Move to help them meet changing market needs

The Ministry of Handlooms and Textiles has offered to train 100 weavers under the Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) and help them come out with diversified products with new designs and improved quality to meet changing market needs.

Inaugurating the training centre at Emaneswaram near here on Thursday, Tamil Nadu Minister for Handlooms and Textiles S. Gokula Indira said that 100 handloom weavers in Paramakudi, Virudhunagar, Nagercoil and Tirunelveli circles would be trained for 50 days and they would be given a daily stipend of Rs. 150 each.

The training imparted to the weavers in the centre would help them develop new designs, add value to their products and enhance their earnings, she said.

In the first batch, 20 weavers, including eight women, from Paramakudi circle would be trained and all the 100 weavers would be covered in the next 10 months, she said.

The Minister said that 89 weavers’ cooperative societies were functioning in Ramanathapuram (86) and Sivanganga (three) circles with more than 12,000 weavers attached to them. They produced about Rs. 36 crore-worth products, mainly cotton saris, per year, and Co-optex procured 40 per cent of themshe added.

The training centre was equipped with all necessary infrastructure facilities, including looms, motorised jacquard boxes, computerised design machine, computerised card punching machine, and motorised pirn winding machine to help the weavers upgrade their skills and familiarise with emerging technologies, R.P. Gowthaman, Assistant Director of Handlooms and Textiles, Parakamudi circle, said.

He said that 30 weavers each from Paramakudi and Virudhunagar circles and 20 each from Nagercoil and Tirunelveli circles would be trained in the centre.

Besides, the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Union was also imparting 15-day training to weavers in technology upgradation on a regular basis. Twenty weavers were trained every month with a daily stipend of Rs. 150 each, he added.

Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare S. Sundararaj, Principal Secretary of Handlooms and Textiles Harmander Singh, Collector K. Nanthakumar and local MP A. Anwar Raza were among the others present at the function.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent / Paramakudi – September 26th, 2015