Tamil Nadu to formulate new integrated textile policy, says E Palaniswami

Chennai: Tamil Nadu government would formulate a new integrated textile policy, Chief Minister EK Palaniswami said on Monday. “A new integrated textile policy will be formulated,” the chief minister said in his address at National Hand Tex 2017, to mark the Third National Handloom Day. Palaniswami, however, did not elaborate. [caption id=“attachment_3837849” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of E Palaniswami. PTI[/caption] He said the National Handloom Day was being celebrated to remember Indians raising against the use of British goods in 1905, with the launch of the Swadeshi movement in Kolkata. “Those who have love and affection for the motherland will support handloom and promote the handloom industry,” he said. He said the National Handloom Day will allow manufacturing of handloom products of international quality for global markets. In Tamil Nadu, the weaving industry came second in terms of employment after agriculture, he said. The late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had initiated various welfare measures for both handloom and power-loom workers and his government was taking them forward, he added. For instance, the scheme of supplying sarees and dhotis to beneficiaries free of cost during the harvest festival of Pongal in January provided employment to weavers throughout the year as they are procured from them, he said. This benefited over 11,000 handloom and 54,000 power-loom workers associated with various cooperatives, he said. Further, as announced by Jayalalithaa, the government has increased the free of cost power supply to handloom workers from 100 units for two months to 200 units, he said, adding, the government was providing a number of sops to the weavers. As a result, 964 of the 1,156 handloom weavers cooperatives were making profits, he said.