India is a nation that is quite famous for its handloom products. However, despite being such credibility in handloom production, this industry is not as grown as it should be. Therefore, the Government of India emphasized enhancing and growing the handloom industry of India. To maintain this handloom industry, there are several schemes and programs were launched by the Government of India, which included the National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP). As a fact, the Indian handloom system brought a great amount of revenue as well as employment opportunities to the country. Therefore, these schemes are revised under the guidance of the Government of India to improve the opportunity for employment for these handloom weavers, enhance and integrate the growth of these Indian handloom industries as well as focus on the welfare of the workers working in these industries. With the improvement of technology, it is very much essential to bring these new technologies into the market of handloom products.
A Brief of the Handloom Development Programme:
The National Handloom Development Programme was postulated in terms of being implemented over the country during the year 2017-18. This program is a planning scheme in the central sector. Therefore, it has an emphasis on the country as a whole. The basic objective and the goal of this program were to bring growth and enhancement in the field of handloom industries. To maintain this growth, the Government of India emphasized increasing the employment opportunities and introducing the new technologies to the market of handloom products, which will be quite beneficial for the handloom weavers and several other participants that are interested in working in the handloom industries. This program also led several NGOs and self-help groups to join this program in enhancing the standards of the handloom industry in this country.
Objective
The National Handloom Development Programme has several objectives and future goals for the handloom industries. Some of these objectives are.
- One of the basic objectives of this program is to improve the economic as well as the social standards of the handloom weavers that are living in this country.
- It also emphasizes increasing and enhancing the employment opportunities for the handloom weavers, as well as several other participants that are interested in the handloom industries, which includes the minority people as well as the socially backward people.
- The program also emphasizes the proper management of the handloom industries, which requires systematic as well as proper management of this handloom sector.
- One of the essential objectives of the National Handloom Development Programme is to introduce the new technologies in the handloom industries to bring benefits and increase the profit margin for the weavers.
- Along with the easy availability of raw materials, the program also focuses on enhancing the relationship between the national and international markets for handloom products.
Key Components
Some of the key components of the National Handloom Development Programme are.
- Financial Support: This program emphasized providing financial assistance to the handloom industries for the cluster projects, i.e., the projects where the weavers are in a formidable unit. The overall revenue of the finest that is provided to the handloom weavers is set as ₹2 Crore per project.
- General Awareness: One of the key components of the National Handloom Development program is to provide general awareness among the weavers. The awareness of this handloom industry requires the knowledge of the product range, what must be the weaver’s income, the category of the yarn as well as the market demand.
- Marketing Assistance: This program also provides marketing assistance, which includes marketing infrastructure development, market access initiative, domestic marketing, promotion, etc.
- Consensual Credit: Certain kinds of credit are provided to the handloom weavers under the aspect of this development program, which includes the interest subsidy, margin money assistant, bunker facilitator, credit guarantee, etc.
Conclusion
India is a country that is famous for its traditional handloom products, and it is quite famous in the international market. However, the handloom industry is not quite successful and developed as it must be. Therefore, the government of India, emphasizes improving these handloom industries, for which several schemes and programs are launched. One of such schemes is the National Handloom Development Programme which emphasizes improving the economic aspects and the social standards of the handloom weavers, increasing the employment opportunities, providing raw materials, increasing the market value, and enhancing the overall industry. There are several changes and revisions undertaken for this scheme, with the improvement and the change that takes place in technology.