Lok Sabha Question No. 1208 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-06-28
Subject: Weaver Service Centres
Ministry: TEXTILES
Asked by: Supriya Sadanand Sule, Sunil Dattatray Tatkare, Amol Ramsing Kolhe, Heena Vijaykumar Gavit, Subhash Ramrao Bhamre

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1208 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.06.2019

## WEAVER SERVICE CENTRES

1208.

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI SUNIL DATTATRAY TATKARE:

DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE:

DR. HEENA GAVIT:

DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE:

Will the Minister of TEXTILES वस्त्र मंरी be pleased to state:

- (a) the  number  of  Weaver  Service  Centres  operational  in  various  States under different handloom development schemes, State-wise;
- (b) the  objectives  for  setting  up  Weaver  Service  Centres  along  with  the funds sanctioned and utilized during the last three years and current year by various States/UT;
- (c) whether the Government is aware of reasons as to why certain Weaver Service Centres have not been working satisfactorily in certain States;
- (d) if  so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Union Government for making the working of the said centres more effective;
- (e) whether the Government has constituted any monitoring Committee to monitor the functioning of Weavers Service Centres, if so, the number of problems  of  weavers  solved  by  the  Monitoring  Committee  in  the country, State/UT-wise;
- (f) the other steps taken by the Government to strengthen the functioning of Weaver Service Centres in the country?

## उत्तर

## ANSWER

## वस्त्र मंरी ( श्रीमती स्मृ तत ज़ूबिन इरानी )

MINISTER OF TEXTILES (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

- (a): 28 Weavers' Service Centres (WSCs) are functioning across the country. The  state-wise  location  of  these  WSCs  are  given  separately  in  a  statement placed at Annexure-I.

(b): The objectives for setting up of these WSCs are to meet the technical requirements of the handloom weavers, handloom co-operatives/Corporations &  other  manufacturers,  exporters,  designers,  etc.  in  terms  of  providing  new designs, woven textures/structures/patterns, product development/ diversifications, dyeing of yarn with proper shade matching, printing of fabric with new designs, etc. Besides providing technical services, these centres also conduct in-house training programs in designing, weaving and dyeing/printing to  the  weavers, students or anyone who is  interested to undergo short-term training  for  upgradation  of  technical  skills.  The  gist  of  other  activities  of  the centres is given below:-

-  Implementing various schemes in handloom sector of the Government of India and providing assistance and interaction with State Governments, handloom agencies such as Apex and primary co-operatives, State and private undertakings dealing in handlooms.
-  To provide training to the handloom weavers covered under 'Block Level Cluster'  Scheme  for  their  skill  upgradation  for  development  of  new samples  according  to  the  latest  market  trends  along  with  monitoring regarding implementation.
-  Providing  market  support  by  arranging  interface  between  designers, producers and buyers which includes execution of sample orders.
-  Preserving  and  documenting  traditional  skills  and  revival  of  traditional skills and revival of traditional designs for production and marketing.
-  Arranging exhibitions, seminars, workshops focusing on new and improved designs, equipments and processing techniques.
-  Solving problems arising in pre-loom, loom and post loom processes and technologies.
-  Improving techniques of processing.
-  Product development to evolve more marketable products by interaction between  expertise  available  in  the  fields  of  weaving,  designing  and processing.
-  Improving  weaving  techniques  and  accessories  and  appliances  used  in weaving.
-  Providing  assistance  to  weavers  (handloom  pockets)  which  are  located far away from Centres and have no access to WSCs by deputing the staff of WSC on a particular day in a month.
-  The funds sanctioned and utilized during the last three years and current year by these WSCs are separately placed at Annexure-II.

(c)  to  (f)  : During  the  official  tours,  WSCs  are  inspected  by  Senior  Officers from  time  to  time.  Zonal  Directors  of  each  Zone  monitor  the  activities  of Weaver Service Centres under their respective Zones for effective functioning.  They  conduct  review  of  on-going  schemes,  liaise  with  State Handloom Departments and manage resources based on field requirement.

