Marking the World Handloom Day and to highlight the importance of using handlooms in daily life, the Directorate of the Handlooms and Textiles is organising a "Handloom Walk" on Friday.The two-hour-long walk being organized from the People’s Plaza on the Necklace Road in Hyderabad city would start at 8.30 am on Friday, Mr D Narasimha Reddy, an official of the directorate, said here on Thursday. No speeches, long or short nor any individual projections or banners of any organization would be allowed at the event, he added.
“It is just a celebration of continuous handloom production. Director of Handlooms and Textiles, and various other officials, leaders and consumers have agreed to participate. Efforts are on to bring as many people from different walks of life to join the walk,” he explained.Handloom is an environment-friendly textile production. India is the leader in handloom production with 85 per cent capacity. In most places of the world, handloom production is a mere addendum to the tourism industry. In India, it is a major livelihood with more than Rs 50,000 crore turn over. It is also a vibrant and competitive sub-sector, trying to compete with the most automated textile production, using the 'modern' is a misnomer.
Handloom production is modern, which includes all the best principles of production.“Your role as a consumer, home makers, change makers and in influencing the policy process is acknowledged. This role would get capacitated by participating in this event,” Mr Narasimha Reddy observed.On Friday, many groups across the globe need to come together and participate in a "World Handloom Day" in their respective countries and states to celebrate the sustenance of handloom-based textile production and asking Governments to be more responsible to the people dependent on such livelihoods. Asian Countries, hub of handloom production (a major economic activity) celebration of such a day assumes significance.
Handloom production the world over did and would make artisans self-respecting, self-reliant, self-supporting and last but not least, humane. “It will teach us how to organise our capital, our resources, our labour, our energies and our talents, for the greatest good of all human beings. Promotion the choice non- polluting textile goods of handloom sector epitomizes encouragement to sustainable textiles due to their positive social, economic and environmental externalities,” he noted. World Handloom Day is aimed at directing attention of policy makers, civil society, opinion makers etc towards history, present and future of handloom sector, by ighlighting the need to give focused attention towards this sector. It would lead to reminiscing the past, analyzing the present and building a sustainable future.
Many organisations including handloom weavers, consumer groups, teachers, traders and handloom industry representatives along with environmental and civil society organisations are coming together to celebrate the World Handloom Day this year. It would mark the beginning of an effort to enhance the growth of handloom sector, revive the livelihoods of handloom weavers and protection of scarce natural resources, he added.