Bhubaneswar: NABARD, Odisha RO has celebrated National Handloom Day on Sunday at Bhubaneswar. Hon’ble Minister of Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts, Smt. Rita Sahu; Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary, P K Jena; Principal Secretary – Finance Department, Vishal Kumar Dev, CGM, NABARD, C. Udaybhaskar; Weavers, NGOs and other stakeholders have participated in the event.
Odisha with its rich cultural heritage in art and crafts has immense scope for improving the extent and quality of its Handloom and Textiles products. NABARD has been taking a lot of initiatives for the Off- Farm Sector which include the formation of Off Farm Producer Organisations (OFPOs) and Skill Development of the Weavers. To help in the marketing of the products of the weavers, NABARD sponsors exhibitions, and supports the establishment of Rural Haat, and Rural Mart for better marketing of the handloom products. Odisha has the highest number of OFPOs (10) in the country. NABARD to date has sanctioned an amount of Rs.2.33 Crore for weavers development supporting 1450 weavers, and is making efforts to organize more weavers of other clusters into the fold of OFPOs.
Hon’ble Minister of Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts, Smt. Rita Sahu congratulated NABARD for its sustained efforts toward Rural development in Odisha including the revitalization of the Textile & Handloom industry in particular. Further, Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary, Shri P K Jena urged all stakeholders to come forward for greater convergence towards addressing challenges faced by the Handloom sector like drudgery, lack of marketing, etc in the State and the Rural economy at large for ensuring progressive growth in all spheres. Principal Secretary, Finance spoke on the initiatives taken by NABARD in helping better market the handloom products of the state.
NABARD has taken upGI registration of Odisha’s rich Handloom products viz. Mayurbhanj Saree, Tribals Phuta Saree, Jagatsingpur Saree etc.
NABARD has launched “Stall in Mall” at Esplanade Mall, Bhubaneswar to help market the products of weavers of the State. As part of the Handloom Day celebrations, NABARD has sponsored 05 stalls for 05 days from 07 August to 11 August helping with the marketing of the handloom products.
To extend hassle-free credit and working capital to weavers, NABARD RO also launched a special scheme for the promotion of 10,000 JLGs covering 50,000 weavers in 03 years. Further, NABARD has launched a workshop to train 20 weavers on Garment designing with the collaboration of NIFT Kolkata on the eve of National Handloom Day.
