Today, Union Minister of Textiles Giriraj Singh inaugurated Handloom Conclave –Manthan at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre Janpath, New Delhi. He emphasized that there is a strong need to create massive awareness regarding sustainable & eco-friendly nature of handloom product, benefits of natural dyeing, organic fibers and uniqueness of designs of Handloom products to target emerging E-commerce market, which is expected to become 325 Billion dollar market by year 2030.

Union Minister of Textiles also urged organised/corporate sector working Textile industry to develop a model to provide sustainable livelihood ensuring social security and fair remuneration for Handloom weavers. An Award will be started by Textile Ministry for corporates/producer companies/Start-ups, which will create such a model for Handloom industry and provide sustainable employment to handloom weavers for minimum 300 days/year.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs & Textiles Pabitra Margherita addressed the event and emphasized that Handloom products are living testament of cultural heritage of our country. He also highlighted the importance of rejuvenating Handloom industry as a vibrant sector, which provides fair earnings to attract the younger generation.

Secretary/Textiles while addressing the event highlighted that the ‘Conclave-Manthan’ is a ‘Chintan Shivir’, which is an effort of Ministry to establish “Samvaad’ with stakeholders to address concerns regarding availability of marketing avenues and attrition of youth from Handloom weaving. She also emphasized upon creating a synergy between modern education and traditional knowledge.

Key highlights of the Event:

• In the Conclave 03 technical sessions were organized:

1. Support for start-up eco system in Handloom Sector.
2.  Handloom Marketing Avenues and strategies.
3. Modelling Handloom Sector for Young Weavers: Approach and Strategy.

The key deliverables of the technical sessions are:

1. Focussing on Niche products.
2. Attractive packaging as an important value proposition.
3. Promote viable employment opportunities in handloom sector to attract youth.
4. Curriculum for training courses to be designed in such a manner that it incorporates soft skills, IT knowledge and presentation skills.
5. Customers buy story behind the product, story behind making of product may be highlighted to attract customers.
6. To incorporate handloom weaving as a part of formal education.