`Assam not doing enough to boost handicrafts units' BOKAKHAT,ASSAM :Jnanpith Award winning Assamese author Indira Goswami, who feels that banned military outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is not a threat to the arts and crafts of Assam, said on Sunday that the Assamese government was not doing enough to provide the handicrafts industry with an impetus.
"The weaves and handicrafts of Assam are very rich and certainly deserve to find a much bigger place in the textile and arts industry. But the Assam government is not helping. It is not doing enough to promote the cause and strengthen the position of weavers and artisans," said Goswami while inaugurating "Crafts and Weaves", an exhibition to support the crafts- men of the North-east, which will be held till February 10 at the Oxford Bookstore. Goswami, fondly called Mamoni Raisom in her homeland, said that the West Bengal government can help in the promotion of such handicrafts as they are a neighbouring state. "The weavers themselves face impediments because of communication in the heartlands of industry and most of them are also illiterate. About 80 per cent of the women amongst the rural folk in Assam are illiterate. The government must do something to reduce unemployment in this sector and to improve the market for them," Goswami said. She also referred to the Malaysian fashion designer, Adric Ong, who has worked extensively with the Assamese Muga silk and is now trying to bring the Assamese national costumes into the focus of world fashion. "Foreigners are more interested about the fabric rather than its own people. The handicrafts of Assam are the real face of Assam, but the government is not paying any attention to it and hence the industry is stagnating," she added. The exhibition has been brought to the city by the Crafts Council of Assam. Weavers from Jorhat, Majuli and Korajhar have brought their weaves and designs for sale, along with some bamboo products. "Muga silk is so much in demand, but weavers are sometimes exploited because traders intervene. In order that the weavers and craftsmen get their due share, we are trying to promote their work," said Nandini Dutta, chairperson of the council KOUSHIK HAZARIKA HTTP://WWW.ASOM.CO.NR
