Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced August 7 as National Handloom Day to mark the 1905 Swadeshi movement.
Modi also launched the 'India Handloom' brand at a function in Chennai.
The brand will help weavers cater to more global markets, he added.
The PM also called for increased use of handloom products, saying a 5%
increase in comsumption will increase revenues by 33% for the sector.
“The handloom sector has inherent strengths that we need to market.
Can we not enhance use of handlooms in our daily lives,” he said in his
speech. “We should enlarge the scope of e-commerce for sale of handloom
products."
The PM landed at Chennai airport at 10.35 am and was received by Tamil
Nadu governor K Rosiah, J Jayalalithaa and her five senior cabinet
ministers. Later the Prime Minister and governor left for Madras
University, where the Prime Minister officially announced the day.
It was on August 7, 1905 that the formal proclamation of the Swadeshi
Movement was made in a meeting at the Calcutta Town hall. The movement
involved boycotting British products and the revival of domestic
products and production processes.
Around 3,000 handloom weavers from various parts of the country
attended the function at the Madras University Auditorium today.
Tamil Nadu CM, however, gave the function as miss, without providing an
official reason. Jayalalithaa had not attended former President APJ
Abdul Kalam's funeral earlier due to health reasons.
The Prime Minister also conferred the Sant Kabir awards and National
awards for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 to handloom personalities.
"The observance of National Handloom Day and honouring of handloom
weavers will not only provide an impetus to India's handloom industry
but would also serve to promote handloom as a genuine international
product of good quality," an official statement said.
Handloom weaving provides direct and indirect employment to more than
43 lakh weavers and allied workers. The sector is responsible for nearly
15% of cloth production in the country and also contributes to export
earnings. Around 95% of the world's hand woven fabric comes from India.
