By Girish Kumar Dubey
India's federal Commerce Minister Anand Sharma on Saturday (November 19) announced a relief package of 62.34 Billion rupees for 1.3 million weavers, in Varanasi city of northern Uttar Pradesh state.
Expressing concern over the state of handloom industry, Sharma said that the government has waived off debt worth 38.84 Billion rupees.
"The first package is for waving off the debts. That consists of 15,000 cooperatives for weavers that will facilitate more than 13 lakhs of weavers out of which three lakhs belongs to Uttar Pradesh. Including all this 3,884 crore rupees of debt has been waved off," he said.
This sector has been under tremendous stress due to the increased yarn prices and strong competition from power loom and mill sector.
Sharma further said the relief package will benefit large number of weavers across the country as it will give support to their economic condition.
"The total expense of the second package which I have announced is 2,350 crore rupees. If we sum up the cost of both the packages then it will be more than 6,200 crore rupees," he added.
A six fold strategy has been prepared by the federal government under the name of Handloom Package to help the weavers.
Meanwhile, on Saturday (November 19) Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi had asked the federal government to provide adequate financial assistance to handloom weavers, ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2012.
India's federal Commerce Minister Anand Sharma announces a relief package of 62.34 billion rupees for 1.3 million weavers, in Varanasi city of Uttar Pradesh state.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL
VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (NOVEMBER 19, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC)
1. ANAND SHARMA, INDIA'S COMMERCE MINISTER, ARRIVING AT THE EVENT
2. STUDENTS THROWING FLOWERS AT SHARMA
3. SHARMA VISITING STALLS
4. VARIETY OF WOVEN CLOTHES ON DISPLAY
5. SHARMA STANDING AT THE STALL
6. SHARMA SITTING ON THE DAIS
7. WEAVERS SITTING
8. SHARMA SITTING FOR THE NEWS CONFERENCE
9. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) ANAND SHARMA, INDIA'S COMMERCE MINISTER, SAYING:
"The first package is for waving off the debts. That consists of 15,000 cooperatives for weavers that will facilitate more than 13 lakhs of weavers out of which three lakhs belongs to Uttar Pradesh. Including all this 3,884 crore rupees of debt has been waved off."
10. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) ANAND SHARMA, INDIA'S COMMERCE MINISTER, SAYING:
"The total expense of the second package which I have announced is 2,350 crore rupees. If we sum up the cost of both the packages then it will be more than 6,200 crore rupees."
11. A WEAVER WORKING
12. MACHINES AT THE WORKSHOP
13. A MACHINERY DISPLAYED
14. A WEAVER WEAVING A CLOTH
15. THREAD BEING WOVEN ON A MACHINE
16. PEOPLE WORKING IN THE WORKSHOP
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