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Updated June 11th, 2020 at 19:42 IST

Atmanirbhar Bharat: Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu calls for use of local products

In line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday directed the state textiles and handicrafts department to procure local products for all requirements in government offices.

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In line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday directed the state textiles and handicrafts department to procure local products for all requirements in government offices. Chairing a meeting here, Khandu said that the process must be completed in a fixed time frame.

"All requirements of government establishments will be procured from local producers only through the textiles and handicrafts department. This will not only boost our self-sustainability but also benefit local producers, who at the moment are suffering due to want of markets to sell their products," the chief minister said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address to the nation on May 12, had said Atmanirbhar Bharat, or a self-reliant nation, was the only way to progress amid the crisis brought about by the coronavirus pandemic worldwide.

Khandu appreciated the department's initiative of producing face masks from Eri silk with traditional tribal designs for distribution to healthcare workers, police personnel and the employees of the state secretariat.

He said if these are produced in mass scale maintaining a standard, the masks can get a big market even outside the state and the country. The CM said it was time for the department to ramp up its activities and focus mainly on tying up with local producers.

After being informed that the department has already received an order from the health department for bed sheets for all health centres in the state, Khandu asked the department to equip itself to meet future demands.

The requirements of a district should be met from producers of that district so that everybody gets equal opportunity to benefit from the initiative, he said.

Appreciating a suggestion for issuing an advisory to all state government employees to wear a local tribal attire of choice to the office at least once a month, he requested the chief secretary to do the needful in this regard.

The central government's Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries under the MSME sector, which is yet to be tapped by the state government, was also discussed in detail in the meeting.

Under this scheme, traditional industries and artisans are organized into clusters to make them competitive and provide support for their long-term sustainability, sustained employment, enhanced marketability and equip traditional artisans with improved skills.

The department is in the process of identifying NGOs in coordination of deputy commissioners for 25 such clusters in the state, an official statement said. The department of textiles and handicrafts has proposed to upgrade all its production centers spread across the state besides procuring and installing powerlooms.

(Photo Credit: PTI)

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Published June 11th, 2020 at 19:42 IST

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