West Bengal khadi sector has played significant role in changing lives of artisans

New Delhi, Aug 22 (KNN) The West Bengal Khadi & Village Industries Board, under the Micro, Small & Medium enterprises and Textiles Department, has made remarkable progress in making artisans self dependent and employed.

The WBKVIB has helped artisans across Bengal to get access to proper and organized forums. This has helped them in getting a respectable livelihood by using skills, many of which are handed down from generation to generation.

Between financial years 2011-12 and 2017-18, number of khadi artisans have been increased 8.5 times and during the same period, over 29 times increase has been registered in sales of khadi products.

Besides, project Muslin has also been implemented in the state, covering 3,000 muslin weavers.

Also, Project Saal Leaf launched involving 1,800 self-help groups (SHG), with a Centre of Excellence established in Jhargram.

Further to empower the artisans, state launched Mat which has benefitted as many as 2,500 mat artisans in the state while 21,00 artisans benefitted from the project Sabai.