Shillong, Aug 14: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday led the state’s observance of National Handloom Day at the Integrated Textile Tourism Complex in Ri Sai, Nongpoh, bringing the curtains down on the 12th National Handloom Week with a message that framed the state’s weaving traditions as inseparable from its identity.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister described the textile designs showcased at the event — Dakmanda, Dharashat, Mukhli, and Thoseru — as expressions of the diverse communities that call Meghalaya home, rather than simple garments. For the state government, he said, supporting weavers is as much about protecting culture and identity as it is about generating income.
“This is a celebration of Meghalaya and a message to the country and the world that we are proud of our heritage,” Sangma said, adding that the government’s efforts over the past six to seven years have consistently placed identity, language, and tradition at the heart of the state’s development agenda — citing the recent recognition of Khasi and Garo as official languages after a 54-year wait as part of that same commitment.
“Our endeavour has gone beyond textiles and weaving. We are weaving our culture. We are protecting it. That is how we are investing in our people,” he said.
The Chief Minister also acknowledged St. Anthony’s College for training local weavers to use Instagram to market their products, helping them reach buyers well beyond the state.
A New Centre of Excellence for Eri Silk
A highlight of the day was the inauguration of a Centre of Excellence dedicated to preserving and passing on the skills of Eri weaving to future generations. Complete with an Ahimsa Silk training and design centre, a restaurant, cottages, and a retail plaza, the Ri Sai complex now brings craft, cuisine, culture, trade, and tourism together under one roof.
Sangma pointed to Umden-Diwon and Ri Bhoi as models of what this integrated approach can achieve, calling them hubs for indigenous textile traditions and living symbols of the state’s heritage. Awards were also presented to textile entrepreneurs, weavers, and farmers recognised for their work in promoting Eri silk. The occasion also saw the Chief Minister hoist the national flag as part of the Har Ghar Tiranga initiative.
The scale of the sector underscores why the state has chosen to treat textiles as strategic rather than symbolic. More than 50,000 households across Meghalaya depend on the textile sector for their livelihood, with women making up over 70 per cent of the workforce. The trend is even sharper in Ri Bhoi district, where nearly 90 per cent of the roughly 4,000 registered weavers and 3,200 registered sericulture farmers are women — making handloom development, in effect, a driver of women’s economic participation.
The government’s press release traced a series of steps that have shaped this sector over the past five years:
2021 — Umden-Diwon was declared Meghalaya’s first Eri Silk Village, a moment the government credits with shifting the state’s view of textiles from a traditional practice to a “sunrise sector.”
2022 — The Design Innovation Resource Centre was established, allowing the entire Ryndia value chain — from cocoon to finished cloth — to be experienced at a single site by designers, researchers, and visitors.
2024–25 — Geographical Indication (GI) status was secured for both Ryndia and Khasi handlooms, alongside the formation of the Meghalaya Ryndia Producers Organisation to manage the GI tag on weavers’ behalf.
2026 — The Integrated Textile Tourism Complex at Ri Sai was inaugurated, consolidating craft, cuisine, culture, trade, and tourism into one platform.
Beyond policy milestones, the government highlighted concrete support extended to weavers. Under the Income Generation Programme, looms, accessories, and yarn were distributed to 2,141 weavers in 2024–25 and to 2,448 weavers in 2025–26 — an increase of 307 beneficiaries in a single year.
Under the Cluster Development Programme of the National Handloom Development Programme, a project worth ₹571.15 lakh is currently underway, of which ₹260.35 lakh has already been released as the first instalment. The project is expected to benefit 981 people and includes 300 looms along with working sheds supported at ₹1.20 lakh each.
Since 2022–23, Meghalaya has also received ₹2,198.24 lakh under the Central Silk Board’s Silk Samagra-2 scheme, including ₹201.61 lakh in the current fiscal year alone.
Taken together, the day’s announcements point to a deliberate strategy: using GI recognition, dedicated infrastructure, and direct financial support to convert Meghalaya’s handloom traditions — long sustained by rural, largely women-led households — into an organised, market-facing sector without severing it from its cultural roots. The Chief Minister closed the event by reaffirming the government’s commitment to strengthening the textile sector while safeguarding the state’s cultural heritage.
The event was also attended by Minister Shri Metbah Lyndoh, MLA Shri Mayralborn Syiem, MDC Kong Rona, Chief Secretary Dr. Shakil Ahammad, the Principal Secretary (Textiles), and other stakeholders from the handloom industry.
