The Uttarakhand government has decided to revive the age-old woollen products and provide marketing and logistic support to the manufacturers of woollen products.
As part of the move, the government has identified six clusters in the state where people have been engaged in the business since ages.
These clusters are: Dunda in Uttarkashi district, Dharchula and Munsiyari in Pithoragarh district, Manglore in Haridwar district, Chinka in Chamoli district and Kalsi in Dehradun district. In all these clusters, artisans have been making jackets, socks, sweaters and pankhis (shawls) made from wool. The wool is either extracted from sheep or imported from Tibet.
Artisans in Uttarakhand are using angora, harsil and marino wool and utilise their skills in different combinations to express their creativity. All these products are getting good response as far as recent exhibitions held in different parts of the country are concerned.
Being located in the north temperate region, Uttarakhand enjoys the advantage of producing apparel grade wool known to be very fine in the country. The majority of the population in the hill state takes to pastoral farming and rears animals like sheep, pashmina goat and angora rabbit. These animals yield superior quality wool. Wool banks have been set up by the Khadi and Village Industries Board to provide all kinds of wool varieties required for different woollen products.
Pashmina wool, which is mainly being brought from Tibet through barter trade, provides great deal of warmth. Constituted by the state government, the Uttarakhand Handloom and Handicraft Development Council (UHHDC), which works under the Directorate of Industries, acts as a facilitator to motivate, guide and organise artisans and provide platforms to sell their products. The UHHDC has also decided to give its brand name Himadri to the products.
Help is also being taken from various institutes for designing to add innovative qualities to the products. “We are trying to create maximum employment opportunities in these sectors by promoting specialised products for commercialisation.” said SC Nautiyal, joint director, industries.
