Srinagar: In recent years due to a recession in the international market, many carpets in recent years have been trained by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to keep new artisans to keep the tradition alive. On Thursday, officials said that around 11,000 workers from various districts of Kashmir Valley have received training in carpet weaving.“Weavers have been trained on the modified carpet tax, which will go a long way in the top markets for the famous hand woven carpets, which is the second most exported product from Kashmir,” said Zuber Ahmed, director of the Carpet Institute of Carpet Technology (IICT).Ahmed said that the iconic master weavers were designed to train skilled and semi-skilled weavers in many batches. He said, “This training will go a long way in the protection of the rare skills of complex handed carpet weaving, which is a great demand in the country and abroad,” he said.To make the training program attractive, IICT provides monthly stipend to trainees. “For these short-term training programs, which last for four to six months and adjust 20 trainees in each, the monthly Stepen Union ranges from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,750 under various skills-based schemes of the Union Textiles Ministry,” Ahmed said.Despite a global recession, exports of hand-extinguished carpets from a major market-Kashmir for the ongoing international conflicts and war-contingent handicrafts in the Middle East reached Rs 838.7 crore in the last three financial years, Ahmed said.The carpet tradition of Kashmir is believed to be in the 14th and 15th centuries at the time of Sufi Saint Mir Syed Ali Hamdani and Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, when the artisans of Iran and Central Asia were brought to the region. According to the convenor of Intch Kashmir, Salim Baig, large -scale production flew during the Mughal era, when the master artisans settled in Srinagar and helped create a weaving community. For generations, carpets have been central for the handicrafts sector of Kashmir, providing jobs and livelihood to thousands of people in the valley.
