In 2015, the Maharashtra Government declared drought in nearly half of the villages of the State including Vidarbha region. It was the second successive year of drought in Maharashtra. In fact, the state has experienced three such calamities since 2011. The most affected areas are in the Amravati division and Nagpur division, where the main crop is cotton. The farmers are at the moment solely dependent on the farming and agriculture activities, success of which totally depends on the monsoon. In the case of natural calamity, farmers are left with a situation either of no crops or very less yield of crops and don’t have the money to repay cascading debts. This compels them to take extreme steps like committing suicide. Therefore, it is proposed to engage female population of this region in alternative occupation to supplement the family income without influencing the main occupation which is farming. It is expected that such step will help the family to meet two ends and arrest their displacement towards towns or cities.

The total population of Wardha District in the year of 2011 in the rural area was 877,474 out of which Women’s Population was around 425,600. The total population of Chandrapur District in the year of 2011 in the rural area was 320,379 out of which Women’s Population was around 1, 56,294. The main occupation of the male population in these areas is crop cultivation while women are totally dependent on the men’s earning in the family. Since there is no separate income of the women in the family; therefore in case of any natural calamities, the family faces severe financial crisis.

The main objective of the proposal is to impart the floor covering manufacturing skills to women so that they can work from their home and/or in the common facility center in spare time which in turn will help them to generate supplement income for the family especially in drought stricken areas of Maharashtra without disturbing the family’s agricultural activities.

In this pilot project, it is proposed to develop a floor covering manufacturing cluster in the Chadrapur district of Maharashtra where the floor covering will be produced using ecofriendly dyed as well as undyed spun yarns which will have eco label and would pass the stringent quality norms required for export of floor coverings with appropriate certification. The floor covering will be produced by women under strict supervision of experts of Wool Research Association, Thane and appropriate assistance from Indian Woollen Mills Federation (IWMF)/WOOLTEXPRO to create a niche market for export of floor coverings from this region.

During the first year, for initial 6-8 months Maharashtra Government to support CFC by way of institutional buying and/or CSR of produced floor coverings till the quality of produced floor coverings gets stabilised and market is developed. In the first phase of the proposed pilot project, high quality and low shedding blended machine spun Woollen and Worsted yarn made from long fibre imported wool will be used to achieve the international quality standards for floor covering.

The uniqueness of the proposed pilot scheme is to give emphasis on onsite practical training to the artisans and develop a cluster for making floor covering on self sustainable basis in the long run. The pilot scheme is planned to focus on certification and quality checks right from the raw material to the finished products. For this purpose two institutions i.e. Centre of Excellence in Wool- Wool Research Association, Thane and Indian Woollen Mills Federation (IWMF)/WOOLTEXPRO will work in tandom so that issues such as training, quality, certifications as well as procurement of raw materials and marketing of finished goods could be addressed suitably.

In the state of Maharashtra, a quick accessibility from Vidharbha region to Mumbai port will be possible through proposed Sumrudhi Vikas Highway which is already sanctioned by Maharashtra Government. This will help to reduce the transportation time for export of floor covering at reasonable transportation cost.