The Minister of State for Textiles (Independent Charge), Santosh Kumar Gangwar inaugurated the “Silk Fab” exhibition, in New Delhi today. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Gangwar said that the exhibition enables an interface between the weavers and consumers. The exhibition is an initiative of the office of Development Commissioner for Handlooms, Ministry of Textiles, through National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC) Ltd. to provide direct access to the handloom weavers to market their products to consumers in various cities of India. The participants are from various State Government Bodies/ Apex Societies, Primary Handloom Weavers Co-operative Societies and Handloom Agencies. Ninety agencies belonging to 15 states are participating in the exhibition. The exhibition has the participation of four weavers who are recipients of National Award for design.
The handloom sector of India employs 65 lakh persons directly or indirectly which is next only to agricultural sector in the country. The art of handloom weaving has traditional values attached to it and each region has exquisite varieties. The uniqueness of silk products such as Pochampalli, Paithani, Kanjivaram, Banarasi, Jamdani, Baluchari, and Ikkat, to name a few attracts customers across the globe with exclusives weaves, designs and traditional motifs. Through these exhibitions, handloom agencies not only market their products at reasonable rates but also get to know customers’ choice with regard to colour, design and weaving for future improvement of the product.
The Government of India has launched the “Handloom Mark” scheme for handloom products and “Silk Mark” for genuinity of silk products, to encourage and give a distinct identity to the products, apart from highlighting the uniqueness of the products. It also serves a guarantee for the buyer that the product being purchased is genuinely handwoven. All the exhibitors at the Silk Fab have been encouraged to display the ‘Handloom Mark’ and ‘Silk Mark’ tag on the products and thus aim to improve the earnings of the handloom weaver community.
The exhibition will be open to public from 11 am to 8 pm for two weeks up to November 2, 2014. The exhibition includes State Government Agencies / Apex Bodies, Primary Handloom Weavers Co-operative Societies, and the agencies working under the recently started Integrated Handloom Development Scheme. The Primary Handloom Weavers Co-operative Societies are recommended by their respective State Governments. Silk Products drawn from some of the exotic locations of India are on display and sale at the exhibition.