An  Expert  Committee  was  constituted  with  the  following  members  for upgrading the WSCs to serve the handloom sector considering its present needs:-

1. Ms. Laila Tyabji, Designer and founder of Dastkar, New Delhi.
2. Ms. Jaya Jaitley, Founder & President of Dastkari Haat Samiti, New Delhi.
3. Mr. Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Designer, Kolkata.
4. Mr. Gaurang Shah, Designer, Hyderabad.
5. Ms. Anavila Misra, Designer, Mumbai.

A  Bunkar  Mitra-Handloom  Helpline  Centre  was  launched  by  Minister  of Textiles on 4 th January, 2017, in which, professional queries of weavers are being  answered  by  the  experts  in  the  field  thereby  solving  technical issues/problems of weavers. As on May, 2019, a total of 25,858 grievances were received through this helpline and all the grievances were resolved. To strengthen the functioning of WSCs, following steps are taken:-

- Vacant posts of WSCs are filled.
- Infrastructure, including building and machineries are upgraded.
-  MoUs are signed between Designers and WSCs for product development and marketing.
-  Design and Resource Centres are set up in certain WSCs to showcase and share their designs with the Weavers, help develop new designs and serve as a Resource Centre for best designs developed over a period of time.

Annexure-I Statement referred to in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1208 for

answer on 28.06.2019.

| S. No.       | State           | Location of Weaver Service Centre   |
|--------------|-----------------|-------------------------------------|
| North Zone : |                 |                                     |
| 1.           | Delhi           | Delhi                               |
| 2.           | Uttar Pradesh   | Varanasi                            |
| 3.           |                 | Meerut                              |
| 4.           | Jammu & Kashmir | Srinagar                            |
| 5.           | Uttrakhand      | Chamoli                             |
| 6.           | Rajasthan       | Jaipur                              |
| 7.           | Haryana         | Panipat                             |
| East Zone :  |                 |                                     |
| 8.           | Assam           | Guwahati                            |
| 9.           | Tripura         | Agartala                            |
| 10.          | Manipur         | Imphal                              |
| 11.          | West Bengal     | Kolkata                             |
| 12.          | Bihar           | Bhagalpur                           |
| 13.          | Odisha          | Bhubaneshwar                        |
| 14.          | Nagaland        | Dimapur                             |
| 15.          | Mizoram         | Aizwal                              |
| 16.          | Jharkhand       | Ranchi                              |
| West Zone :  |                 |                                     |
| 17.          | Maharashtra     | Mumbai                              |
| 18.          |                 | Nagpur                              |
| 19.          | Gujarat         | Ahmedabad                           |
| 20.          | Madhya Pradesh  | Indore                              |
| 21.          | Chattisgarh     | Raigarh                             |
| South Zone : |                 |                                     |
| 22.          |                 | Chennai                             |
| 23.          | Tamilnadu       | Salem                               |
| 24.          |                 | Kancheepuram                        |
| 25.          | Karnataka       | Bangalore                           |
| 26.          | Kerala          | Kannur                              |
| 27.          | Andhra Pradesh  | Vijayawada                          |
| 28.          | Telangana       | Hyderabad                           |

## Annexure-II

Statement referred to in reply to part (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1208 for answer on 28.06.2019 (funds sanctioned and utilized during the last three years and current year by WSCs).

(Rs. in Lakhs)

|   S. No. | Financial Year   | Funds allocated to WSCs   | Expenditure incurred    |
|----------|------------------|---------------------------|-------------------------|
|        1 | 2016-17          | 4,083.90                  | 3,851.11                |
|        2 | 2017-18          | 4,394.46                  | 4,272.35                |
|        3 | 2018-19          | 4,598.91                  | 4,438.75                |
|        4 | 2019-20          | 4,104.20                  | 883.89 (Upto May, 2019) |

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