Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting the General Budget 2014-15 in Lok Sabha today, proposed to provide Rs. 50 crores to set-up a Trade Facilitation Centre and a Crafts Museum to develop and promote handloom products and carry forward the rich tradition of handlooms of Varanasi. The Finance Minister has announced to set-up eight Textile Mega Clusters at Varanasi, Bareily, Lucknow, Surat, Kuttch, Bhagalpur, Mysore and one in Tamil Nadu with a sum of Rs. 200 crore. Jaitley proposed to set-up a Hastkala Academy for the preservation, revival and documentation of the handloom/handicraft sector in PPP mode in Delhi with a sum of Rs. 30 crore. He also proposed to start a Pashmina Promotion Programme (P-3) and a programme for the development of other crafts of Jammu & Kashmir with a sum of Rs. 50 crore. (ANI)
