Chhattisgarh has 7,586 persons involved in manufacture of Khadi products as on March 31, 2015.
Out of the 7,586 persons, there were 6502 spinners and 1084 weavers, according to the latest data released by the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), officials stated.
The Chhattisgarh Khadi and Village Industries Board has been churning out trained youngsters through its various training programmes from rural areas with complete knowledge of availability of raw material, marketing and financial management to run their units. Beneficiaries of this scheme also have easy access to bank loans.
The Board provided self-employment training to 73 youth from rural pockets of the State during 2014-15 under its Artisan Training Scheme. Nearly Rs14.84 lakh has been spent on this training in the programme.
Under this, youngsters of rural areas are provided training in various trades for self-employment.
The Government has also established an Apparel Training & Designing Centre each in Bilaspur, Raipur, Bhilai and Rajnandgaon, officials stated.
These training centres are providing manpower to apparel industries in Chhattisgarh and even outside the State. The Apparel Training & Design Centres have been established with the help of Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC).
The handloom weavers are also being assisted with preparation of new apparel designs for their products by National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), officials stated.
There had been 20 per cent jump in the budget for the Village Industries Department in the 2015-16 budget provisions at Rs 119.58 crore, they stated.
The budget for the Village Industries Department in 2014-15 was Rs 97.84 crore. Moreover, the Government replaced the old looms with weavers free of cost.
As many as 6,900 persons in Chhattisgarh have been provided employment in fiscal year 2014-15 under family-oriented scheme of State Government's Khadi Gramodyog Board, officials stated.
These beneficiaries have been provided subsidy of Rs 4.65 crore for around 3499 rural industry units.
The Board Officials informed that for establishing small, cottage, and rural industries, the Khadi Board provides subsidy of maximum Rs 13,500 on loan of Rs one lakh.
On the other hand, about 1.08 crore metres of Handloom cloth was woven by Chhattisgarh’s weavers in the current fiscal year 2014-15 till January 31, officials stated.
There are about 234 Co-operative societies with 60,000 members. They work on 20,000 Handlooms in the State.
About 13.40 lakh metres of Handloom cloth was produced in the year 2004-05. The cloth was produced by various Co-operative societies, they stated.
Chhattisgarh’s weavers supplied Handloom cloth worth Rs 95 crore to the various State government Departments in the year 2013-14, officials stated.
About 45,900 weavers are employed in 15,300 looms of ‘Handloom Weavers Sanghs’ of the State government’s Village Industries Department.
About 7000 women are employed in the Handloom sector through the 206 Women Self-Help Groups (SHGs). The weavers earn around Rs 9000 per month.
The Department officials said in order to provide regular employment to Handloom weavers and to provide market to the garments made by them, the Chhattisgarh State Handloom Development and Marketing Co-operative Society was registered in December 2000.
In 2012, a 36-year old Weavers Co-operative Committee in Kera village of Navagarh Development Block in Janjgir-Champa district set a record in cloth production by bringing out 1.26 lakh metres during 2011-12.