New Delhi: Union Textiles Minister Giriraj Singh on Thursday said all 797 handloom clusters across the country need to be connected with entrepreneurs to expand the reach of such products in both domestic as well as global markets.
Addressing a National Handloom Day event, the minister said that linking weavers with entrepreneurs would help raise their annual income to Rs10 lakh. He also informed that 100 handloom and handicraft artisans have been onboarded to an e-platform to increase the global reach of handloom products.
“Today, 100 artisans have been onboarded onto an e-platform for Indian handloom products to reach overseas. I hope in the coming days, we will connect lakhs of handloom weavers. It is my wish and PM Modi’s direction that their average annual income be at least Rs8-10 lakh,” Singh said at the Handloom Day function.
It was not immediately officially clear why President Draupadi Murmu did not attend the function, but sources said she was unwell. The minister also expressed the desire for a startup programme to be launched to invite proposals on how the handloom technology can be upgraded to increase its production.
“I want all the 797 clusters in the country to be connected to entrepreneurs so that handloom products can reach domestic as well as overseas markets in large numbers,” Singh said. Addressing the handloom workers, the minister said, “Your designs are stolen by foreign designers and converted into their own designs. I am making arrangements through my department to ensure that your designs are not stolen by anyone, by connecting them (the designs) to Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technology”.
