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National Handloom Day: Here are some interesting facts about the secto

Gowrish Babu
India and handloom have a bond that is beyond words and is forever. Here are a few facts about this sector.
In 2015, the BJP government declared August 7 as 'National Handloom Day' to commemorate the Swadeshi Andolan that began on the same day in 1905.
The first National Handloom Day was inaugurated on 7 August 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chennai.
Read on to know the many interesting facts and figures about India's handloom sector.
After agriculture, the handloom industry is the second largest employment sector in rural India.
According to the Handloom Census 2019-20, about 35,22,512 handloom workers were employed across the country, out of which 25,46,285 were women workers with a share of 72.29% of the total handloom workers.
At 11,79,507, Assam has the highest number women handloom workers in the country followed by West Bengal (3,68,864) and Manipur (2,11,327).
The majorly exported handloom products from India are mats and mattings, carpets, rugs, bedsheets, cushion covers and other handloom articles.
India exports handloom products to more than 20 countries in the world. Some of the top importers are the USA, the UK, Spain, Australia, Italy, Germany, France, South Africa, Netherlands and the UAE.
India is also the second largest producer of silk in the world and 95% of the world's handwoven fabric comes from this country.
India is the only country in the world producing all the four known commercial varieties of silk - mulberry, tasser (tussore), eri and muga.
So next time, when you buy a handloom fabric, remember you are not just buying a fabric, but taking home a piece of rich Indian handloom culture with you.
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