Smriti Irani says govt has big plans for Handloom weavers
Hyderabad July 7 (HS) Union Minister for Women and Child Development and Textiles Smriti Irani said that the Government had taken a number of steps for the welfare of handloom weavers, workers and has announced a special economic packages.
Replying to a letter written by BJP leader and Member of Parliament Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu released at Hyderabad on Tuesday, Irani informed that Government had announced a special economic package ie Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan for boosting economy of the country and making India self reliant .
She said that relief and credit support measures had been announced for various sectors including MSMEs . Handloom weavers can avail benefits of these relief and credit support measures to revive their businesses which have suffered due to the lock down necessitated by COVID pandemic.
She informed that steps were taken to bring weavers to Government e-Market place (GeM) which would help them sell their products directly to various Government departments and organizations. Further, the Ministry of Textiles was also exploring the possibility of setting up an e-commerce platform in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre to help commercialise the potential of artisans and weavers and promote direct sale to consumers.
She said that steps were also being taken to organize virtual fairs for marketing handloom products particularly in B2B and export segments. She further informed that the Ministry had requested the Chief Ministers of all States and Union Territories to instruct their State Handloom Corporations and Cooperatives to purchase the finished inventory available with the handloom weavers to put ready cash in their hands .
She said that the Ministry of Textiles through the Office of Development Commissioner for Handlooms was implementing different schemes to develop and promote handloom sector across the country. Financial assistance was being provided for raw materials, purchase of looms and accessories, design innovation, product diversification, infrastructure development, skill upgradation, marketing and loan at concessional rates .
