Prabin Das, a handloom promoter from Goalpara, Assam, shared that the entire handloom sector has been hit hard by the crisis. Demonetisation, then the transition to GST, and now the pandemic cripples it leavings weavers and allied workers in lurch. According to 4th All India Handloom Census 2019-2020, there are over 3.5 million handloom workers; allied workers are about 24% of overall. A majority (2.3 million) of handloom workers are female and they mostly belong to the age group of 18-35 years. Most of the handloom workers are from economically disadvantaged groups; about 67% of weaver households earn less than Rs.5000/- a month.

Source: dna May 07, 2020 06:56 UTC