BY TCN News,
New Delhi: The government is aiming to increase handloom exports from about Rs. 2,500 crore at present to Rs. 4,500 crore in the next three years. This was stated by Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar on Tuesday at the first meeting of the handloom Board.
The new strategy for revival of the handloom industry has the core objective of increasing the earnings of handloom weavers through skill upgradation, making available good quality raw material at cheaper rates and other such measures, Gangwar added.
“We are working with a vision to increase the wages of skilled handloom weavers to the level of Rs. 500 per day. Our major interventions will be to cover five lakh weavers in MUDRA Scheme in next three years and also to take up 300 more block level clusters for development,” he further said.
The Textiles Minister said that the budget utilization for the handloom sector in the year 2015-16 was Rs. 591 crore, 25% higher than the previous year.
Speaking of the initiatives taken to improve managerial skills in the handloom sector, Gangwar highlighted the introduction of a four-year course in handloom technology, at Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT), Salem and launching of handloom entrepreneur course at IIHTs at Bargarh, Varanasi and Salem.
The Minister added that national awards in design, intervention and marketing have been instituted in order to encourage innovation in handloom sector.