As per the 4^th All India Handloom Census (2019-20), there are 26, 73,891 handloom weavers and 8,48,621 allied workers in the country.  State-wise number of handloom weavers and allied workers is at Annexure-I. 

The Office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, Ministry of Textiles is implementing following schemes for development of handlooms and welfare of handloom weavers across the country:

1. National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP)
2. Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme (CHCDS)
3. Handloom Weavers’ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme (HWCWS)
4. Yarn Supply Scheme (YSS)

 

Under the above schemes, financial assistance is provided for raw materials, purchase of looms and accessories, design innovation, product diversification, infrastructure development, skill upgradation, lighting units, marketing of handloom products and loan at concessional rates.

1. National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP)

 

1. Block Level Cluster: Introduced in 2015-16 as one of the components of National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP).  Financial assistance upto Rs. 2.00 crore per BLC for various interventions such as skill upgradation, Hathkargha Samvardhan Sahayata, product development, construction of workshed, project management cost, design development, setting up of common facility centre (CFC) etc. is provided. Besides, financial assistance upto Rs. 50.00 lakh is also available for setting up of one dye house at district level. The proposals are recommended by the State Government.

 

2. Handloom Marketing Assistance is one of the components of National Handloom Development Programme.  In order to provide marketing platform to the handloom agencies/weavers to sell their products directly to the consumers, financial assistance is provided to the States/eligible handloom agencies for organising marketing events in domestic as well as overseas markets. 

 

3. Weavers’ MUDRA Scheme: Under the Weavers’ Mudra Scheme, credit at concessional interest rate of 6% is provided to the handloom weavers.  Margin money assistance to a maximum of Rs. 10,000 per weaver and credit guarantee for a period of 3 years is also provided. MUDRA portal has been developed in association with Punjab National Bank to cut down delay in disbursement of funds for margin money and interest subvention.

 

4. HATHKARGHA SAMVARDHAN SAHAYATA (HSS):

Hathkargha Samvardhan Sahayata (HSS) was introduced on 1st December 2016 with an objective to provide looms/accessories to the weavers to enhance their earnings through improved productivity and quality of the handloom products. Under the scheme, 90% of the cost of loom/accessory is borne by the Government of India while remaining 10% is borne by the beneficiary. The Government of India’s share is released directly in the Bank account of the beneficiary through designated agency.

 

5. EDUCATION OF HANDLOOM WEAVERS AND THEIR CHILDREN:

Ministry of Textiles has signed Memorandums of Understanding with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to secure educational facilities for the weavers and their families.  NIOS offers Secondary and Senior Secondary level education with specialized subjects on design, marketing, business development, etc. through distance learning mode for handloom weavers, whereas IGNOU offers continuing education programs through accessible and flexible learning opportunities relevant to the aspirations of handloom weavers and their children for career progression.

Ministry of Textiles is providing reimbursement of 75% of the fee towards admission to NIOS/IGNOU courses in case of SC, ST, BPL, and Women learners belonging to handloom weavers’ families.

6. India Handloom Brand- During the celebration of 7th August 2015 as National Handloom Day, ‘India Handloom’ Brand was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister for branding of high quality handloom products. It promotes production of niche handloom products with high quality, authentic traditional designs with zero defect and zero effect on environment. Since its launch, 1232 registrations have been issued under 122 product categories and sale of Rs. 833.69 crore has been generated.

 

Initiatives with various leading brands has been undertaken to bring out a separate range of handloom garments in their brand.

 

7. E-COMMERCE- In order to promote e-marketing of handloom products, a policy frame work was designed and under which any willing e-commerce platform with good track record can participate in online marketing of handloom products. Accordingly, 23 e-commerce entities have been engaged for on-line marketing of handloom products. Total sales of Rs. 71.95 crore has been reported through the online portal.

 

8. URBAN HAATS are set up in the big towns/metropolitan cities to provide adequate direct marketing facilities to the craft persons/weavers and eliminate middle agencies.  38 such Urban Haats have been sanctioned across the country so far.

 

2. Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme:

The Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme (CHCDS) is implemented for development of Mega Handloom Clusters covering atleast 15000 to 25,000 handlooms and financial assistance as GoI share from Rs. 40.00 to Rs.70.00 crore is in a period of 5 years.  8 mega handloom clusters taken up as announced in the Budgets i.e. Varanasi, Sivasagar (2008-09), Virudhunagar, Murshidabad (2009-10), Prakasam & Guntur districts and Godda& neighbouring districts (2012-13), Bhagalpur &Trichy (2014-15).

Under the scheme, components like conducting Diagnostic Study, engaging Designer, Product Development, Corpus for raw material, Construction of Worksheds (for BPL/SC/ST/Women weavers), Skill up-gradation etc. are fully funded by Government of India, while the components like Technology up-gradation, lighting units funded 90% and other common infrastructural projects like Design Studio,  Marketing Complex, Value Addition Centres, Publicity etc., are funded by the GOI to the extent of 80%.

 

3. Handloom Weavers’ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme

Weavers Comprehensive Welfare Scheme (HWCWS) is providing life, accidental and disability insurance coverage under the components Pradhan Mantri Jivan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Converged Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana (MGBBY). 

D.        Yarn Supply Scheme:

Yarn Supply Scheme is being implemented throughout the country to make available all types of yarn at Mill Gate Price. The scheme is being implemented through National Handloom Development Corporation.  Under the Scheme freight is reimbursed and depot operating charges @2% is given to depot operating agencies.  A component of 10% price subsidy also exists on hank yarn, which is applicable on cotton, domestic silk, wool and linen yarn with quantity caps.

