Handloom Events Across India Mark 10th National Handloom Day

The 10th National Handloom Day will be celebrated on Wednesday, 7th August 2024 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Hon’ble Vice President of India will be the Chief Guest on the occasion. Union Textiles Minister, Shri Giriraj Singh and Minister of State for External Affairs & Textiles, Shri Pabitra Margherita will attend the function. MPs, eminent personalities, designers, Industry representatives and exporters, Senior Government Officers  as well as more than 1000 weavers from across the country will be attending the function.

During the function, Sant Kabir Awards and National Handloom Awards will be conferred to handloom weavers for their outstanding contribution in handloom sector. Award Catalogue and Coffee Table Book- “Parampara- Sustainability in Handloom Traditions of India” will be released by the Hon’ble Vice President of India.

Guided by the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister, the Government started celebrating National Handloom Day with the first such celebration being held on 7th August 2015. The date was specifically chosen to commemorate the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on 7th August 1905 and encouraged indigenous industries, particularly handloom weavers.

National Handloom Day seeks to honour the handloom weavers and provide motivation and sense of pride to the handloom industry, by appreciating their contribution to the cultural, traditional and economic landscape of the country. The celebrations aim to generate awareness about the importance of the handloom sector and its contribution to the socio-economic development of the country.

As part of  the 10th National Handloom Day celebrations, various activities are being organized across the country in all States/UTs.  State Governments, Weaver Service Centres under Office of Development Commissioner(Handloom), Apex Handloom bodies, Educations Institutions including National Institute of Fashion Technology and Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, National Handloom Development Corporation, National Crafts Museum etc are organizing various activities. Some of the major activities include:

• Social Media Campaign through My Gov portal: Pledge, Selfies, Design a souvenir, Quiz contest.
• Virasat, an exclusive exhibition of handloom products with the matic display & live demonstration at Handloom Haat, New Delhi (3rd to 16th August )
• Virasat- Exclusive exhibition at Delhi Haat INA (1st to 15th August),
• Special Sourcing Show (B2B)  at Varanasi organized by Handloom Export Promotion Council ( 7th to 9th August).
• Know Your Weaves event at Crafts Museum (1st to 14th August)- This  initiative seeks to create awareness among students about India’s handlooms. Approx 10,000 students from  schools across Delhi  will be participating in this programme.
• Handloom expos, awareness activities in colleges organized by Weaver Service Centres at various places across the country.
• Awareness activities including Thematic display/Weaving demonstration, Panel discussion, Quiz on handlooms, Fashion presentations by NIFT  and IIHTs.