The Ministry of Textiles will host the 8th National Handloom Day on August 7, in honour of the handloom industry and its weavers.
“Handloom is a symbol of our glorious cultural heritage and an important source of livelihood… the Ministry of Textiles will organise the 8th National Handloom Day on 7th August 2022,” said minister of state for textiles Darshana Jardosh.
In 2015, the Union government had declared August 7 as National Handloom Day to commemorate the Swadeshi Andolan that began in 1905 on the same day. The movement was aimed at encouraging Indians to wear clothes that were handwoven by indigenous communities instead of foreign-made apparel.
In a letter to Union minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur, Jardosh urged ministries to promote the national celebration. She said the “support and encouragement will go a long way in ensuring livelihoods and instilling pride amongst our weavers.”
Earlier on Monday, working president of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti KT Rama Rao announced a first-of-its-kind life insurance scheme for handloom and power loom weavers in Telangana. Taking to Twitter, he said, “Happy to share that #Telangana Govt will launch a new life insurance scheme for all #Handloom & #Powerloom weavers on #NationalHandloomDay; Aug 7th.”
Last year’s celebration took place at Dilli Haat, New Delhi with a national-level handloom expo organized by the textile ministry. Union minister for finance Nirmala Sitharaman participated in celebrations in Andhra Pradesh’s Ponduru village and laid the foundation stone for the Khadi Artisans Group Workshed.