Government sets up weavers service centres in India

Indian weavers will now be able to avail a wide array of government services, including banking, passport, insurance, electricity bill payment, PAN card generation for filing income tax returns, voter ID and Aadhar card for unique identification, at the various weavers’ service centres (WSCs), Union textiles minister Smriti Irani has announced.

Apart from providing technical assistance, the WSCs will serve as a one-stop window for weavers, offering various services, the minister said while inaugurating a camp in Guwahati on Mudra loans for weavers and Hathkargha Samvardhan Sahayata Scheme for handloom weavers, according to a press release from the ministry.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY or Mudra), loans ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh are provided to small entrepreneurs, while the Hathkargha Samvardhan Sahayata Scheme bears 90 per cent of the cost of new looms.

There are 28 WSCs under the office of development commissioner (handlooms), ministry of textiles, functioning in various parts of the country.

This week, the ministry will sign an MoU with Common Service Centres, which will enable WSCs to offer such services from this year, she said.

Sanctioning Mudra loans to 50 weavers on the occasion, Irani highlighted the case of handloom weavers in Sambalpur, Odisha, who could improve their earnings by more than 60 per cent within three months of receiving Mudra loans.