New Delhi: The Khadi and Village Industries Commission on Wednesday said it has disbursed Rs 29.65 crore to 84 Khadi institutions in Jammu & Kashmir between May and September, benefitting 10,800 artisans.
“The financial assistance has been given under Modified Marketing Development Assistance (MMDA) scheme of KVIC which is directly linked with the production activities. Under this scheme, money is directly transferred into the bank accounts of artisans through direct benefit transfer,” an official statement said.
A special drive was also launched by KVIC during the COVID-19 period to settle 951 old MMDA claims of J&K Khadi institutions that were related to 2016-17 to 2018-19, pending due to various technical reasons.
“While KVIC worked tirelessly for creating sustainable employment across the country, it disbursed Rs 29.65 crore to Khadi Institutions in the hilly terrains of J&K alone, which has been the focus area of the Central Government,” the statement said.
This amount has been disbursed from May 2020 to September 2020 to 84 Khadi institutions in J&K benefitting 10,800 Khadi artisans associated with these institutions, it added.
KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said it has also roped in thousands of women artisans working in self-help groups in Jammu, Udhampur, Pulwama, Kupwara and Anantnag in stitching of Khadi face masks.
“Almost 7 lakh Khadi face masks were stitched by these women artisans and supplied to the J&K Government,” he added.
At present, 103 Khadi Institutions are working in J&K. Of these, 12 are primarily dealing in production of Kashmir’s globally acclaimed Pashmina Shawls. Over 60 per cent of these shawls are produced in south Kashmir region, i.e. Anantnag, Bandipora, Pulwama and Kulgam.
