The State Industries Department of Bihar has signed an MoU with the National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC) to provide yarn on credit to weavers for 45 days. Bihar, in fact, became the first State in the country to sign such an agreement with NHDC and the State Industries Department has created a corpus of Rs 1 crore for this scheme.
Another corpus of Rs 2 crore has been created for advance payment to weavers affiliated to Bihar State Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Union Limited, which supplies satrangi chadar (rainbow bedsheets) to State Health Department for using in government hospitals. A cheque for Rs 50 lakh from the second corpus was handed over to the weavers’ cooperative.
Besides, an aid to the tune of Rs 1.25 crore was released to Bihar State Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Union Limited (BSHWCUL) for providing 68-inch looms to weavers for weaving bigger cloth pieces like double bedsheets and curtains among others. Industries department has allocated Rs1.35 crore for this scheme.