A STUDY ON FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO HAND-LOOM WEAVERS UNDER VARIOUS SCHEMES IN INDIA

Abstract

India is a developing country with majority of the population living in rural area. In rural area, agriculture is the main source of employment. Next to agriculture, the hand loom industry generates maximum employment in rural areas. Handloom sector is one of the most decentralised and traditional industry sectors of the country. There are about 38.9 lakh hand-looms in India. Total number of households involved in handloom activities is 31.45 lakhs. There are 20 per cent of the weavers working as a fulltime workers. This indicates that there is a growing demand for financial assistance from handloom weavers. Though the handloom is one of the largest sectors in term of workforce, but in monetary term it does not have much importance. This industry faces various challenges such as low wages, no proper home or assets, low productivity, obsolete technology, unorganised production system, weak marketing links and no capital subsidy. In order to overcome these disadvantages, the government has intervened to raise adequate funds and implemented various schemes for the development of the handloom industry. The present paper makes an in depth study on financial assistance to handloom weavers under various schemes in India.