The Union Ministry of Textiles abolished the All India Handicrafts Board and the All India Handloom Board days before the 6th National Handlooms Day celebrated on August 7.
The decision according to the Textile Ministry’s Development Commissioner for Handicrafts Shantmanu was to give a thrust to the Narendra Modi government's minimum government and maximum governance policy.
The handicrafts board was established in 1952 by Pupul Jayakar. The All India Handloom Board was constituted later on 23 January 1992.
These advisory bodies were a forum to present weaver communities' issues to the authorities and advise the Government in formulation of overall development programmes in the handloom and handicraft sectors.
The boards were an effective instrument for reducing unemployment and underemployment and also help achieve higher living standards for weavers.
The textile and handloom sector is the second-largest source of employment to people in India, after agriculture.
The Fourth All India Handloom Census says, 31.45 lakh households in India are engaged in handloom, weaving and allied activities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted artisans and weavers' incomes which were already strained due to flooding of machine-made products from both within and outside the nation.
Weavers and experts across the country have been voicing their discontent with the scrapping of the boards.