Textile minister, Santosh Kumar Gangwar discussed the provisions of the proposed “Textile Policy” at the recently held annual conference of states textile ministers.

Participating in the conference, Mr. Govindas Konthoujam, Minister of sericulture, commerce and industries, Manipur introduced a brief account of the status of handloom industry in Manipur.

As per the National Handloom Census 2009-10, Manipur has highest concentration of both weavers and loom in the country with a figure of 2.04 lakh weavers and 1.90 lakh looms.

Referring to the opportunities so far given by the centre to Manipur; he stated that the ministry of textiles extended the state the opportunity to implement various centrally sponsored schemes under the development commissioner for Handlooms and Handicraft, Power loom and Sericulture directly.

Presently, the State is implementing handloom cluster development project, catalytic development project and Manipur Sericulture Project phase-II, handicrafts clusters and Guru Award among others.

Referring to sericulture, Mr. Govindas said that Manipur is also a unique State in the country where four varieties of silk namely, Tasar, Mulberry, Eri and Muga are grown.

He proposed to the Ministry to consider Manipur Sericulture Project Phase-II for covering remaining tribal community of five hill districts of the State to ensure equal growth in all areas.

Mr. Govindas also proposed introduction of Mega Handloom Cluster as a National Scheme in the States where minimum weavers is more than 1.00 lakh as the eligibility criteria.

For setting up of a Textile Park under the North Eastern Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS) Mr. Govindas pointed out that the ministry had Integrated Textile Park where there were certain minimum criteria which North Eastern States like Manipur had limitation to fulfil the criteria laid down in the guidelines.

He, therefore, proposed to include the Textile Park in NERTPS to cater to all sectors of power loom, handloom, handicrafts, garmenting, value addition units, finishing and packaging units.