UP CM seeks 30% subsidy on cotton yarn for weavers

Looking forward to improve financial conditions of the handloom weavers in the State, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has written to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh seeking a grant of at least a 30 percent subsidy on cotton yarn.

The Chief Minister of the North Indian State also requested the PM to write off weavers’ loans, just like the Centre has done for farmers.

She added that the 10 percent incentive on yarn granted by the Centre through a package for handloom weavers is quite insignificant.

She even stated that the loan waiver scheme for weavers is very much different than the one that the Centre announced prior to the last general elections.

The CM said that ensuring availability of yarn at a reduced rate has been a key demand of the weavers and it is the Centre’s obligation to provide weavers with yarn at low cost through the National Handloom Development Corporation.

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India approves Rs 23.5 bn package for handloom weavers

The Government of India has approved a Rs. 23.5 billion package for the benefit of handloom weavers in the country, Textiles Minister Anand Sharma said in Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Parliament.

The comprehensive package will enable the crisis ridden handloom sector in the country to meet its important needs of cheap hank yarn and credit at low interest rates.

The Minister said the package has been made by modifying the two existing schemes - Integrated Handlooms Development Scheme for availability of cheap credit and Mills Gate Price for availability of subsidized hank yarn.

The Rs. 23.5 billion package includes providing 3 percent interest subvention to weavers for three years.

The subsidized credit to the weavers will be made available through SIDBI, NABARD and the nationalized banks, while the National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC) would provide subsidized yarn.

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Protecting handloom from powerloom & mechanised sector

To protect handlooms from Powerlooms and mechanized sector, the Handlooms (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985 is being implemented by the Ministry. Under the Act 11 textile articles are at present reserved exclusively for production on handlooms (with certain technical specifications.)

The Enforcement Offices of the O/o the D. C. Handlooms, Weavers Service Centers and State Governments/UTs are regularly inspecting Powerlooms and Mills to prevent violation of the provisions of he the Act.

In addition to this, Central Assistance is also given to 09 State Governments to set up an Enforcement Machinery in the state to ensure that there is no violation of the Handlooms (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985. These nine States are namely Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala.

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40 sick spinning mills in Karnataka down shutters

All in all 40 spinning units in Karnataka including 37 private sector units have been closed down after turning sick.

The Karnataka State assembly was informed regarding this closure by State Minister for Textiles Varthur Prakash who informed that after 40 mills ceased operations due to financial constraints, now there are 66 mills functional in the state which includes 11 in the cooperative sector.

Apprising about the steps initiated by the state government to improve the financial condition of the spinning units functioning in the cooperative sector, the Minister said that National Cotton Development Corporation (NCDC) extended financial aid to these mills, and added that the Hulakoti based Gadag Cooperative Spinning Mill was provided a sum of Rs. 73.6 million to make it economically viable.

Mr Prakash further informed that the government also allocated Rs. 135 million for revitalization of the Banahatti based Banahatti Co-operative Spinning Mills.

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Sikkim Imparts Training in Screen Printing

The Sikkim Consultancy Centre, Gangtok has organized a Skill Development Programme on Screen Printing at Gangtok with an aim to provide skill training to the people of the region and thereby open new employment avenues for them.

The three-week programme that commenced with 21 participants would go on till December 19 and efforts would also be made to get placement for these trainees.

The Skill Development Initiatives (SDI) envisage growth, promotion or broadening the horizons of the skills that the trainees already possess, and are mostly intended for rural people who are hunting for paid employment or sources of income through individual efforts or through group activities.


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National Fibre Policy to Form Part of India’s 12th Plan

The inclusive National Fibre Policy intended at ensuring sustainability and development of the fibre industry by ending the discrepancies in taxation and pricing structure of several fibres in the country, would now be included in India’s 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017), Textiles Secretary Rita Menon has said.

On the sidelines of an event for promotion of technical textiles, she informed that the Policy proposal has been pending with Cabinet since 2010, and they now propose to include the same in the 12th plan document, and its acceptance by the Planning Commission would serve as a key to take it forward.

The Policy could not be notified in 2010 as various concerned departments raised issues over tax rate volatility in succeeding financial years, Ms. Menon said, and added that with a view to firmly position India on the world fibre map, the Government had devised a draft policy with a decadal approach for 2010-2020 period.

The draft policy is aimed at fortifying the existing framework and extending institutional and technological assistance for accelerating the development of the country’s fibre industry.

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Indian Govt Unfolds Package to Support Handloom Weavers

As part of the Handloom package, Government has announced a six fold strategy to offer financial support to handloom weavers. Under the Scheme, weavers will be eligible to margin money assistance of Rs. 4200 to Rs. 5400 per head and interest subsidy of 3 percent on loans for a period of 3 years and Weavers Credit Cards will be issued to eligible individual weavers to enable them to access loans upto Rs. 2 lakh in a period of 3 years without any collateral security.

Government has convened stakeholders meetings at Ministerial level to assess the slowdown in the industry. The Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) and Cotton Yarn Advisory Board (CYAB) meetings held on 15th November 2011 assessed domestic mill consumption for 2011-12 at 210 lakh bales down from 240 lakh bales of cotton; and cotton yarn production down from 3900 million kgs to 3200 million kgs indicating the slowdown in textiles industry.

