Special Service and Features
Handloom day celebration - a reminder to nurture the local crafts and popularising their products: Experts
“Celebrating Handloom day is a valid reminder to nurture the local crafts and popularising their products. To achieve acceptance across generations, Handloom sector and other allied rural crafts should focus more on improvising the quality. As consumers give more preference to quality products, this has become the need of the hour.” This was stated by Dr. R. Seerangarajan, Professor and Dean, School of Management Studies, Gandhigram Rural Institute during a webinar on ‘National Handloom Day’ that was organised today  by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s Regional Outreach Bureau and Press Information Bureau, Chennai.
Dr. Seerangarajan also stressed on the need to concentrate on pre-weaving process and maintenance of spinning  tools. He also called for use of technology in this sector, which according to him needs to be developed a lot more, especially by engaging technologies like sensor that automatically informs the weaver whenever there arises an issue, majority of the problems could be met, hassle free. He further insisted on the implementation of a standard procedure regarding the process and application of dyeing.
During his address, Shri. Vijay Pratap Goutham, Senior Officer, National Handloom Development Corporation, Tamilnadu and Puducherry, said that National Handloom Day is observed on August 7th to commemorate the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on this day. The day is observed to create awareness among people about encouraging handloom products. The main aim of the Swadeshi Movement is to motivate local products and their productions. In order to provide service to the handloom sector at the ground level, handloom offices and their branch offices are functioning at different locations across the country including Chennai, he added.
Sharing his experience in the weaving industry, Shri. P. Dhanasekaran, a handloom weaver from Devikapuram village of Thiruvannamalai district, said that his family is engaged in this industry for three generations. Due to the global pandemic, like any other sector, weaving sector too faced a great challenge as the impact of COVID was felt in the livelihood of many families. Increase in the cost of raw materials, loss of jobs are some of the many problems faced by the people involved in weaving. He requested the development of the Integrated Textile Park that was announced to be set up in Arani. As there are over 1 lakh weavers residing in Arani, the initiative will be of huge help in marketing the products. He also insisted on the Government to take steps to procure materials like kora, zari etc., so as to put an end to the unfair prices of these items.
Earlier, in his Presidential address, Shri. J. Kamaraj, Director, Regional Outreach Bureau, Chennai, said that Mahatma Gandhi utilised handloom not only as a tool to eradicate poverty, but also used it as a major weapon against the British and even succeeded in his endeavour. Atmanirbhar Bharat is based on the principle to encourage local crafts and products including handloom. The government under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Shri. Naredra Modi is taking all possible efforts for the welfare of the weavers. On National Handloom day, let us pledge to buy products from Khadi and other rural industries, thereby supporting their livelihoods.
Shri. T. Sivakumar, Deputy Director, Field Outreach Bureau, Puducherry, delivered the welcome address, while Ms. Vidhya A R, Field Exhibition Officer, Regional Outreach Bureau, Chennai, rendered the vote of thanks