National Handloom Day
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address on August 7 stated that India’s vibrant handlooms exemplify the country’s diversity. He urged the people to reaffirm their commitment towards popularising not just the handloom products but also other local products. In his address he said that the country has witnessed revolution in the sphere of giving impetus to local products of each district. He highlighted that being “vocal for local” has proved to be a boon for the local artisans as these products are getting recognised not only in different parts of India but also abroad.
“In the past 9 years, Khadi production has increased by 3 times and sales of Khadi clothes also increased by 5 times. Demand for Khadi clothes increasing in foreign countries…”: PM Modi
While participating in the National Handloom Day celebrations at Bharat Mandapam, Pragati Maidan, PM Modi mentioned that his government had taken all possible steps to revive the khadi industry which was in a dying stage. Also, people who used to wear Khadi clothes they were looked down upon.
Weaving Prosperity, preserving the tradition
India’s handloom industry has grown so much that it has transformed the lives of the wavers in a positive way. This is evident from the fact that more than 600 handloom clusters are getting all kinds of support from design inputs to marketing. In each state design resource centres have been set up so as to provide design upgradation and all kinds of technological support.
Khadi production has increased almost three times from Rs 879 crores in 2104 to Rs 2900 crores in 2023. The sale of Khadi has risen from Rs 1170 crores to Rs 6000 crores. Also at least 35 lakh weavers got Aadhaar based pehchaan cards.
In the past nine years, 74, 623 weavers have been trained and 94,459 handllom tools were provided. Meanwhile, 4,433 weavers were given worksheds and 17, 759 weavers got lighting units. More than 1.75 lakh handloom and handicraft institutions registered on GeM portal. What is heartening is that more than 125 countries buy handloom products from India and employment is offered to at least 35.23 lakh handloom workers.
In the past nine years, 14,000 khadi workers have been trained, 30152 charkhas have been distributed and most importantly the wages of the khadi artisans increased by 223.33 percent since 2013-14.
Meanwhile, a student of NIFT Jodhpur in a video had beautifully showcased the Indian culture and art of waving and traditions.
Celebrations were also seen at Delhi Hatt where the handloom weavers were seen showcasing their products.
In another video one could get to see the exquisite craftsmanship of the weavers from the Upadda Jamdani cluster in Andhra Pradesh. This was captured in this video by the talented students of NIFT, Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, PM Modi urged the textile and fashion industry to increase its scope and xontribute towards making India the third largest economy in the world.
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