CG medal winners to adorned by Chanderi fabrics

Medal winners of the approaching Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi would be adorned with the outfits, made of popular Chanderi fabric, named Angvastram.The Madhya Pradesh Handloom and Handicrafts Development Corporation is producing this special apparel as it has bagged the contract of supplying 1,375 specially designed Angvastrams, informed the officials.The winners of the Commonwealth games, to be organized in the month of October, will be presented Angvastram with Commonwealth Games Mono and Mascot Shera, along with the medals.For the past one year, officials of the corporation had been in contact with the organizers of Commonwealth...

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Textiles & handicrafts recipients of govt largesse

Today, the Government of India extended incentives amounting to Rs 10.52 billion to exporters, mainly for labour intensive sectors like leather, handicrafts and textiles.These sops will help these industries to survive through the still-fragile global economic recovery.The benefits which have been extended are through the various schemes like DEPB, under which taxes are reimbursed to exporters, subsidized interest and incentives for import of capital goods.However the government made it clear that this would be the last time that incentives would be available on the DEPB scheme and it would not be extended again, since it is against WTO rules.Handloom,...

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Bijnore Cluster

With around 7000 looms and 13000 weavers operating here, Bijnore cluster is the prime nucleus for products like Duster cloths, Home furnishing, and Dress materials. The Bijnore handloom cluster is stretched across a length of 60 km and breadth of 40 km. About 20% of the total production is supplied to Delhi based exporters like Fab India, All India Handloom Board & other major exporters through middle-men. The rest is sold in the domestic market at Naogaon, Sadat, Nahtore, Sheohara, Dhampur and Kath etc. Fibre2fashion.com had an exclusive interview with Mr. Raman Shiv Kumar, CDP Officer of Bijnore Handloom Cluster, in which he threw...

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Implementation of Handloom Cluster & Role of WSC

Govt. of India, Development Commissioner for Handloom, New Delhi has sanctioned 419 Handloom clusters. Among that 9 handloom clusters in Gujarat State has been sanctioned during the 2008-09 to the Weavers Service Centre, Ahmedabad. Rest was allotted to Gujarat State Handloom & Handicraft Corporation,Gandhinagar; namely Junagarh, Amreli, Porbandar, Surendranagar, Limbdi, Palanpur, Vadgam (Banaskantha), and Bhuj. Ahmedabad cluster (Amraivadi, Geetamandir) has been sanctioned to Weavers Service Centre, Ahmedabad to cover up 490 Handloom Weavers under various components.Under this project, Weavers Service Centre, Ahmedabad has undertaken...

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Smiling Face of Chanderi Weavers(A Full Circle)

The Government of India has adopted a Cluster approach for a focused development of Handloom weavers. Office of Development Commissioner Handlooms, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, took imperative step to nurture, promote and develop the exclusiveness of the handloom sector. In the first phase 20 Pilot clusters were selected across 12 States of the country. Several innovative strategic approaches brought the success to its credit under the four year programme. The turn around story of the Chanderi Cluster was one of them. For the development of Chanderi Cluster, the weavers of Chanderi were organized into small Self Help Groups which further formed a federation i.e.; Chanderi Handlooms Cluster Development Company Limited, ensuring the participation and transparency for realizing...

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Gadag handloom cluster transforming with changing times

Gadag cluster is a famous cotton trading centre for Jayadhar variety of cotton. It has also occupied a significant place in the handloom industry of Karnataka. There are about 3,600 active working handlooms in the cluster. A round 10,000 people are depending in this industry for their livelihood. The cluster is also very much popular for its traditional product called Gaadi Dhadi Sarees .History of the Gadag handloom cluster shows the rise and fall of products and goods manufactured in the past years. Even the products manufactured here have been changed from ordinary cotton sarees to mercerized cotton saris and high quality of silk saris. Today...

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A company by the weavers, for the weavers and of the weavers

Kishen Lal is a happy man today. Toiling on his looms for years, he had never dreamt that one day he would be owner (shareholder) of a company. There are 249 weavers like him in Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh who are now proud shareholders in a private limited company formed by them. For them, July 30, 2010 will always be a day of reckoning as they received their first dividend certificates at a function held here on Friday. This company is a result of Union government's effort to revive the handloom sector. With Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), Ahmedabad, as the implementing agency, ministry of textiles launched four-year Integrated Handlooms Cluster Development Scheme in Chanderi in 2006 to help handloom weavers meet the challenges of globalised environment. Chanderi...

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Handloom Cluster project opens in Imphal

A Handloom Development Cluster Project has recently been launched, under the Integrated Handloom Cluster Development Scheme. The District Industries Centre (DIC) of Imphal East organized the inaugural ceremony of the project in association with the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.The government offered this cluster development project to the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and weavers to boost the economic conditions of the state of Manipur, informed Thongju MLA and Deputy Chairman of the Manipur State Planning Board, Mr. Bijoy Koijam, who was present at the event as a Chief Guest.Citing this project as a big project, he stated that the state...

