The Union Minister of State for Textiles, DarshanaJardosh in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today informed that Ministry of Textiles has taken steps to on-board weavers and artisans on Government e-Market place (GeM) to enable them sell their products directly to various Government Departments and organizations.
So far, about 1.50 lakh handloom agencies/weavers and 26,644 artisans have been on-boarded on the GeM portal.
To promote procurement of Handloom products, an amendment was introduced in Rule 153 of GFR 2017 on 17.02.2020, wherein it was mandated that “Of all items of textiles required by Central Government departments, it shall be mandatory to make procurement of at least 20% from amongst items of handloom origin, for exclusive purchase from KVIC and/or Handloom Clusters such as Cooperative Societies, Self Help Groups (SHG), Federations, Joint Liability Groups (JLG) Producer Companies (PC), Corporations etc. including weavers having Pehchan Cards”.
Ministry of Textiles is implementing Cluster Development Programme, a component of National Handloom Development Programme. Under the scheme, need based financial assistance is provided for implementation of various interventions like solar powered lighting units, upgraded looms & accessories, worksheds, design and product development, marketing support etc.
