Union Minister of Commerce and Industry; Consumer Affairs; Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri. Piyush Goyalstressed 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 intiatives 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 8^th 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, Shri Piyush Goyal was Chief Guest for the function. Smt. Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Minister of State for Railways and Textiles was Guest of Honour for the function.

Shri 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 75^th year of India’s independence through Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Secretary (Textiles) Shri U.P. 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, Smt. 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.

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 initiuative 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 leagacy 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.

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AD/KP