The Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, has accepted the report of the sub-committee constituted to examine the issue of change of definition of handloom, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Textiles, said in written reply in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
“The sub-committee examined the issue and given its recommendation based on the representations of the stakeholders and recommended that in the process of weaving, the weaver does not use power and hence definition of handloom need not be changed and it should remain in the purest form. The Government of India, Ministry of Textiles has accepted the report of the sub-committee,” Gangwar said.
The sub-committee constituted by the Ministry of Textiles did not have any representative from handloom or powerloom weavers to examine the issue of change of definition of handloom. However, the committee had discussed in detail all the aspects of this issue with handloom and powerloom weavers in different clusters of the country, Gangwar added.
He informed that Government of India is implementing a number of developmental and welfare schemes to empower the handloom weavers such as Yarn supply/Mill Gate Price Scheme, National Handloom Development Programme, Handloom Weavers Comprehensive Welfare Scheme and Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme (CHCDS)-Handloom Mega Cluster.
In the Budget 2014-15, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced setting up of textile mega clusters at various places with a budget outlay of Rs. 200 crore. This include two mega handloom clusters—one in Bhagalpur (Bihar) and another in Trichy (Tamil Nadu)—with a duration of 5 years, Gangwar said a day earlier in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament. (RKS)
