The handloom sector turnover increased about five-fold and production of Khadi rose three times in the last nine years demonstrating the resurgence of traditional Indian textiles in the country and worldover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said. 

“Nine years ago, the turnover of Khadi and other village industries was about ₹25,000-30,000 crore. Today it is over ₹1,30,000 crore. There is a surge in demand for Khadi clothes in the country and abroad,” he said at the National Handloom Day celebration at Pragati Maidan on Monday.

The growth in handloom has also contributed in bringing people out of poverty, the PM said. “The NITI Aayog has said that over the last five years, as many as 13 crore people in India have come out of poverty. The handloom sector, too, has played its role in this,” he said.

Modi urged people to buy handloom products during the upcoming festivals such as Rakhi, Ganeshutsav, Dussehra, Diwali and Durga Puja. “With the spirit of `Vocal for Local’, the citizens are buying indigenous products wholeheartedly and it has become a mass movement,” he said.

Modi said the schemes implemented for the textile sector were becoming a major means of social justice and lakhs of people were engaged in handloom work in villages and towns across the country. Noting that most of these people come from dalit, backward, pasmanda and tribal societies, the Prime Minister said that the efforts of the government have led to an increase in employment in large numbers along with a boost to income. He gave examples of schemes for electricity, water, gas connection, Swacch Bharat and said that vulnerable communities have received the maximum benefits from such campaigns. “Free ration, pucca house, free treatment up to ₹5 lakh, this is Modi’s guarantee,” Modi said underlining that the present government had put an end to the decades-long wait of the weaver community for basic amenities.

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