkling example of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat and
a medium of rural development and made an appeal to provide Support and
encouragement of fellow citizens, which will go a long way in ensuring our
handloom weavers’ livelihoods, instilling pride amongst our weaving community
and ensuring sustenance of our cultural heritage. She told that the sector
needed new ideas to promote the sector in novel ways and promote the business
of Handloom through effective marketing.
UP Singh, Secretary (Textiles), in his address, told that weavers of
Handloom basically weave magic through their products and sector has survived
despite apprehensions, and hoped that the sector will keep moving ahead with
times and prosper. He told that efforts are being made by the Ministry to
popularize Handlooms both domestically and abroad, and that National Handloom
Day is gradually acquiring international recognition. He told that Ministry has
taken initiative to hold exhibitions in London and Madrid where 75 weaves are
being showcased I and 75 handloom gifts have been distributed amongst Indian
diaspora and people having genuine interest in Handlooms. He said that a person
wearing Handlooms basically wears the legacy of the country.
Besides the above, the National handloom Day was celebrated across the
country in all the Weaver Service Centres, Clusters and Handloom Pockets, NIFT
campuses and offices of National Handloom Development Corporation. Programmes
were held to make the weavers and other stakeholders aware of the Govt.
Schemes, the transforming nature of the business and increasing use of
technology to promote the Handloom Sector to achieve greater heights.
