Question : Livelihood of Handloom Workers

(a) whether the Government has taken note of the loss of livelihood of handloom and power loom workers and the low productivity during the last five years including the pandemic period and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government is aware that most weavers want to sell their textile products to Government institutions and that they also seek subsidy for the procurement of raw materials;

(c) if so, the details thereof and the details of the assistance given by the Government in this regard;

(d) whether textile industry is facing slowdown due to the failure of cooperative committees which has affected the collection of GST; and

(e) if so, the details thereof during the last five years and till date and the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR TEXTILES
(SMT. DARSHANA JARDOSH)

(a) to (e): No handloom sector specific study for assessment of pandemic impact has been done by the Government. Due to unorganized and traditional nature of handloom sector, such data, if any, pertaining to this sector is dispersed and largely unavailable for centralized quantification.

To overcome the issues faced by handloom workers, the Government has taken following steps:
i. The States and UTs have been requested for their State Handloom Corporations/Co-operatives/Agencies to make purchases of the finished inventory available with the handloom weavers.

ii. Steps have been taken to on-board weavers on Government e-Market place to enable them to sell their products directly to various Government Departments and organizations. So far about 1.5 lakh weavers have been on-boarded on the GeM portal.

iii. To enhance productivity, marketing capabilities and facilitate better incomes, 135 Handloom Producer companies have been formed in different States of the country.




iv. Under Weaver MUDRA/Concessional Credit Scheme, margin money assistance at 20% of the loan amount subject to a maximum of Rs. 25,000/- for individual weaver/Weaver Entrepreneur and Rs. 20 lakh for Handloom Organizations, interest subvention upto 7% and credit guarantee fees on loans for a period of three years are provided.

v. Design Resource Centres have been set up in Weavers’ Service Centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Kancheepuram to build and create design-oriented excellence in the Handloom Sector and to facilitate weavers, exporters, manufacturers and designers access design repositories for sample/product improvisation and development.

vi. For export promotion of handloom products, Handloom Export Promotion Council has been organizing international fairs. During the year 2021-22, various international marketing fairs/events have been organized. Besides, domestic marketing events were also organized in different parts of the country for the weavers to market and sell their products.

vii. Weavers are facilitated to sell their products online and 23 e-commerce platforms have been associated with Ministry of Textiles under a policy framework.

viii. Raw Material Supply Scheme (RMSS) is being implemented throughout the country to make available Yarn to Handloom weavers. Under the Scheme, freight charges are reimbursed for all types of yarn; and component of 15% price subsidy is there for cotton hank yarn, domestic silk, wool and linen yarn and blended yarn of natural fibres, with quantity caps.

Growth of the textile Industry depends on many factors, besides functioning of the co-operative societies.

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