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The number of weavers benefiting from the various schemes is very less. The reason behind the same is
the inefficiency of the local concerned authority to create awareness, delay in disbursement of the funds,
the credit facilities currently available to weavers are far from adequate.
A majority of weavers are to be found outside the co-operative fold, weaving usually for master weavers
or on their own. The credit needs of this sector have remained unaddressed. The existing situation is one
where the local master weaver provides consumption loans and/or advances, which over time, render
the weaver completely indebted to the master weaver.
Major Recommendations:
▪ To enhance the competitiveness of handloom products, a range of items needs to be identified,
developed and tested first. While identifying the products, it should be kept in mind that the items
are unique and cannot be easily copied by other regions or other countries. For this, a market survey
should also be carried out periodically to find out the new products, new trends, change of taste,
colour etc, and also to identify new and potential customers.
▪ As the handloom market today is very competitive, it is necessary that the weavers should ensure
consistency in terms of quality of the products, finishing of the goods and rate of production. This is
only possible if they are aware of the latest technology, designs, quality standards etc in this field. So
the Govt. of India should ensure that the weavers are trained on a timely basis.
▪ The majority of the household weavers are not aware about various new schemes like loans at a
concessional rate, free tools, insurance coverage, intensive training, hank yarn at subsidized rate etc
. Thus, it is the duty of the concerned government authority to make the weavers aware about the
various welfare schemes and to initiate proper process to implement them.
▪ In order to ensure the availability of yarn, multi-pronged strategy is required. More yarn depots
should be allocated to the areas dominated by independent weavers rather than only focusing on
clusters. These depots should also supply yarn in smaller quantities. Subsidised yarn assistance
would benefit the household weavers thus faster implementation of schemes such as Yarn Supply
Scheme should be focused upon.
▪ Loom improvement and better ergonomics is a very important issue that needs to be focused. As the
production process for handloom adversely affect the health of weavers in various ways such as body
pain, pulmonary problems, decrease in hand-grip ,strength and strain on eyes. Hence the Ministry
of Textiles in collaboration with Ministry of Health should set up Weavers Health Camp on a regular
basis where the weavers can get their health check up done free of cost.
▪ Organising Awareness Camps in different blocks of Sibsagar may also help in spreading awareness
among them.
▪ Dedicated SHGs for weavers should be formed and training facilities upgraded to ensure 100%
coverage of handloom weavers.
▪ Focus should be given to awareness generation amongst the citizens and mainly on the youth for
sustainable consumption of handloom items.
▪ A web-portal should be created to provide e-marketing platform with B2B (Business to Business)
and B2C (Business to Customer) facility.
▪ Weavers also be encouraged to participate in trade fairs and exhibition where they can demonstrate
their products which in turn will help them to reach to the consumers directly.
▪ To identify and train the highly skilled weavers to take weaving to a higher level.
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