Discussion on Revival of Handloom and Increasing Earning of Handloom Weavers A discussion on revival of handloom, with particular focus on increasing earning of handloom weavers, was held at 6 PM on 17th May, 2015; all main stakeholders from Government, industry and civil society participated. The meeting was organized by the Office of Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles, at India International Centre, New Delhi. (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Discussion on revival of handloom with particular focus on increasing earning of handloom weavers, organized by Office of Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles Posted by Ministry of Textiles on Monday, May 18, 2015 Shri Alok Kumar, Development Commissioner (Handlooms) initiated the discussion by apprising the gathering of the challenges faced by handloom weavers; however, he expressed optimism regarding the future of the sector. Dr. S.K. Panda, Secretary (Textiles), Government of India, made a detailed presentation on the subject; he asserted that concern for the handloom weavers should guide all interventions of state and non-state actors. He outlined the context in which the handloom weavers operate, and the various policy interventions that Government of India has been making in order to improve the earning of handloom weavers. He highlighted the potential of technology based interventions such as online marketing and of the financial inclusion scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. He concluded by saying that youth, fashion and technology hold the key to the future of handloom. A booklet titled Increasing earning of the handloom weaver brothers and sisters (written by Dr. S. K. Panda and released by the Uttar Pradesh Governor, in Varanasi on 13th May, 2015) was distributed during the session. This was followed by a panel discussion on the subject. The panel consisted of Ms. Sudha Pillai IAS (Retd.), former Member Secretary of the Planning Commission; Ms. Jaya Jaitley; leading fashion designer Ms. Ritu Kumar; Ms. Anita Lal, a leading industry representative and founder of Good Earth; and Dr. S.K. Panda. The panel discussed the need to excite the younger generation about handlooms, the diversity of marketing opportunities available to promote handlooms, the need for innovations in design and weaving processes and the need for customer education. It was discussed that Weavers Service Centres are being strengthened and are being given top priority by the Government of India. The Development Commissioner (Handlooms) in his vote of thanks, said that fresh thinking in design is required, which can put together art, economics and the market.
