Tamil Nadu Announces 10% Wage Hike, DA Boost for Handloom Weavers

Chennai: Handlooms minister M. Vijay Balaji on Tuesday announced a 10 per cent increase in the basic wages of weavers who are members of cotton and silk handloom weavers’ cooperative societies besides a 10 per cent hike of Dearness Allowance.

Replying to the discussion on the demand for grants to the handloom ministry in the Assembly, the minister said the government contribution in the savings and security scheme for the weavers would be increased from 8 per cent to 16 per cent to strengthen social security. The government would encourage new entrepreneurs into the handloom industry by providing subsidies up to Rs. 2.5 lakh per year.

Vijay Balaji further said this would boost employment generation and encourage innovative ventures in the handloom industry, adding the marketing and export opportunities for the handlooms would be increased. He said historic buildings of handloom cooperative societies would be identified and renovated without altering their antiquity.

The minister also announced the setting up of a Silk Export Trade Facilitation centre at Kanchipuram to encourage the export of Kanchi silk clothes. This would help the weavers to approach the international market for silk clothes, encourage textiles suitable to the environment and expand the market for Kanchipuram silk.

To bring down the electric bills of handloom weavers, a cent per cent subsidy would be given to install solar panels in 100 handloom weaving centres, he said. This would also encourage them to support environmentally friendly production of clothes, he said. Natural dye houses would be set up to increase the value of handloom products using natural dyes to decrease environmental pollution. The natural dyes would be made using naturally available ingredients which do not pollute the ground and water bodies. Producing handloom clothes with natural dyes would increase the value of the products at the international level and create a new market for them.

Vijay Balaji said a design studio would be set up at Thirubhuvanam in Thanjavur to improve the designs of silk clothes and encourage their export opportunities. The new designs would be useful to reach the modern markets and younger generations to use the Thirubhuvanam silk clothes, he said, adding expert designers would be used to create designs to compete with private companies. He said special exhibitions of handloom clothes produced in Tamil Nadu would be arranged in cities of other States to improve the marketing opportunities. He said new designs with a variety of colours would be introduced by the Co-optex to take the products to the younger generation and improve the Co-optex brand.