Jaipur: Dr Arvind Mayaram, Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan said that consumerism drives the world and there is a need to create demand and make people greedy for Handloom and Khadi.
He was speaking as chief guest at the webinar organized by FICCI Rajasthan State Council on ‘Future of Handloom & Khadi’ on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti.
Dr Mayaram said that there is a need to look at development of handloom and khadi from an economic activity perspective. The cost charts prescribed by KVICs are not in the interest of weavers as it puts an upper limit on their earnings whereas when cost charts were introduced way back, it was the minimum an artisan should get. On the contrary, the sale price should be made free and there should be a percentage share for artisans in the profit over and above the wages.
He said that the entire value chain should be strengthened and institutions should make suitable interventions for creating products for all classes and not just a particular market segment to achieve scalability. Improvement in productivity and better price realisation should be the underlying theme of our actions for development of the sector.
Dhiraj Srivastava, Commissioner, Rajasthan Foundation said there is also an increased interest and demand for handloom products and it is the right time to strengthen the entire value chain especially designing and marketing. He said artisans should be connected with national and international buyers with maximum use of technology.
Padma Shri Laila Tyabji, Chairperson of Dastkar said, “Poor marketing is one prime reason for the low popularity of Khadi, along with there is a need of improvement in the fabric. We need to work upon the marketing of Khadi as well as production techniques, traditional skills, designing and product range to uplift this,” she added.
Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, FICCI said that the sector holds a lot of promise for the future. FICCI is committed to make all positive contributions towards helping the handloom and khadi sector to grow and realise its true potential.
Randhir Vikram Singh, Co-Chairman, FICCI Rajasthan State Council said that the handloom sector plays a crucial role in generating employment and revenue. Rajasthan has a rich variety of handloom products in different regions like Kota Doria, Tie & Die, Block Printing, Zari, Bandhej, Cotton Razai and Khes, Namda, Sanganeri, Bagru and Barmeri Prints etc. He added that tourism and local crafts are strongly linked with each other and would play a significant role in reviving and reclaiming the past glory of tourism in the post-covid world.
Wandana Parnami, Chairperson, FICCI Ladies Organisation, Jaipur Chapter in her concluding remarks shared Khadi is also a symbol of women’s empowerment as most of the weavers are women.
Alka Madhan, Campus Director, Pearl Academy and Dr Toolika Gupta, Director, Indian Institute of Crafts & Design too expressed their views.
