Import of copied handloom products banned
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, June 22 2022: Six student bodies, namely AIMS, AMSU, DESAM, KSA, MSP and SUK, have imposed a blanket ban on bringing in garments, which imitate the handloom products/designs of Manipur, from other states.

In a joint statement, the student bodies said that the economy is in a very bad shape with state's revenue covering only 12 per cent of the 2021-22 budget.

It shows how Manipur is depending on the Centre for 88 per cent of its expenditure, which in turn could be termed as an extreme state of dependency though Manipur had remained as a thriving sovereign nation for thousands of years.

It is time for a retrospection to find out the reason behind the collapsed economy of the state after it became part of the Indian Union in order to find the solution and secure the future of the indigenous people, the statement said.

The main reason behind the failed economy of the state is the political relationship between India and Manipur.

Agriculture and handloom sectors are the backbone of economy of the state but various factors are giving direct impact on these two sectors resulting in further downfall of the state's economy.

Bringing in of machine woven cheap garments with designs imitated from the handloom products of the state has flooded and impacted the local markets.

This situation directly affects the local weavers and their economy.

This should be seen as a major challenge to the economy of the state and sustenance of the handloom sector.

Since most of the families in the state belong to poor class, these cheap imitation garments are gradually seizing the market of local handloom products; threatening the survival of handloom sector.

Considering this challenge, there is an urgent need to ban these cheap imitation garments and get patent and GI tags for all the handloom products of Manipur.

Keeping in view of this urgent need, the six student bodies have imposed a total ban on all such products brought in from other states in the local markets of the state, the statement said.

It also urged the government to take up necessary steps so as to make it mandatory to use state's handloom products in making school uniforms and to replace Sari with traditional Phanek and Innafi (women's cloths) .

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