NAMSAI, 28 May: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein said that efforts are on to strengthen women SHGs in the state by extending support of Rs 1 lakh to 500 SHGs and Rs 2 lakhs to 50 SHGs to improve the rural economy.
Speaking at a cluster-level awareness programme on ‘handloom mark and mobile app’ here on Saturday, the DCM urged the SHGs to learn from the failure of the cooperative societies and adopt “cluster approach through SHGs.”
Mein emphasised the need to commercialise handloom and handicraft items “through innovative designs,” and informed that “GI registration of handlooms and handicraft products will be done in phase wise and an emporium with weaving shed will come up in Namsai where handlooms of all tribes will be sold.”
He urged the union Textiles Committee to “facilitate and establish market linkages for the tribal handlooms of the state.”
Among others, Namsai ZPC Urmila Mancheykhun, DC RK Sharma, Mumbai Textiles Committee Joint Director KS Muralidhara and Kolkata-based Textiles Committee regional office in-charge Saumen Mapdar also spoke.
Handloom mark certificates were issued to two weavers, Maloni Lego from Meka (Lower Dibang Valley district) and Tsering Pait from Pasighat (East Siang). Yarn passbooks were also distributed to all the weavers.
Altogether 322 weavers from Namsai and neighbouring districts participated in the programme.
The handloom mark scheme was introduced in 2006 by the Centre to provide a collective identity to the handloom products and to be used not only for popularising the handwoven products but also to serve as a guarantee for the buyer that the product being purchased is genuinely handwoven.
The awareness programme was organised by the Textiles Committee, in collaboration with the Arunachal Pradesh textiles & handicrafts department. (DCM’s PR Cell)
