Promoting handlooms as he did khadi last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stressed on new designs, branding and e-commerce to launch the rich, colourful heritage on a global scale.
Inaugurating the 1st National Handloom Day in Chennai, Mr. Modi said he had asked people to use at least one khadi garment to help artisans during his ‘Mann ki baat’ programme last October and the sale of khadi products had since then gone up by 60 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Handlooms constituted 15 per cent of the total cloth consumption in the country. “If you raise this to 20 per cent, it will be a huge boost to the sector as the turnover will increase by 33 per cent,” he said.
The Prime Minister said there was a need to make handlooms fashionable by constantly evolving and innovating, and at the same time ensuring quality. “The fashion and design education in the country needs to reorient itself with the traditional handloom as the centrepiece,” he said. While 80 per cent of the weaver’s house area goes for the loom, the family lives in the remaining area and the family devotes itself for months to make a single sari. A system that gives the weavers their rightful returns is essential, he said.
At the function, Mr. Modi launched the India Handloom Mark to win the trust and confidence of customers and presented Sant Kabir awards and National awards for weavers for the past three years.
Special significance Minister of State for Textiles Santosh Kumar Gangwar said August 7 had a special significance in India’s history as it was on this day that the swadeshi movement was launched in 1905.
Among those present at the well-attended meeting were Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah, Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan, State Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam and Handlooms and Textiles Minister S. Gokula Indira.
