Prime Minister to announce August 7 as National Handloom Day

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the ‘India Handloom’ brand on August 7 in Chennai, for better market positioning of quality handloom products. August 7 is the day when Swadeshi Movement was launched in 1905. The launch event will also mark the inception of the first National Handloom Day.

As per Santosh Gangwar, Union Textiles Minister the ministry is organising an exhibition to showcase initiatives taken in textiles sector during the last year, which will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister. India Handloom Brand will also be launched on the occasion, which will provide quality assurance to buyers. Besides, Sant Kabir awards and National awards will be presented to distinguished handloom workers for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively at the function.

According to Textiles Secretary S K Panda, while the government had inked an MoU with ecommerce major Flipkart to promote handlooms, the initiative could not derive desired results due to lack of quality assurance. India Handloom Brand will be allowed to use only when an entrepreneur would fulfil promise of quality of yarn, purity of design and abide by zero defect, zero effect. The first three entrepreneurs would be presented with the India Handloom Brand by Modi on August 7, so the Textiles Committee has invited applications from the interested entrepreneurs.

The Textiles Ministry also plans to establish showrooms in all state capitals to promote products under the India Handloom Brand, on land provided by state governments apart from developing handloom clusters in villages which have the weavers community associated with handloom and handicraft, to develop them as tourism destinations.