HYDERABAD: It was marketing with a difference, both in terms of the target audience and the location. Amidst the official proceedings in the Telangana assembly on Tuesday, industries minister KT Rama Rao hit upon a novel method of marketing the products made by the Telangana State Cooperative Society of Handloom Weavers (TSCO), a subject that falls under him.
Even as the legislators took a break and relaxed in their chambers, KTR went around and distributed packets containing handloom products including clothes to them. "TSCO is launching a scheme from next week by which those who pay 1,000 every month for 10 months will be eligible to buy handloom products worth 14,000," the industries minister said while gifting the items to assembly opposition leader K Jana Reddy and council opposition leader Mohd Shabbir Ali. After receiving the gift of handloom products, ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao and G Jagadish Reddy announced that they will join the scheme immediately. "I have requested all government departments and staff to wear handloom textiles at least one day in a week. Similarly, I have requested all ministers, MLAs, MPs and MLCs to tell their staff to wear handloom clothes so that the livelihood of the weavers will improve. The products can also be bought online. I will myself set an example by wearing handloom clothes once a week," KT Rama Rao told TOI.
But it is not just as industries minister that KTR is promoting handloom products. As a ruling party legislator, he happens to represent Sircilla assembly constituency in Karimnagar, which is predominantly a weavers bastion housing at least 36,000 powerlooms and over 50,000 weavers who appear to have voted for the TRS in the previous elections.
Ever since, he come to politics, KTR has been nurturing the constituency with utmost care. As powerloom weavers in Sircilla are a distressed lot with the demand for handloom products dwindling, the local MLA has decided to take on the issue head-on.
No comments:
Post a Comment