Handloom Industry in Odisha- A Case Analysis of Khordha District

Abstract

Handloom weaving is one of the labour intensive sector in India. To develop this sector, Government has implemented several schemes for the weavers. Thus, it is assumed that these policies might have benefitted the weaver substantially and must have addressed their problems in handloom productions. But this needs to be analysed at micro-level, hence an attempt has been made in the present study to analysis the various problems faced by the handloom weavers in Khordha district of Odisha. The study found that handloom weavers are mainly facing the problems in procurement of required raw materials like yarn, dyes and chemicals at the right time and in appropriate quantities, poor governmental support, lack of credit availability, non-availability of market, lack of training and skill development programme, deprived of benefits from the different governmental scheme. Both the central and state governments have formulated certain specific schemes to support handloom weavers but it fails in meeting their real needs and requirements. Due to these problems and challenges, many weavers are trying to shift from weaving to some other occupation and thus putting the handloom weaving on the verge of extinction. Hence, policy measures implemented by Government should be enforced for the development of the handloom weaver community.