Lok Sabha Question No. 5487 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-04-05
Subject: Problems faced by Handloom Weavers
Ministry: TEXTILES
Asked by: Ganesan Selvam, Amol Ramsing Kolhe, Kuldeep Rai Sharma, Subhash Ramrao Bhamre, DNV Senthilkumar. S., Dhanush M Kumar, Supriya Sadanand Sule, C.N. Annadurai, Manjulata Mandal, Sunil Dattatray Tatkare

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5487 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.04.2023

## PROBLEMS FACED BY HANDLOOM WEAVERS

## 5487. SHRI SELVAM G.:

DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE:

SHRI KULDEEP RAI SHARMA:

DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE:

DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR S.:

SHRI DHANUSH M. KUMAR:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI C.N. ANNADURAI:

SHRIMATI MANJULATA MANDAL:

SHRI SUNIL DATTATRAY TATKARE:

Will the Minister of TEXTILES वस्त्र मंत्री

be pleased to state :

- (a) whether the Government has taken note of problems faced by the handloom weavers;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons for the Government not been able to resolve the problems faced by handloom weavers;
- (c) whether various Welfare Schemes formulated for handloom weavers could not be implemented in the whole country due to inadequate and inappropriate maintenance of basic data related to them, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to adopt more scientific approach in this regard, if so, the details thereof; and
- (e)  the  details  of  achievements  made  in  providing  marketing  facilities  to  the  weavers  and  the  total number of weavers benefited there from during the last three years, State-wise?

## उत्तर

## ANSWER

## वस्त्र राज् य मंत्री ( श्रीमती दर्शना जरदोर् )

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR TEXTILES (SMT. DARSHANA JARDOSH)

- (a): The  Government  is  fully  aware  of  the  functioning  as  well  as  needs  and  requirements  of  the handloom sector.
- (b): The key requirements of sector include support and handholding of handloom workers towards making  of  handloom  products,  both  by  way  of  raw  material  supply,  skilling  and  loom  upgradation, loans as well as marketing support for sale of these products. The Government, through its dedicated schemes to support the handloom sector, keeps working for fulfilment of these requirements.

(c) & (d): The Government conducted handloom census during the year 2019-20, and is equipped with requisite data to implement welfare schemes formulated for handloom weavers. The Government keeps a scientific approach, both in assessment of the requirements of the sector and fulfilment thereof through dedicated schemes  for the same.  Besides transfer of all benefits  through  DBT,  and implementation of all its schemes based on study conducted in consultation with State Governments, some of the new initiatives in this regard are as follows:

- i) Handloom weavers are on-boarded on Government e-Market place to enable them to sell their products directly to various Government Departments and organizations. So far about 1.50 lakh weavers have been on-boarded on the GeM portal.
2. ii) To  enhance  productivity,  marketing  capabilities  and  ensure  better  incomes,  149  Handloom Producer companies have been formed in different States.
3. iii) For export promotion of handloom products, Handloom Export Promotion Council has been participating/organizing  international  marketing  fairs/events.  Besides,  domestic  marketing events are also organised in different parts of the country for the weavers to market and sell their products.
4. iv) 16 Design Resource Centres have been set up in various Weavers' Service Centres with the objective  to  build  and  create  design-oriented  excellence  in  the  Handloom  Sector  and  to facilitate  weavers,  exporters,  manufacturers  and  designers  access  design  repositories  for sample/product improvisation and development.

(e): Ministry  of  Textiles  has  been  implementing  Handloom  Marketing  Assistance  scheme  as  a component of National Handloom Development Programme across the country to provide marketing facilities to the handloom agencies/weavers to sell their products directly to the customers. Statement showing State-wise number of domestic marketing events financially assisted and number of weavers benefited therefrom during the last three years 2019-20 to 2021-22 are annexed.

## Statement  referred  to  in  reply  to  part  (e)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  5487  for answer on 05.04.2023.

| S. No   | States            |   No. of Events | Number of weavers   |
|---------|-------------------|-----------------|---------------------|
| 1       | Arunachal Pradesh |              14 | 29,981              |
| 2       | Assam             |              63 | 1,31,875            |
| 3       | Bihar             |               4 | 6,000               |
| 4       | Manipur           |              24 | 44,912              |
| 5       | Mizoram           |              24 | 46,250              |
| 6       | Nagaland          |              23 | 46,080              |
| 7       | Odisha            |              11 | 8,000               |
| 8       | Sikkim            |              17 | 23,250              |
| 9       | Tripura           |              21 | 93,037              |
| 10      | Madhya Pradesh    |              17 | 30,100              |
| 11      | Maharashtra       |               4 | 8,500               |
| 12      | Himachal Pradesh  |               4 | 1,000               |
| 13      | Jammu &Kashmir    |              10 | 7,500               |
| 14      | Rajasthan         |               7 | 14,000              |
| 15      | Uttrakhand        |               4 | 2,500               |
| 16      | Uttar Pradesh     |              31 | 50,500              |
| 17      | Andhra Pradesh    |              21 | 38,000              |
| 18      | Karnataka         |              15 | 18,000              |
| 19      | Tamil Nadu        |              13 | 55,855              |
| 20      | Telangana         |              13 | 24,000              |
| Total   | Total             |             340 | 6,79,340            |

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