DC Cachar sign agreement with Guwahati based Fabric Plus for assured buyback of handloom products

Feb 25: Cachar DC Keerthi Jalli inaugurated District Initiative Mission ‘Atmashamman’, a campaign on income augmentation through market linkage for handloom weavers of Barak Valley at Joyti Kala Kendra, here on Friday.

The Mission started with an agreement with Fabric Plus Private Ltd in association with Aditya Birla group (who came all the way from Guwahati and Kolkata respectively) with Handloom Department for an assured buyback of locally woven handloom products. A new fabric (yarn) in the market known as “MODAL”, a type of naturally processed fibre which will be very bright in colour and also cheaper in the market compared to cotton fibre is being introduced for income augmentation as there seems to be higher demand for the product. In addition, National Handloom Development Corporation represented by Moktarul Islam had also joined to give impetus to yarn suppliers through Govt of India subsidies. On discussion with the Deputy Commissioner, a Cachar based warehouse was promised to be opened up soon by him.

The mission follows a multi-pronged approach of dealing with issues of yarn supply, modernisation of designs and looms, market connectivity and technical skill upgradation. Weavers of other parts of Assam tend to stay consistent with production whilst local Handloom scenario is still largely unorganised and unstructured. This led to the design of the project to start formalisation of Handloom weaving through market connection.

Speaking on the occasion ,DC Cachar Keerthi Jalli, who was the chief guest of the function said, “We had been pursuing FabricPlus since long but due to Covid, it could only materialise now. Promoting women livelihood has been a keen pursuit. We have a good weaving potential but our numbers were small which is why we had to also include handloom weavers of Hailakandi and Karimganj district as the demand is very high. We hope these weavers make use of this opportunity and produce consistent, qualitative products meeting marking demands. Cotton weaving was yielding less wages, making the weaver disinterested, which is why we are introducing Eri Silk through which wages and products can accrue higher profits. Handloom industries have a great demand in the global market, I personally thank Joyutpal Roy of Fabric Plus Private Ltd, Aditya Birla group and NHDC in partnering with us on this noble endeavour.”

The weaver-cum-master trainer, Kunjarani Devi was also felicitated by the Cachar DC for being efficient in weaving beautiful fabrics and bringing modern designs and helping other weavers of the Barak valley region by teaching the techniques.

Earlier, Assistant Director of Handloom & Textile department, Cachar, L. Harilal Singha explained the objectives stating that a two-month pilot cluster of 50 weavers is being taken up for skilling in silk weaving for the first time ever. Fabric Plus will supply fabric and buyback the woven products with wages. The more the weaver weaves, the more profits.

Later, Anindya Samajpati of Aditya Birla group gave a brief description of the product “MODAL”, describing the product he said that the MODAL fibre will be an effective product for the weavers and it is available in the market in all form. The product is widely used in other parts of Indian subcontinent and the weavers can earn more income by using this product. With the branding under ‘Liva’ impetus is being given to boost handling products.  “The woven material will be sold directly by the weavers in the market and the product will be soft, finer and good to use,” he mentioned.

The officials from Delhi also visited Singerbond cluster. In addition, District administration tied up with NIELET to train these women in Computer Applications, Cyber Security, Digital Payments and IT applications that would help them to run their business. The project will be scaled up through introduction of modern jacquard by partnering with NABARD. An exhibition of Eri and Modal products was put up to generate awareness amongst women weavers. The programme was also attended by District Development Commissioner Cachar , Rajib Roy,D.D.M, NABARD, Ravi Shankar Likmabam.