The Resurging Value of Civil Society for Indian Crafts
Project Musiri, an initiative of Mphasis and DEF, was officially launched at Hotel PL.A Residency in Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu) on February 17, 2017 amid the presence of esteemed guests. The project aims to digitally empower the handloom weavers of Musiri who are known for making cotton sarees and veshti. The launch event was attended by Chief Guest and Mphasis CEO V Suryanarayanan , Development Commissioner (Handloom) from the Ministry of Textiles in Chennai Vishesh Nautiyal, Deputy Director (Handlooms) from Salem Zone P Vasu, DEF Founder-Director Osama Manzar, and 20 weavers from Musiri.
Twenty more weavers were connected from five DCDP clusters of DEF via a video call.
Digital Cluster Development Programme is an umbrella programme of DEF through which it introduces digital interventions in various handloom clusters of India to improve livelihood of weaver communities who are struggling to make ends meet today.
On the occasion of the launch of Project Musiri, Manzar shared the vision and mission of DCDP and narrated the success of Chanderiyaan, DEF’s first DCDP project launched in 2009. Suranarayanan, meanwhile, shared how the vision of Mphasis’ CSR wing matches with DCDP; and remembered his family that was initially rooted in Trichy before they moved to Bengaluru 40 years ago.
While Nautiyal addressed the need of digitalisation in the weaving sector, Vasu encouraged weavers to try new designs as much as possible.
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