At the state-level handloom meeting on Thursday at Kandukuri Kalyana Mandapam in Vijayawada, a number of handloom workers gathered and requested the immediate repeal of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) on handloom goods.
According to Rao, the government should understand that the ₹24,000 in financial aid provided under the Nethanna Hastham scheme would not be enough to support handloom weavers.
State convenor for Rashtra Chenetha Jana Samakhya (RCJS), Macherla Mohan Rao, remarked during the meeting that governments’ lack of assistance is causing millions of handloom workers to struggle.
He said that the state government is purposely delaying the distribution of ID cards to minimise the number of beneficiaries under the Nethanna Hastham scheme, and that this prevented handloom artists from even being eligible for Mudra loans.
The initiative of ‘Mudra’ is intended to carry out one of the MSMEs-related initiatives launched as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Shishu loans are defined by Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) as loans for income-generating activities up to Rs. 50,000.
In accordance with the PMMY, the Union Cabinet, which is presided over by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, today authorised a programme for 2% interest subvention on all Shishu loan accounts for a 12-month term which was reported by taxscan.
They implored with the state and central governments to step in right away and help the industry that is struggling and warned that if they did not, there may be suicides in the handloom industry.
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