Experts to Meet In New Delhi To Decide Fate of Handloom Weavers

In the shadow of yet another suicide by a member of the Varanasi weaving community, a group of handloom and handicraft experts are meeting in New Delhi to assess the situation. In this article in The Times of India, Binay Singh offers some interesting new statistics about handloom in India:
Across the country, there are approximately :
- 3.5 million handlooms
- 6.5 million people are employed by the industry
- 62.4 % of the workers are women
- 35% belong to lower castes and native tribes.

However, the sector is beset with various problems such as:
-obsolete technology
-unorganised production system
-low productivity
-inadequate working capital
-conventional product range
-weak marketing links
-overall stagnation of production and sales
-competition from power looms and mill sectors.

Here is the full article