Agreement signed with Fabric Plus for women SHG handloom products in Cachar

A CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: Cachar DC Keerthi Jalli inaugurated District Initiative Mission Atmashamman, a campaign on income augmentation through market linkage for handloom weavers of Barak valley at Joyti Kala Kendra, here on Friday.

The Mission started with an agreement with Fabric plus private Ltd in association with Aditya Birla group (who came all the way from Guwahati and Kolkata respectively) with Handloom Department for an assured buyback of locally woven handloom products. A new fabric (yarn) in the market known as "MODAL", a type of naturally processed fibre which will be very bright in colour and also cheaper in the market compared to cotton fibre is being introduced for income augmentation as there seems to be higher demand for the product. In addition, National Handloom Development Corporation represented by Moktarul Islam had also joined to give impetus to yarn suppliers through central government subsidies. On discussion with the Deputy Commissioner, a Cachar based warehouse was promised to be opened up soon by him.

The mission follows a multi-pronged approach of dealing with issues of yarn supply, modernisation of designs and looms, market connectivity and technical skill upgrade. Weavers of other parts of Assam tend to stay consistent with production while local handloom scenario is still largely unorganised and unstructured. This led to the design of the project to start formalisation of Handloom weaving through market connection.

Speaking on the occasion, Cachar DC Keerthi Jalli as the chief guest of the function said, "We had been pursuing Fabric Plus since long but due to Covid, it could only materialise now. Promoting women livelihood has been a keen pursuit. We have a good weaving potential but our numbers were small which is why we had to also include handloom weavers of Hailakandi and Karimganj district too as the demand is very high. We hope these weavers make use of this opportunity and produce consistent, qualitative products meeting marking demands. Cotton weaving was yielding less wages making the weaver disinterested which is why we are introducing Eri Silk skilling through which wages and products can accrue higher profits. Handloom industries have a great demand in the global market, I personally thank Joyutpal Roy of Fabric plus private Ltd, Aditya Birla group and NHDC in partnering with us on this noble endeavour."

The weaver-cum-master trainer, Kunjarani Devi was also felicitated by the Cachar DC for being efficient in weaving beautiful fabrics and bringing modern designs and helping other weavers of the Barak valley region by teaching the techniques.

Earlier, Assistant Director of Handloom & Textile department, Cachar, L. Harilal Singha explained the objectives stating that a two month pilot cluster of 50 weavers is being taken up for skilling in silk weaving for the first time ever. Fabric plus will supply fabric and buyback the woven products with wages. The more the weaver weaves, the more profits.

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