Thaindian News

Varanasi, Sep 27 (IANS) After some commercial banks decided to give credit cards to farmers, Allahabad Bank has decided to extend the facility to silk weavers in and around this pilgrimage town.
“The idea behind the move is to save weavers from perennial exploitation by moneylenders”, said Allahabad Bank assistant general manager P.C. Gananayak at the launch of the scheme here Sunday.

About 200 weavers have been identified for the first round of the scheme that will be implemented in Varanasi, Azamgarh, Mirzapur, Chandauli and Sant Kabir Nagar districts of the poverty-ridden eastern Uttar Pradesh.

This follows the identification of Varanasi silk weavers’ skills as “intellectual property” under the Geographical Indication Act .

“All that the weavers were required to do to avail of the facility was to furnish their artisan licence issued by the handloom and handicrafts department,” Gananayak told IANS.

He said while the scheme would initially cover only weavers, artisans engaged in other trades such as woodwork and metal work would also be included in the list of the target beneficiaries in due course.

Social workers have hailed the bank’s initiative.

“The scheme will definitely provide financial strength to weavers, who often end up getting exploited by moneylenders on whom they become dependent for their raw material needs”, said Rajni Kant, general secretary of Human Welfare Organisation, a non-governmental organisation working for the economic uplift of the region’s silk weavers.