Handloom workers from across Telangana on Wednesday demanded the Central government to scrap 5 percent GST and implement zero GST on handlooms, arguing that it negatively affects their business.
The president of Telangana Padmashali Yuvajana Sangam, Avvari Bhaskar, spoke at the press club in Somajiguda. He said that 75 years after independence, the center had never imposed a GST on handlooms. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party ruled Centre appears hell-bent on stifling handloom weavers’ achievements.
He invoked Mahatma Gandhi, who spearheaded the Swadeshi movement, and asked the Centre to honor the role handloom weavers played during the freedom struggle.
Bhaskar added that it is contradictory to see the Prime Minister wear handlooms on the one hand, and trample on the struggle of weavers on the other.
Furthermore, he discussed how the Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bhima Yojana, the handloom board and the yarn subsidy scheme (which was reduced from 40% to 15%) were all sidelined by the Centre, leaving handloom weavers in precarious situations.
Additionally, Lakshmi Narayana, a handspun weaver from Mahbubnagar expressed her appreciation of what the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government had done for Telangana’s weavers but expressed disappointment with the Centre’s GST policy.
Telangana state textiles minister KT Rama Rao started an online postcard campaign three days ago, asking the Union government to remove GST from handloom products to protect weavers’ interests.
In their remarks, the weavers union expressed gratitude for the support provided by KTR. “Despite the state’s support, the Centre’s policies have adversely affected us. The GST imposed on handlooms must be rolled back immediately,” Bhaskar continued.
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In a postcard sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, KTR requested that GST on handloom products be rolled back.
“The handloom sector in India is reeling under the impact of the COVID pandemic and any increase in taxes will sound the death knell for the sector,” he said, adding that the handloom weaving tradition represents one of the richest and most vibrant aspects of Indian culture. He noted that this is the first government since independence to levy GST on handlooms.
Earlier in December, KTR stated that the textile industry contributes to the second-highest employment in the country and is still dealing with the effects of COVID.
As a result, he argued, it was the responsibility of the Centre to come to the aid of weavers rather than raising the GST to 12%.
