Nearly, 454 artisans registered for artisan card in Constituency
Jammu: The government has sponsored 93 MICRO Industrial Units besides facilitating 34 units under PMEGP and JKREGP schemes for employment generation in Padder-Nagseni Constituency in the 2024-25 fiscal.
Deputy Chief Minister, Surinder Choudhary, informed this while replying to a question raised by Sunil Kumar Sharma in the Legislative Assembly.
He informed that the department has registered the pass out trainees as Weavers and Artisans, held six awareness camps, registered 78 Artisans for Artisan Cards and 55 for Pehchan Card for availing benefits under various schemes, helping their on-boarding on e-commerce platforms.
The Minister said that the Entrepreneurship Awareness Programmes (EAPs) have been organized and 12 candidates from Padder Nagseni Constituency have been provided capacity building under the Hausla Programme in the current financial year. Besides, 2137 applications have been received under the Vishwakarma scheme.
He informed that 329 artisans and 125 weavers have been registered in Padder-Nagseni Constituency who can avail benefit of the schemes being implemented by the department under Artisan cards.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that various schemes are being implemented by the department to support the local handicrafts, particularly Pashmina weaving and other traditional crafts in the Constituency.
He said that the facilities included 10 sanctioned training centres in Kishtwar district which provide training in various crafts viz; Crewel, Staple, Sozni, Carpet weaving, wheat Straw Craft and Handloom Weaving, of which, 01 training centre of Wheat Straw Craft is functional in the Padder-Nagseni Constituency. He added that besides training programmes, the department facilitates handholding of the weavers and the artisans through Credit Card Scheme 2020, Weaver Mudra Scheme, Karkhandar Scheme 2021, registration of cooperatives under Financial Support scheme and other initiatives.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that 27 cases have been sponsored to various banks from Padder- Nagseni Constituency, of which, 15 cases have been sanctioned till date. He added that 03 cases have been sponsored to various banks under the Weavers MUDRA Scheme 2015 during the past three years.
He said that about 14 Cooperatives have been registered from the Padder sub division covering 154 artisans/weavers under the Financial Support Scheme for Cooperatives of Handicrafts and Handloom Department during the past three years. These artisans/weavers were practicing various traditional crafts viz; mix embroidery, stone jewellery, crewel embroidery, wheat straw crafts and weaving. An amount of Rs. 7.00 lakh has been disbursed among these cooperatives till date as first installment, he added.
He said that the department has also facilitated the participation of 04 Industrial Handicrafts Cooperatives from Padder Nagseni in National Level Exhibitions and 02 Industrial Handicrafts Cooperative Societies in Bhaderwah Fest, while 02 crafts viz; Kishtwari Loi and Wheat Straw Products are under submission to NABARD.
He added that a patch of land measuring 8 kanal has been identified at Matti, Padder for promotion of the Hotel Industry.