Indian govt to set up Institute of Handloom in West Bengal

27 Aug '13

2 min read

The Government of India has proposed to set up an Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT) at Shantipur in West Bengal under the 12th Five Year Plan, Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles, Smt. Panabaaka Lakshmi, said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of the Indian Parliament.

At present, there are five central Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT) located at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Salem in Tamil Nadu, Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Guwahati in Assam and Bargarh in Orissa.

In addition to the central IIHTs, these institutes have also been set up in the state sector by the respective state governments with one time partial support of the Government of India.

IIHTs functioning in the state sector are IIHT Venkatagiri in Andhra Pradesh, IIHT Kannur in Kerala, IIHT Gadag-Betagiri in Karnataka, and IIHT Champa in Chhattisgarh.

Other than the proposed IIHT at Shantipur, no new IIHT is currently proposed to be set up in the country, Smt. Lakshmi said.

Concentration of weavers, production of handloom items and requirement of trained and qualified manpower for handloom industry are the main criteria to establish IIHTs at a particular location, according to the Minister.

Earlier this month, the state government of Himachal Pradesh had sought setting up of an IIHT in the state’s Kullu district.

The handloom industry is one of the industries which use labour intensive techniques, and the total number of people currently employed in this sector in India is 4.332 million as per the census of 2009-10.

Since handloom weaving constitutes one of the richest and most vibrant aspects of Indian cultural heritage, the Ministry of Textiles is currently making serious efforts to sustain and promote handloom sector in different parts of the country.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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