Itanagar, Jan 14 (Representative) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Monday inaugurated the 10-day Arunachal SARAS Fair here at the DK Convention Centre premises, handing over Rs 3 crore seed money for women-led self-help groups (SHGs) to support rural artisans engaged in weaving, crochet, knitting, embroidery, and handicrafts. “India will develop when the North East develops. North East will develop when Arunachal develops. Arunachal will develop when its villages develop, and villages will develop when women of the villages develop,” said Khandu while declaring the event open in presence of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Minister Ojing Tasing and other dignitaries. The SARAS Fair, organized annually by the State Government, as a marketing platform for local entrepreneurs and rural artisans to showcase their products, while also promoting sustainable livelihoods, where SHGs from across the state put up their products for display and sale.Khandu said this fair is in line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been promoting the concept of “Vocal for Local” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
In his address, the Chief Minister informed that currently, state SHGs and federations collectively manage a corpus pool of about Rs 300 crore, which, he said, is a testament to the scale and impact of the collective effort within small but difficult terrains of Arunachal Pradesh. He expressed happiness that the effort towards making SHG members into Lakhpati households is flowing down in a systematic manner. In the first phase of the certification, Arunachal has been able to certify over 1600 Lakhpati Didis in the state, he said. “This success is a result of their hard work, resilience, and diversified livelihood activities, such as agriculture, horticulture, livestock farming, and small enterprises,” Khandu said while appreciating the dedication of Arunachal State Rural Livelihood Mission (ArSRLM) officials engaged in handholding the SHGs.“We have further identified 29,000 potential SHG members whose capacity building has started so as to make them Lakhpati Didi. These individual and collective achievements reflect the power of unity and the entrepreneurial spirit of our women,” he said. On the occasion, the Chief Minister launched the Handloom, Handicraft, Crochet, Knitting & Embroidery Cluster Initiative under ArSRLM to support rural artisans engaged in weaving, crochet, knitting, embroidery, and handicrafts.
To further strengthen these clusters, each unit will receive seed capital support of Rs 2 lakh per cluster. This initiative aims to enhance skills of rural artisans by providing them with advanced training and design expertise, support sustainable livelihoods and create income-generating opportunities for women and marginalized communities, and preserve and promote the traditional arts and crafts of Arunachal Pradesh while integrating them with contemporary market demands.Capital Support of Rs 1 crore each for Handloom Cluster, Handicraft Cluster, and Crochet, Knitting and Embroidery Cluster (totalling Rs 3 crore) were handed over by the Chief Minister. “The Rs 1 crore support provided by the state government for the establishment of a dedicated marketing outlet for SHG products in the State capital will be implemented through the Arunachal State Rural Livelihoods Mission”, Khandu announced. The outlet will serve as a permanent marketing platform for SHGs to showcase and sell their handcrafted and handloom products year-round. Further, an inventory and fulfilment hub will be made functional to support the onboarding of SHG products on e-commerce platforms, enabling access to national and global markets, he revealed. Besides the state participants, SHGs from Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Jharkhand are also participating in the SARAS Fair.