Textile minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar and minister in charge of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh jointly inaugurated an exhibition-cum-sale of handicraft and handloom products from the Northeastern states at CCI Emporium in New Delhi yesterday.
The event has been organised to showcase the rich variety of textiles, handicrafts and bamboo furniture and artifacts of the region, according to an official release.
Gangwar said his department has taken an initiative to set up apparel and garment making centers in all eight states in the region.
“This is the first organized effort to bring modern ready-made garment industry in the North East, and a significant step towards the Make in India initiative of the government,” Gangwar told newsmen.
He said that the project, which comes under the North-East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS), will develop entrepreneurship through various capacity building measures and also train the people to work efficiently on high-end garment machines. Each apparel and garment making centre set up under the initiative is estimated to generate direct employment for 1,200 people. It will help develop an ecosystem that will trigger further investments and employment. The centres in Tripura and Nagaland have already been inaugurated, while work is in progress in the remaining six states.
Speaking on the occasion, Singh said the exhibition is a landmark event to showcase the rich variety of textiles, handicrafts and bamboo furniture of North East India.
The fortnight-long event participated by award-winning craft experts, master craft persons from North Eastern states of the country is organised by the Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India (CCI) Ltd.