Manitex, 2020 held

Imphal: The Manipur International Textile Expo (MANITEX), 2020 was held at Urban Haat, Nillakuthi, Imphal East in presence of chief minister N. Biren Singh as the chief guest.

The expo was toned down to only one day this year due to Covid-19 crisis.

​Biren said as womenfolk in Manipur often supplement to the income of their respective families, they usually make significant contribution to the enhancement of the state’s economy and as such, the government has been distributing flying shuttle looms to weavers every year since 2018.

The government not only provides subsidy in yarn but also buy all the finish products from weavers so that they may not face the problem of looking for market, he added.

​Regarding Covid-19 pandemic, the chief minister urged the public to take extra care for themselves until Covid vaccine comes as the number of fatalities is slowly rising in the state as well. People should never take the preventive measures announced by the Government for granted, he added. He informed that a Task Force has been formed to identify the first beneficiaries of Covid vaccine.

​Textile minister Th. Biswajit said as per the National Handloom Census Report, 2019-20, Manipur has 2.12 lakh handloom weavers and 2.11 lakh looms. The state also has 2 lakh handicraft artisans. Thus, Manipur has both traditional and natural potential for handloom, handicrafts and textile skilled workers, he added.

A total of 2250 flying shuttle looms to weavers of 16 districts of the state at the function.

Earlier, the chief minister launched an e-commerce website having url: paonamart.com. It is related to Atmanirbhar Bharat announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 12. Promotion of e-commerce was mentioned as one of the major steps for the revival of MSME sector under Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The main objective of organizing MANITEX was to showcase the products of handloom, handicrafts, dyeing and printing, powerloom, garment, embroidery, etc. in larger scale with the participation of different countries and states.