Prime Minister Narendra Modi has landed in Chennai Airport on his way to the first National Handloom Day celebrations to be held at Madras University today morning. He was received by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, Governor Rosaiah and State Finance Minister O Paneerselvam.
Excerpts from Modi's speech: - Modi: Thanks the audience and concludes the speech. - Modi: We have to get the unskilled people from our villages and make them compete with the global industry. We should take up measures that are environment friendly. - Modi: We have to promote every part of the country with handloom and take it to new heights. - Modi: We need to promote our traditional heritage and the skills that we have. - Modi: It should be a continuous movement, to improve the lives of our weavers. - Modi: Innovate designs backed by good marketing is essential for the handloom industry. I would request that design competitions be held to bring out the best from the innovators. - Modi: I congratulate everyone taking part in the program, as their expertise will be utilised for the benefit of the handloom industry. - Modi: Mudra Bank has been created to address the funding problems faced by small scale industries. - Modi: Three new social security schemes have been launched to provide for the people working in unorganised sector. - Modi: Weaving is a very labour intensive job. Weavers take months at times to weave a single piece. We've to incentivise them so that they continue to do the same. We also need to improvise technology in the handloom industry. They also should be provided social security cover. - Modi: Earlier middlemen would interfere, but now the money will be transferred directly yo the beneficiaries. - Modi: We've taken a major step to develop handloom at block levels. - Modi: There are many handloom clusters in India like Benaras. Our ancestors knew how to market the products. - Modi: The film industry does a great job in popularising tourist spots. If few movies came out that focused in popularising handloom weaves, then crores of weavers will reap direct benefits from that. - Modi: Sometimes small gestures can go a long way in popularising something. Chennai can go a long way in the country's efforts to popularise the handloom industry. - Modi: I was shocked to realise we that no more have a place globally when it comes to handloom industry. We have not branded ourselves properly. People do not know about our handlom industry because we have failed to promote our brand in a global platform. - Modi: We are committed to give the rightful place to handloom. We are committed to winning the trust of our handloom customers. |
- Modi: Handloom can be popularised by bringing in new designs and exploring new colours. We need to innovate in order make it more fashionable. - Modi: In a loom, 80% is taken up by the house and the weavers family live in the remaining 20%. The entire family weaves a saree meticulously. When a bride wears the same saree, the emotions of the weaver's family is also connected with the saree. - Modi: We all wish to have food cooked by our mothers, I have a similar feeling for hand woven clothes. Because it has been made with equal affection by the weavers. I can feel the affection with which handloom clothes have been made. |
- Modi: We need to popularise the use of handloom among the youth, this is also give a tremendous boost to the handloom industry. - Modi: Handloom forms 15 % of the total growth rate. If we increase it by just 20 %, it'll have a huge impact in the overall growth. - Modi: We can have handloom items like curtains - Modi: Every household should have a single Khadi item in the country. If everyone does that, then many handloom weavers will benefit tremendously from this. |