Changing Dimension of Handloom Industry in Odisha an Analytical Study

Abstract

Handloom industry occupies a unique position in the Indian rural economy in view of its large coverage, capacity and potential in serving as an important source of livelihood of a fairly large segment of weaver population are from scheduled caste and the other backward communities. Odisha is known for its rich cultural heritage and creative heritage. Ikat is an art that brings the rich Oriya culture into expression of fabric. It is the outcome of patience,intelligence and creativity by weavers of Odisha. This industry contributes near about 15% of the cloth production in the country. The handloom industry also makes a sizeable contribution of around Rs. 2353.33 crore to the export earnings of the nation i.e. 0.137% of total export earnings of India. The basic objectives of this study is to study the obstacles and challenges faced by the handloom industry in respect of finance, production and marketing, opportunities and prospects of handloom sector in Odisha, the Govt. and other agencies supports to handloom sector and weavers in respect of finance, production and marketing and to suggest measures to be taken by Govt. for sustainability, prosperity and profitability of handloom industry. The data has been collected with the help of a specially designed interview schedule as per the activities of the study. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, percentage, mean, standard deviation, paired t-test, analysis of variance, correlation, multiple regression, etc. to establish the results statistically. The opinions from different segments due to the socio- newline