Staff Reporter
Dimapur, December 13
The Handloom & Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited Thursday held a workshop in Hotel Saramati. General Manager of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) of Dimapur V Chelladurai was the chief guest.
Addressing the workshop, V. Chelladurai said there is a vast potential in the Naga people in the handloom and handicraft sector. However, he said the need for exposure for their products is the only barrier that is in the way of promoting the products and generating economically viable output in the sector.
According to the NABARD officials, the designs of the handloom and handicraft products should be attuned to local impressions. With development and modernization, he said, the need for indigenous designs and technical customs have also keep changing. Hence, the NABARD official said, through innovative ideas, designs and creativity and through traditional products, weavers and artisans can avail greater opportunities to expose their products. This upturn can effectively increase the demand in the market for handloom and handicraft products from Nagaland.
Also, talking on the issue of credit cards for weavers, Chelladurai said 2000 credit cards were issued by the centre to the Nagaland weavers for the year 2012. However only a minimum percentage of the facility was allotted and this failing is one both the Nagaland State Co-operative Bank Ltd and the weavers associations share equal blame. For the year 2013, he said, 2, 500 credit cards have been issued. The official appealed to the artisans to make use of the opportunity. He has asked the wears and craftsmen to submit the required documents and make use of the credit card scheme. He assured that the NABARD will always offer a helping hand in areas that address banking and loan issues.
Deputy Director of Micro Small Medium Enterprise Tali Longchar also spoke during the function. Longchar said that the demand for traditional attires of Nagaland is high. However, he explained, due to lack of ideal designs and requirements of customers, weavers are unable to promote their products.
The industries official appealed to the weavers to approach the centre that provides workshops for designing in Guwahati. There are myriad problems weavers in Nagaland are facing and the problems are in numerous ways both in production or marketing, Longchar said. If a proper organization for weavers can be formed in Nagaland then, he claimed, “Every problem will be solved gradually”. And, accordingly he asserted, ‘the import of raw materials and other requirements will decrease’.
