Lok Sabha Question No. 2830 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-18
Subject: Women Weavers
Ministry: TEXTILES
Asked by: Dr. Angomcha Bimol Akoijam

## WOMEN WEAVERS

## 2830. DR. ANGOMCHA BIMOL AKOIJAM:

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

(a) whether the Government is aware of the large number of women weavers in the State of Manipur, if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government has undertaken any specific initiatives to promote women weavers in the State, if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Ministry has any plan to establish an institution for modernizing the textile industry in Manipur and upgrading the skills of weavers, if so, the details thereof, and if not, the reasons therefor;

(d) the details of handloom textiles from Manipur that have been granted Geographical Indication (GI) tags, along with the year of registration; and

(e) whether any other handloom textiles from Manipur are under consideration for GI tag registration, if so, the details thereof, including the current status of the application?

## उत्तर ANSWER वस्त्र राज्  य मंत्री ( श्री पबित्र मार्घेररटा )

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR TEXTILES (SHRI PABITRA MARGHERITA)

(a): As per 4 th All India Handloom Census 2019-20, there are 2,11,327 women weavers in the State of Manipur.

(b): Women  weavers  play  a  vital  role  in  the  handloom  sector.  In  order  to  encourage  them,  the Ministry of Textiles provides additional incentives to them to sustain and augment their business. Some of the benefits provided to the women weavers across the country including Manipur are:

-  Under schemes of handloom sector, preference is given to programmes which have weavers from women category.
-  There is 100%  subsidy  to BPL/SC/ST/Women/Transgender/Differently-abled  weavers  for construction of work sheds under National Handloom Development Programme.
-  Since  2016,  Kamladevi  Chattopadhyay  Award  has  been  instituted  specifically  for  women weavers.

Besides,  Ministry  of  Textiles  is  implementing  central  sector  schemes  such  as  (i)  National  Handloom Development Programme (NHDP) and (ii) Raw Material Supply Scheme (RMSS) to promote handlooms and for welfare of handloom weavers including women weavers of Manipur across the country. Under these schemes, financial assistance is provided to eligible handloom agencies/weavers for raw materials, procurement of upgraded looms & accessories, solar lighting units, construction of workshed, skilling, product  &  design  development,  technical  and  common  infrastructure,  marketing,  concessional  loans under weavers' MUDRA scheme and social security etc.

- (c): Weavers' Service Centre, Imphal is catering to upgrade skills of handloom weavers in Manipur.
- (d): The  following  3  Handloom  products  from  the  State  of  Manipur  have  been  registered  under Geographical Indication (GI) Act 1999:
- (e): Three  Handloom  products  of  Manipur  viz.  Manipur  Lashing  phee,  Manipur  Leirum  phi  and Manipur Tangkhul Handloom shawl (Changkhom, Raivat Kachon) have been identified for registration under the Act.

|   Sl. No. | Name of Handloom Product   | Registration date   |
|-----------|----------------------------|---------------------|
|         1 | Shaphee Lamphee            | 31.03.2014          |
|         2 | Wangkhei Phee              | 31.03.2014          |
|         3 | Moirang Phee               | 31.03.2014          |

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