Keru, Jodhpur, Rajasthan

On the guidelines of Ministry of Textiles to organize outreach programs on handicrafts sector in Rajasthan, Jodhpur office of Development Commissioner ( Handicrafts ), Ministry of Textiles invited WTC Jaipur to organize jointly an outreach program at Atal Seva Kendra, Keru, Jodhpur on 9^th February 2019.

It is believed that despite some obvious strengths of handicraft sector in any state, the artisan fraternity faces many challenges because of lack of adequate infrastructure, marketing network, credit support from financial institutions and lack of entrepreneurship. The handicraft sector has also been adversely affected by the failure of co-operative structure that had been painstakingly created to support the sector. Realizing the above shortcomings of the sector the outreach program was organized with a view to empower women and other weaker sections of the society thus enabling them to export their handcrafted products to newer markets.

Mr. Kiran V.N. , Assistant Director, office of Development Commissioner ( Handicrafts), Jodhpur said “Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, had launched the support and outreach 100 days programme for MSMEs on 2nd November, 2018 identifying one hundred districts in various sectors across the country. Amongst these, thirty-nine districts were identified for textiles sector - 12 for handloom, 19 for handicraft and 8 for power loom . Under the support and outreach 100 days programme, various activities have been undertaken in identified districts for creating synergy for MSMEs in textile sector like holding camps for Mudra Loan in collaboration with local bank, enrolment of beneficiaries on e-dhaga, distribution of tool kits to beneficiaries, registration and distribution of pehchancard to artisans and weavers, popularization of 24x7 help line, quality certification and social security.”

Mr. Kiran V.N. advised the artisans present to focus on standardization, adhere to scheduled delivery timelines and fair pricing of the product to retain the existing buyers and generate leads from existing  to newer buyers based on their reviews about ongoing orders.

The program was well attended by over 100 participants .

Vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Navneet Agarwal, Asst. Director, WTC Jaipur.

(in the pic) left to right : Mr. Ishwar Chand-Handicraft Promotion Officer, Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Jodhpur Mr. Manohar Lal Choudhary-President, GVSS, Mr. Navneet Agarwal-Asst. Director, WTC Jaipur, Mr. Kiran V.N.-Assistant Director, Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Jodhpur, Acharya Ajay Vardhan-Regional Director, IGNOU, Mr. Rajesh Beniwal-Officer, Office of DC (Handicrafts), Mr. Sajjan Pal- Carpet Training Officer, Jodhpur