Minister Biswajit vows MEETAC support to artisans
Source: Chronicle News Service / DIPR
Imphal, December 01 2021:
Textiles, Commerce and Industries minister, Thongam Biswajit Singh, who is also the chairman of MEETAC, called on the artisans of the state to strive for exporting more products in order to enhance their livelihood.
Speaking at the closing function of a two-week workshop on Strategic Design Intervention for New Product Development and Production Capability Enhancement for Manipur Crafts at Hotel Classic Grande, Chingmeirong on Wednesday, minister Biswajit expressed his gratitude to all the artisans and craftsmen for participating at the workshop.
He stated that MEETAC will help in standardising and upgrading of their products to a global level.
While informing that MEETAC has been extending technical support for design development of traditional crafts to help augment the production capabilities and uplift economic status of artisans and craftsmen, minister Biswajit maintained that MEETAC aims at promoting inclusive growth by developing the traditional crafts/arts sector of Manipur as per global standards and making it an important spoke in the wheel of economic activities.
He encouraged the artisans and craftsmen who had attended the workshop to make use of the knowledge they gained during the past fortnight and export more products to enhance their livelihood.
The minister also encouraged them to apply for MUDRA loan and use it to their advantage while lauding the designers from NID for sharing their experience during the workshop.
As part of the closing function the textiles minister also inspected stalls displaying 144 new products made during the workshop.
Certificates were also distributed to all the participants.
The workshop was organised by Mission for Economic Empowerment of Traditional Artisans and Craftsman (MEETAC), an autonomous society under the department of Textiles, Commerce & Industries.
MEETAC in collaboration with National Institute of Design (NID) has already completed two projects and is currently under Phase III, and the workshop was conducted as a part of phase III.
During the first two projects, seven crafts namely Doll Making, Dry Flower, Bead Jewellery, Loin Loom Woven Fabric, Cane & Bamboo, Metal Craft/Metal Tribal Jewellery and Wood Craft were covered.
The workshop was attended by around 90 artisans engaged in five crafts namely Clay Pottery - Nungbi & Andro Pottery, Cane & Bamboo, Kauna Craft, Stone Craft and Textile - Moi-rang Phee, Lasing Phee & Rani Phee.
The closing function was also attended by TCI secretary Michael Achom, NID project head Vijay Singh Katiyar, NID principal designer CS Susanth and MEETAC (Training & Extension) director Elangbam Nirmala Chanu among others.