Government is considering industry representations for a moratorium on loans for capital intensive requests and special relaxation in RBI’s prudential norms to avoid asset reclassification or additional provisioning to address the textile industry slowdown.

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West Bengal to Soon Have Handloom Technology Institute

A handloom training institute is likely to be soon set up in Nadia district of the east Indian State of West Bengal, according to the State’s Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Manas Bhunia.

The Minister said the proposal for starting an Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT) in West Bengal was tabled during the previous Let Front government, but it remained unimplemented.

When their party assumed power, they wrote to the Union Finance Minister and the Textiles Minister to carry on with the proposal and the Central Government is deliberating on it positively, he added.

He informed that there are around 750,000 handloom workers in the State who would benefit from establishment of IIHT at Shantipur in Nadia district.


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Silk & Cotton Items on Display at Sikkim Handloom Expo

A handloom and handicrafts expo showcasing exquisite silk and cotton handloom items manually prepared by artisans of various States is going on in Gangtok, the capital of Indian State of Sikkim.

The Special Handloom Expo 2011, organized by Sikkim Handloom and Handicrafts Corporation Ltd., under the aegis of Development Commissioner (Handloom), Ministry of Textiles Government of India, would run till December 10.

Handloom artisans from seven States including Bihar, Nagaland, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Sikkim and West Bengal are showcasing their products at 40 stalls set up at the expo.

Besides, there is also a theme pavilion exhibiting traditional wears of various ethnic communities of the State like Nepali, Bhutia and Lepcha. The pavilion also showcases the handloom, Lukuni and Angora weaves.

Several other useful and appealing handloom items are on display at the expo, which was inaugurated by Neeru Sewa, Sikkim’s Minister for Commerce and Industries Department in the presence of other dignitaries.


Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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Anand Sharma Announces Comprehensive Package for Handloom Weavers

Government is actively seized with the concerned being faced by the handloom sector which employs 43 lakh weavers. In recent times, this sector has come under stress on account of high yarn prices and stiff competition from power loom and mill sector.

Apart from this, access to credit is not easily forthcoming. The bulk of handloom industry weavers are from UP, West Bengal, Orissa, North East and Southern belt, large number of which belong to the minority community and women. A focused attention to this sector is, therefore an imperative from the stand point of our ‘inclusive growth’ agenda.

Loan waiver for handloom weavers

On assuming charge of the Ministry of Textiles, Shri Anand Sharma had taken a comprehensive review of this sector. In the Budget 2011-12, the Government had announced a loan waiver package of Rs. 3,000 crores, which was expected to benefit 15,000 handloom weavers cooperative societies and 3 lakh handloom weavers, who had been unable to repay their loan on account of economic difficulties. However, a large number of weavers of U.P. who operate on an individual basis and are not organised in the cooperative sector, were left out of its ambit.

A meeting of Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) was held yesterday and a decision of covering individual weavers also, a large number of whom are from UP, will be sent for consideration of the Cabinet.

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Textile traditions of AP on display at Handloom Expo in Vijayawada

A whole range of traditional handlooms like Dharmavaram, Mangalagiri, Kuppadam, Pochampalli, Uppada, Chirala, Gadwal and Guntur are being showcased at the National Handloom Expo being held in Vijayawada city of the south Indian State of Andhra Pradesh.

For those not aware about the State’s rich textile heritage these are just names of places. However, those eager to learn about the art and the technique used by the weavers at these places for preparing one of the finest textiles, the Theme Pavilion at the expo is the best place.

In addition to live demonstration of the strenuous techniques of Uppada Jamadani weaving, Kalamkari block printing and Tie and dye Jamadani, the Vijayawada Weavers’ Service Centre (WSC) is also showcasing various customary and experimental samples of dress materials, saris and bed spreads which have been tidily labelled so that one can read and educate himself.

The speciality of the saris put up on display by the WSC is that these were woven at the Centre by weavers from different places who combined different weaving techniques to produce these saris. For instance, one whole sari was woven using the technique used to weave Gadwal saris, while its border was woven by weavers of East Godavari with the use of Kuppadam technique.

It requires great effort in weaving a Gadwal sari as the weavers need to make three knots from different coloured yarns with the help of a weft for preparing the sari and borders thereon.

Both cotton and silk saris prepared with use of tie and dye technique and dyed with vegetable dyes were included in the saris designed in the WSC.

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Handloom institute to be set up in West Bengal

While on a visit to Kolkata, Commerce and Textile Minister – Mr Anand Sharma said the Union Government would set up a handloom institute along with two textile parks, the announcement for which had been made earlier.

He was addressing the media after a meeting with the West Bengal Chief Minister – Ms Mamta Banerjee, Finance Minister – Mr Amit Mitra and Industry Minster - Mr Partha Chatterjee.

“Two integrated textile parks have already been approved and the location for the same will be decided by the West Bengal government”, he said.

“Emphasis will be put on skill development programs along with revival of the jute sector”, he added.


Fibre2fashion News Desk - India


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