Handloom

To the rural population of the North Eastern region of India, handloom forms an essential part of their everyday life. In the beauty and excellence of a variety of handloom products produced by succeeding generations of weavers have reflected the creative urge, aesthetic sense and hopes and aspirations of the people.

Handlooms, as rich village industries, were originally being practiced in the region as hereditary occupation. Some of the handloom products, which are known for their excellent craftsmanship are - carpets of Arunachal Pradesh, muga silk products of Assam, lashingphee of Manipur, shawls of Nagaland and Mizoram.

Other common handloom products such as bed sheets, chaddar, scarf, jackets are found in almost all the States of the region.

Another interesting fact is that it is mostly the womenfolk, who are engaged in these occupations. Mahatma Gandhi at the time of his first visit to the then erstwhile Assam, having seen the womenfolk on looms, reported to have remarked 'Assam women weave their dreams in their fabrics'.

The peculiar designs, distinctive patterns and colourful texture of the hand made wares are also an eloquent testimony to the life and the rich cultural variety as the people of this region. It may be mentioned here that the 'handloom & textile' sector has also engaged co-operative societies for its management etc. Skilled labour in this sector is largely available in most of the districts of this region. Private channels, Govt. agencies and NGOs as well as the Co-operatives share the existing market support system.

Whether the looms consume locally produced yarn or yarn produced from outside, what are the type-specific numbers of training and production centers, what is the district specific volume of yarn consumption, cloth production - all such answers have been tabled for each in our state wise section.

Since time immemorial, handloom industry has been playing a significant role in the economy of India. It is by far the largest unorganized industry next to agriculture in terms of employment generation. About 58 percent weavers are under the fold of cooperatives. At the beginning of the present decade handlooms accounted 27 percent of all textiles production and 21 percent of textiles exports. Handloom industry has been playing an important role in meeting the domestic as well as a source of economy for the people of the region.

The North Eastern Region has the highest concentration of Handlooms in the country. Out of 25.4 lakh units engaged in handloom activities, 14.6 lakh units (household and non-house hold) are in five States – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura (Source: Handloom census 1995-96). Over 53% of looms in the country and more than 50% of weavers belong to North Eastern States. The share of these five States of North Eastern Region in the domestic looms is 82%. However, only 13.4% of the commercial looms of the country are in those States and the contribution of those States in total production of handloom fabrics is merely 20%. Keeping in view the potential of the region, it was decided to upgrade the Weavers’ Service Centre, Guwahati to Regional Design Centre in pursuance of the recommendations of the Conference of the State Ministers (Handlooms) of North Eastern States held on September 21-22, 2000. It is now functioning as a Nodal Centre for design development and dissemination of designs to the weavers of the region. The Centre has set up a website which includes a museum of Northeastern designs. The web site has been linked with the National Centre for Textile Design, for the benefit of the user agencies. It will also help link all those connected with the handloom industry. The Regional Weavers’ Service Centre imparts training to the weavers in and outside the cooperative fold under Decentralized Training Programme and Deen Dayal Hathkargha Protsahan Yojana for providing value addition to the fabrics. A special dispensation has been made under the Deen Dayal Hathkargha Protsahan Yojana for the North Eastern States, Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh. The grant portion of some of the components of the scheme is shared between Central and State Governments for North Eastern States, Sikkim, and Jammu & Kashmir in the ratio of 90:10, except marketing incentive, which is in the ratio 50:50. Further, transport subsidy is extended to handloom agencies of North Eastern States, Sikkim, and Jammu & Kashmir to facilitate marketing of handloom products in other parts of the Country and strengthen backward linkages in terms of more employment opportunities.

Distribution of Handloom in Northeastern Region

Source: Census of Handloom in India

Item-wise monthly production of Handloom textiles

(in ‘000 meters)

Source: Census of Handloom in India

Productivity per loom in Northeastern Region

Source: Census of Handloom in India

Working status of full time Handloom weavers in Northeastern Region

Source: Census of Handloom in India