Irani dissolves handloom and handicrafts boards

The boards were created by BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee

Textile Minister Smriti Irani has dissolved two advisory boards that used to be the conduit between the ministry and the artisans and the main forum for the artisans to influence the central policies.

The All-India Handloom Board was wound up on July 27 and the All-India Handicrafts Board was shut down on August 3 in quest for a “leaner government”, unmindful of the fact the boards as also khadi and village industries board were actually conceptualised and formed by none other than the BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

In one of his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ episode in 2018, PM Modi had mentioned how the boards were set up during the Mookerjee’s tenure as the Industries Minister in Jawaharlal Nehru’s first cabinet. Mookerjee, who later founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh that later became the BJP, was in office only until 1950. During his tenure, a Handloom Standing Committee with a handloom development fund of Rs10 lakh was set up.

Both gazette notifications issued in the name of the textile commissioners cite the same reason: “… In consonance with the Government of India vision of ‘ Minimum Government and Maximum Governance’, a leaner government machinery and the need for systematic rationalisation of government bodies ...” The boards’ goal was to provide policy inputs for promoting, developing and marketing these crafts and for coordinating the efforts of the various government agencies. Development commissioners were appointed for the tasks since the 1980s.