In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Thiru Dayanidhi Maran, the Union textiles minister, has revealed that the government is mulling on the proposal to waive off loans for weavers on the lines of a farm loan waiver programme. “Small-scale weaving units and weavers will be able to heave a sigh of relief if the government decides to offer a loan waiver scheme for weavers as this would ease the financial burden on these units, which operate on very thin margins,” said G Singh, spokesperson of Punjab Handlooms, a small-sized handicraft store in Kolkata.
The loan waiver proposal is already being sent to the Finance Ministry for its review. Besides, Mr Maran also mentioned about the insurance scheme that was designed to benefit weavers.
“The government initiatives to help weavers secure access to adequate credit and avail the insurance scheme have been praiseworthy. However, more measures have to be undertaken to promote the welfare of the sector,” said S Venuparakash, proprietor of Sarvodaya Handlooms, a small-sized handloom product supplier in Chennai.
As per the available statistics, out of 2.52 million estimated handloom units, 1.7 million weavers benefited from the insurance scheme in 2008-09, while 1.8 million weavers availed the scheme in 2009-10.
For more detail on B2B in India log on to http://www.bizxchange.in/
David Parks is a well known author and has written articles on Indian Passport Services and Indian Advertising companies, suppliers, Manufactures and many other subjects.