Budgetary allocation of funds is not made State-wise.  Funds are released to handloom agencies on receipt of viable proposals and utilization of previous funds.  However, Scheme-wise details of funds allocated and released in the last three years and the current year for implementation of above mentioned schemes across the country are as under:

(Rs. in crore)

S. No.	Name of scheme	2016-17		2017-18		2018-19		2019-20 (till date)
		Funds allocated (RE)	Funds released	Funds allocated (RE)	Funds released	Funds allocated (RE)	Funds released	Funds allocated	Funds released
1	National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP)	167.53	153.56	140.24	135.05	138.53	119.72	135.00	97.74
2	Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme (CHCDS)	50.00	40.11	32.50	31.82	21.50	16.38	40.00	6.92
3	Handloom Weavers’ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme (HWCWS)	26.56	26.56	25.00	24.98	10.05	2.06	20.00	7.96
4	Yarn Supply Scheme (YSS)	261.50	261.35	200.00	199.84	155.41	126.84	195.00	105.03
	Total	505.59	481.58	397.74	391.69	325.49	265.00	390.00	217.65

 

State-wise and Scheme-wise number of handloom weavers benefited under various schemes of this office in the last three years and the current year are indicated at Annexure-II.

Annexure - I

 

Statement showing State-wise number of weavers and allied weavers in the country as per the 4^th All India Handloom Census (2019-20)

 

S. No.	State	No. of allied workers	No. of weavers
1	ARUNACHAL PRADESH	17016	77600
2	ASSAM	176453	1107428
3	BIHAR	5631	7216
4	JHARKHAND	10133	12364
5	MANIPUR	12203	212481
6	MEGHALAYA	1553	41221
7	MIZORAM	10242	17298
8	NAGALAND	7534	35950
9	ODISHA	64364	53472
10	SIKKIM	65	632
11	TRIPURA	25712	111927
12	WEST BENGAL	264791	366656
Total East Zone		595697	2044245
1	CHHATTISGARH	7426	14077
2	GUJARAT	422	10179
3	GOA	4	22
4	MADHYA PRADESH	5267	12805
5	MAHARASHTRA	627	2882
Total West Zone		13746	39965
1	DELHI	1049	3236
2	HARYANA	11128	14414
3	HIMACHAL PRADESH	477	13211
4	JAMMU AND KASHMIR	7544	15784
5	PUNJAB	338	631
6	RAJASTHAN	1403	8687
7	UTTARAKHAND	4594	7967
8	UTTAR PRADESH	60179	130778
Total North Zone		86712	194708
1	ANDHRA PRADESH	49785	127662
2	KARNATAKA	27616	27175
3	KERALA	6604	15480
4	PUDUCHERRY	782	908
5	TAMIL NADU	45757	197818
6	TELANGANA	21922	25930
Total South Zone		152466	394973
Grand Total		848621	2673891

 

Annexure-II

 

 

State-wise and scheme-wise number of handloom weavers benefited under various schemes in the last three years (2016-17 to 2018-19) and the current year (2019-20 till 30-9-2019).

 

S.No.		States	NHDP & CHCDS	NHDP		HWCWS
			No. of beneficiaries of Block Level Clusters	No. of beneficiaries of Marketing events	No. of beneficiaries of concessional loans (MUDRA Scheme)	No. of weavers enrolled under PMJJY/ PMSBY	No. of weavers enrolled under MGBBY/ converged MGBBY
East Zone
1	Arunachal Pradesh		4180	11000	-	-	-
2	Assam		45546	134293	587	106	67572
3	Bihar		5114	7000	453	-	1797
4	Jharkhand		9740	0	239	-	485
5	Manipur		11195	34100	18	-	662
6	Meghalaya		0	2000	0	-	0
7	Mizoram		634	14500	09	-	0
8	Nagaland		1140	44900	55	-	0
9	Orissa		5200	37000	2876	9930	28204
10	Sikkim		0	19400	0	-	29
11	Tripura		341	39930	09	-	482
12	West Bengal		26793	10200	1080	39113	58583
	Total East Zone		109883	354323	5326	49149	157814
West Zone
1	Chhattisgarh		774	15000	649	331	-
2	Gujarat		357	0	289	-	8835
3	Goa		0	0	0	-
4	Madhya Pradesh		7347	21490	242	20	658
5	Maharashtra		4168	31000	193	102	500
	Total West Zone		12646	67490	1373	453	9993
North Zone
1	Delhi		0	2240	0	-	458
2	Haryana		14	0	206	-	126
3	Himachal Pradesh		1643	0	173	2861	6005
4	Jammu & Kashmir		2468	12000	9627	464	396
5	Punjab		0	0	1	-	-
6	Rajasthan		554	7820	314	18	1963
7	Uttar Pradesh		13424	80500	3529	11146	13504
8	Uttarakhand		280	16820	84	231	653
	Total North Zone		18383	119380	13934	14720	23105
South Zone
1	Andhra Pradesh		5366	45000	22322	9024	58175
2	Karnataka		2777	29000	3528	-	52757
3	Kerala		1030	13000	571	3359	11180
4	Puducherry		0	0	0	-	903
5	Tamil Nadu		28626	54100	68727	143819	308964
6	Telangana		1779	46000	3279	-	6998
	Total		39578	187100	98157	156202	438977
1	Beneficiaries covered through other National Level agencies		-	425250	-	-	-
	Grand Total		180490	1153543	118790	220524	629889

 

This information was given by the Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani, in written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

 

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MM/ SB

 

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