India to connect 50 lakh weavers, artisans with GeM portal

India is in the process of connecting 50 lakh weavers and artisans with the government’s GeM portal so that state governments can directly procure from them, according to Smriti Irani, minister of textiles, who recently said her ministry is working with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to ensure a platform that can help commercialise the potential of artisans and weavers.

Irani was recently addressing an interactive session organised by the Bangalore chapter of FLO, the women wing of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

The artisans and weavers will be authenticated in terms of the output based on their skill and craft by the ministry, she said.

"The future lies in ensuring that the segregation in our supply chains are positioned to find a solution from the technology," she was quoted as saying by a FICCI press release.

"For a nation as diverse as ours, to ensure that there is no mass migration to just few urban centres, we need to create not only economic opportunities but also infrastructure in the rural belts of our country. Today, with this challenge comes an opportunity of not only mapping the skills of our workers across the country, but also ingrain in them the technological solutions which can better their living prospects especially empowering them financially," she added.