Book English 2011.p65 - Ministry of Textiles

annual report 2010-1111 (April to November 2010) were of theorder of Rs.409.52 lakh. The Society hasbeen working in profit consecutively for thelast 56 Years. During the year 2010-11, anamount of Rs.255.19 lakh was released bythe Government of India under MarketingIncentive Component of the IntegratedHandloom Development Scheme.NATIONAL HANDICRAFTS &HANDLOOMS MUSUM (NHHM)The National Handicrafts and HandloomsMuseum also popularly known as CraftsMuseum is located at Pragati Maidan, NewDelhi. It is a sub-ordinate office under theDevelopment Commissioner forHandlooms, Ministry of Textiles. Its mainobjectives are to increase public awarenessabout the India's ancient traditions ofhandicrafts and handlooms, provide aninteractive forum for the crafts persons,designers, exporters, scholars and publicand help the crafts persons to find aplatform for marketing without middlemenand to serve as a resource center for theIndian handicraft and handloom traditions.Collection, conservation and preservationof crafts specimen, revival, reproductionand development of Art and Craft are thebasic activities of the Museum.Museum CollectionThe Museum has a collection of over32,000 artifacts consisting of Metal Icon,Lamps, Incense Burners, Ritualaccessories, items of everyday life, Woodcarvings, Painted wood and Paper Mache,Dolls, Toys, Puppets, Masks, Folk andtribal paintings and sculptures, Terracotta,Folk & Tribal jewellery and an entiresection of traditional Indian textiles. Theyare exhibited in Folk and tribal Art Gallery,Temple gallery, Courtly Crafts Gallery andTextile Gallery and the rest are kept inMuseum Collection store.Visits by Eminent Persons / DelegationsDuring the current year i.e. 2010, anumber of distinguished persons visitedthe National Handicrafts and HandloomsMuseum, United States first lady Mrs.Michelle Obama visited the Craft Museumon 8th November, 2010. The visit was thehighlight of her recent trip in India whichincluded her interaction with children andshopping at the Crafts Museum. InNovember 2010 His Serene Highness,the Prince of Lichtenstein and her RoyalHighness, the Princess of Lichtensteinvisited the Museum and also toured theCrafts Demonstrations Programme.HANDLOOM EXPORT PROMOTIONCOUNCIL (HEPC)The Handloom Export Promotion Councilwas set up in the year 1965 with Primeobjective of promoting exports of Handwovenproducts of cotton as well as silkand readymade garments. With theincrease in the quantum of exports, theCouncil at present caters only to exportersof cotton handloom fabrics and made-ups,lungies and Real Madras Handkerchiefsand other items made from cottonhandloom fabrics. The Council has itshead office at Chennai and its RegionalOffice at New Delhi. A Committee consistingof elected representatives from the tradeand Government governs the Council. TheCouncil, which started in 1965 with only 96members, has grown over the years tocover the entire country with a membershipof about 1555 members.In the absence of ITC (HS) codes for thehandloom products, the export data onhandlooms was not available from April2003 onwards. The matter was taken upwith the Ministry of Finance and after longcorrespondence and meetings with theofficials of the Ministry of Finance, 31 ITC(HS) codes have been notified by theMinistry of Finance on 24th September2008. Based on the notified ITC (HS)codes, the Directorate General ofCommercial Intelligence and Statistics,Kolkata have captured the followingproduct-wise export data on handloomsfor the period April 09 to March 2010,which is given at table 10.17.149