India’s handloom fabrics are an integral part of the rich culture and heritage of India, and are appreciated world over for their colour, texture and design. During our freedom struggle, Mahatma Gandhi had stressed the need for hand spinning, handloom weaving and wearing India-made fabrics; thus khadi became an integral part of the swadeshi movement.
However, over the last few decades, India’s organised textile industry has also emerged as a major player. Therefore, the handloom sector needs to be consolidated to face this reality on a pragmatic basis keeping in view the fact that handloom, power loom and mill-made fabrics must co-exist.
The real strength of our handloom industry lies in its exquisite designs, unique motifs, and link with culture and tradition on the one hand, and its socio-economic importance in providing livelihood opportunity to lakhs of people living in rural areas, on the other hand.
What’s more, the handloom sector achieves this with low capital investment, low carbon emission and low demand on energy and scarce resources, while also aiding environmental conservation, checking migration to urban areas, and urbanisation.
Its social significance lies in its role in empowering women and disadvantaged segments of society. These factors make the promotion of handloom an ideal tool in achieving the goal of making development inclusive, participative and sustainable — Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas.
With a view to recognising the importance of handloom and expressing solidarity with the welfare of handloom weavers, the government has decided to observe August 7 as ‘National Handloom Day’ every year, starting this year. This day is linked with the launching of the swadeshi movement in Kolkata in 1905.
National Handloom Day marks the launch of a re-engineered and re-strategised approach to promoting handlooms, based on market principles. “Zero defect (in fabrics) and Zero effect (on environment)” as emphasised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to be taken as the guiding principle of this exercise. Environmental issues such as avoiding the use of azo dyes and the proper treatment of effluents, as well as social issues such as avoiding child, have to be ensured. Keeping these factors in view, the Centre has developed the ‘India Handloom’ brand, which the Prime Minister will launch. This branding process would involve inspection of the production process, certifying the product as a genuine handloom product with reference to the yarn used, the texture and dimension of the fabric, purity of design, and so on.
Promoting entrepreneursA two-pronged intervention will be made for increasing the earnings of weavers substantially. The first intervention involves the promotion of educated youth from weavers’ families as weaver entrepreneurs for the production and marketing of fabrics under India Handloom. They can avail loans at concessional rates of interest along with other facilities.
The second intervention relates to extending the benefits of Digital India to these entrepreneurs for bridging the gap between producer and market. This would cover getting (i) benefits of online financial transactions under Jan Dhan Yojana, (ii) market information by directly interacting with the consumer on digital platforms, and (iii) marketing products online through e-commerce.
The Centre, in consultation with the State governments, is setting up common facility centres (CFC) to support handloom weavers in each block. These CFCs will have storage space, office with internet connectivity, training facilities, effluent treatment and bulk processing facilities, and accommodation for designers/bulk buyers. Financial assistance of up to ₹50 lakh would be provided for the purpose to each CFC.
Action is also being taken to strengthen the Weavers’ Service Centres. The office of the development commissioner (handlooms) is providing technical help in designing, dyeing and defect-free weaving with the help of the State governments. Commercial and cooperative banks are being persuaded to provide credit and/or working capital at reasonable rates. Besides, margin money support is also being provided to enable weavers to get credit.
Marketing is critical to the revival of handlooms. Since every weaver is also an artist and a designer, with a little support from those dealing with marketing of products, this inherent strength of handloom can be exploited.
The writer is Secretary, Ministry of Textiles. The views are personal