New Delhi, July 27 Prime Minister Narendra Modi in ‘Mann Ki Baat' programme on Sunday, showered praise on the handloom weaver Naveen Kumar, following which a wave of happiness has gripped the entire village as well as the weavers community.
Naveen Kumar, a resident of Nepura village in Silav block of Nalanda has become the talk of village after PM Modi mentioned his name and noted his landmark contribution in taking forward the handloom business in his village, by adopting new technology.
This has inspired many others in his village to break the stereotype and come forward to take up similar businesses.
Naveen Kumar thanked PM Modi for his words of appreciation and said: "Till date no one has spoken to weavers directly like this. We hope that now our problems will be paid attention to. We have been associated with this ancestral work since childhood.”
“We make silk shirts, kurtas, saris and dress material on handloom. Earlier we used to work on 'pit loom' which was made by digging a pit in the ground, but now we have got a new frame loom under a project of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, which can be installed on the rooftop and used,” he said.
He further said that the weavers' quota has facilitated children to study in institutions like NIFT, which is a good sign for the future for the art.
“We are working for the upliftment of the weaver community by joining this. 70-80 people are associated with us, which also includes children and women. We are happy that PM Modi talked about the issues of weavers. We hope that whatever beneficial scheme will be there for weavers, we will get the benefit of it,” he remarked.
He said that he was exhilarated to hear his name in PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat and said that people of his villager were very happy.
Speaking about challenges of the business, he stated: “Our clothing goes to the malls of Delhi and Patna through the Upendra Maharathi Craft Research Institute of the Bihar government. But, the condition there is that payment comes only after the cloth is sold. In such a situation, how can we weavers buy thread for the next time and run our household?”
Weaver Kaluram said that he is grateful to the PM Modi for paying attention to the rural weavers and called for starting a pension scheme to secure their future.
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