The North-East Region (NER) of India has the highest concentration of handloom weavers in the country with women participation of around 88 per cent.

The Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani shared this information in Lok Sabha (lower house) today.

NER comprises eight states – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

As far as Government support to the handloom weavers for NCT is concerned, there are few interesting initiatives also.

There are 38 such Urban Haats sanctioned across the country so far, out of which 3 have been sanctioned in NER States.

These Urban Haats have been set up in big towns/metropolitan cities to provide adequate direct marketing facilities to the craft persons/weavers and eliminate middle agencies.

In Assam, which is one of the leading NER States, Sivasagar Mega Handloom cluster has been taken up covering Sivasagar district.

Yarn Supply Scheme is being implemented throughout the country (including NER States) to make available all types of yarn at Mill Gate Price.

From 2017-18 to 2019-20 and in the current financial year, 11.49 lakh kg yarn of the value of Rs. 7,199 lakh has been supplied under the scheme in NER states.

The North-East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS) is an umbrella scheme implemented in project mode to promote textiles industry in the NER States by providing infrastructure, capacity building and marketing support to the industry.

India Handloom brand, which has total 1,590 registrations, has 14 registrations from NER States.