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Genuine Kancheepuram sarees face stiff competition

The Kancheepuram silk saree, churned out by the Department of Handlooms and Textiles in Tamil Nadu is witnessing a demand fall of sorts, never seen before, mainly due to competition from the private sector.The department has organised a sale in the capital of Tamil Nadu; Chennai, where it is giving discounts as high as 45 percent, in a bid to clear the high inventory levels and to maintain flow of working capital.The main reason for this condition is that the private sector weavers and traders use artificial silk zari sarees and pass off the sarees as pure Kancheepuram silk sarees, which the government agency is unable to do.These private sector...

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Handloom & handicraft clusters should apply for IPR – expert

Not having patents for their handloom and handicraft products, whether handed down traditionally since centuries or developed with years of sweat and research, is proving costly for artisans and small manufacturing units from these two high employment generating sectors.The cost of seeking patents is also too high. In India it costs between Rs 100,000 and 150,000, while in the developed countries like the US, it is prohibitively expensive. The cost could range between Rs 0.5 million and Rs 1.5 million, which is not affordable to the hundreds of thousands of units in these two sectors.To get around the prohibitive costs, handloom and handicrafts clusters should apply for the patents and contain the duplication of their products and at the same time they can also do away with the traditional...

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Bargarh Handloom Cluster - A caption for every motif or design

Bargarh Handloom cluster is spread over the entire Block of Bargarh, Attabira, Bijepur and Sohella. The cluster has 7158 numbers of looms as per the survey report of the zonal Handloom office taken up during the year 2004 out of which 5102 looms are working in 299 different villages.The main products of the cluster are cotton sarees of tie and dye and small amount of dress materials, lungis and napkins etc. The annual production is around 10 Crores rupees. The products of this area are mostly marketed in Orissa and National market. The cluster so to say represents Orissa in quantitative and qualitative Tie and Dye Cotton Sarees as no other clusters...

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Burdwan keeps Mughal era handloom tradition alive

'Jamdani' and 'Tangail' are two pioneer sarees in the field of heritage handloom products of Bengal handloom and Burdwan handloom cluster in particular.'Jamdani' - the great characteristic of fine art in hand weaving derived from a Persian word 'Jam' meaning a 'cup' and 'Dani' denotes the 'container'. Jamdani style of weaving flourished under the benign, rich and enlightened patronage of kings and emperors.It may be considered as a textile of excellence for its super fine qualities in the fifteenth & sixteenth centuries. Excellence in weaving lies in the virtuosity of forms drawn from the social, religious and natural environment and translated...

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Barabanki handloom cluster exports 95% of goods

Barabanki Handloom Cluster in Uttar Pradesh is famous for weaving since the Nawab period of Lucknow. About 95% of the turnover of this handloom cluster is exported. Most of the facilities are outsourced by cluster actors as the demands of the export market are heavy and time bound.The cluster is a good destination for stoles and scarves and some of the world famous designs are being exported to various Middle East and European countries. The cluster has brought about improvements in its dyeing quality with installation of dyeing facilities and up-gradation of the existing dye houses.The weavers can be categorized into 2 types, based on their...

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Bhagalpur cluster silk output next only to Karnataka

Bhagalpur is a divisional town of historical importance situated on the southern bank of the Ganga river. The Bhagalpur handloom weaver’s history traces back to over 100 years. It was a family tradition among the lower income group of people to take up the weaving job. There are about approximately 70,000 handloom weavers in Bhagalpur handloom cluster. The major products produced here are Silk Dress material, Sarees, Salwar Suits, Dupattas, Kurta Pajamas, Cushion Covers, Bed Sheets, Shawls, Scarves, Curtains, Throws, Table Covers, and Napkins & Runners. The total value of trade from Bhagalpur Silk cluster is around Rs 100 crore annually....

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Handloom cluster scheme to take off

Work on establishing 10 handloom clusters in the state is all set to commence soon with the Tamil Nadu government sanctioning Rs 1.43 crore. These would be taken up under the Centrally-sponsored integrated handloom cluster development scheme. The Centre has given its nod for setting up 25 handloom clusters totally and of them 10 are coming up this year and the remaining 15, in the next phase. The scheme focuses on cluster approach and comes in four components: Clusters having handlooms in the range of 300–500 per cluster, group approach to be implemented in project mode outside the cluster in adjacent geographical areas, assistance for handloom organisations and supplementary works. About Rs 5.97 crore would be spent for promoting the 10 clusters and another Rs 8.76 crore for the 15...

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Indian Handloom Sarees

Baluchari sari is the most well-known Bengal Silk sari.It is a product of exquisite design and fabulous weaving technique.Produced in the town of Baluchar in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, Baluchari sarees are nation and world wide popular because of their artistic and unique design.'Baluchari' is one of the most popular weaving techniques of Bengal.Silk weaving of Baluchar continues to be an important landmark of Bengal's handloom tradition. Balucharisarees are woven in Bengal silks which are much acclaimed in the world over, since ancient times. Like silk, cotton baluchari sarees are also woven in a fascinating andexquisite range....

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