The beautiful treasure hand-loom sector of northeast has always been subjected to ignorance and mystery to mainstream India. On, the event of national handloom day on 7th august, Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani addressed the focus on a need of a systematic structure to knock the doors of north eastern hand-loom sector open towards a better business opportunity.
These are the days when the term sustainability has been a buzzword to the manufacturers, buying agents, and international chains which can be used as a significant growth enhancement opportunity in the lives of the hand-loom weavers. she organised an e-symposium on Handloom Sector under an e-Symposia Series on Emergent North East India: Strategic and Developmental Imperatives, hosted by the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy Research & Analysis under the aegis of IIM Shillong. The symposia was mainly organised to address the necessary strategic plans which are held in order to bring reinforcements to the weavers to have a business plan and a pathway to success. The discussions also exhorts the youth population of the region to front-line the whole issue by providing design technology so as to reduce the challenges that the weaving community face. she addressed all different governmental initiatives those are planned in order to motivate the weavers such as Mudra Yojana, wherein post access to the scheme, a weaver’s income increases by at least 50 to 60 per cent, Irani called for more and more research which can build credibility to such outreach programmes.
Director of IIM Shillong, Prof D P Goyal said, “Sincere thanks goes to the nameless weavers of North East India who have not only been the ambassadors of the culture and heritage of the region but also its true custodian, who for hundreds of years have carried the knowledge of handloom by practicing and passing it on to the next generation.”
Member of the Board of Governors, Atul Kulkarni tried to moderate the whole situation by sharing his opinion by stating that the handloom sector is somewhere trapped and troubled in the middle of subjective perception and objective reality. The sector has been always been entrenched by firm mediocrity, lower productivity, low wages, low literacy level, and very little formal finance arrangements. Its high-time, that needs strong analysis and supportive measures be taken in order to make it flourish and survive.
