Ampati, May 6: Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma distributed yarns for weavers under Betasing C&RD Block in South West Garo Hills at an impressive gathering of thousands of weavers at the Block headquarter on Saturday afternoon.
The scheme for distribution of yarns and looms under Income Generation Programme for weavers was sanctioned in 2015-2016 in order to revive the age-old tradition of weaving by women-folk in the State. Deputy Commissioner Cyril Diengdoh, Director, Sericulture & Weaving, S.K. Barchung, ADC & District Planning Officer, H.D.B Sangma, District Sericulture Officer, G.R. Marak, Block Development Officer in-charge Dr. Nokman Sangma and other officials were also present on the occasion.
Distributing the cotton yarns to the weavers of Koch, Hajong and Garo communities, the Chief Minister said the programme has been initiated to encourage the people to continue weaving not only as part time activity but for generation of income for their economic sustainability. Through this programme, the government has been able to ensure that at least 30,000 weavers availed benefit of the scheme of which, 26,000 weavers were from Garo Hills.
Interacting with the weavers, the Chief Minister said that maximum weavers of the country were concentrated in the Northeast and that weaving was a part time activity of women in every household, so they will never leave their villages to go and work somewhere else. Therefore there is a need to create enabling environment for our weavers in their own backyard so that their skills do not get dislocated and ensure that the government’s efforts at reviving this tradition do not go waste, he added. He advised the womenfolk to form self-help group clusters, identify small land to accommodate about six handlooms to start small-scale units with business oriented approach and also urged upon them to upscale their products with modern innovative designs with the help of the younger generation.
The Chief Minister also told the department officers to let the weavers decide what type of yarn they require before they distribute next time. “It is an income generation programme and should be demand-driven because textile and fashion industry is demand-driven, so we should leave it up to them to decide how they can take advantage of this programme and generate optimum income by using their existing skills”, he said, adding that the weavers can be the main source of strength for the fashion industry.
Earlier in the day, a similar programme was also organized by the department at Bollonggre under Zikzak Block, where the local MLA & Chairperson Dikkanchi D. Shira distributed yarns to the weavers in the presence of BDO and other district officials.
