Role of handloom board to generate employment in rural area: a study of Enaitpur Thana in Sirajgonj

Abstract

Rural non-farm development plays a key role in generating employment in many developing countries. In this regard handloom industry is one of the most important factors for the development of Bangladesh. There is a government authority that observes and upholds the status of this industry, which is Bangladesh Handloom Board. This study examines the role of Bangladesh Handloom Board’s role in rural employment generation. In the BHB ordinance there is no specific clause to generate employment in the rural areas of Bangladesh. Even though it has some functions by which this board tries to generate employment in the rural areas of this country. Moreover this board facilitates credit facility to the weavers, training and logistic supports. This is because they are given the privilege to uphold the status of this industry. It has been seen in the recent times people are escaping from this profession due to some unavoidable circumstances. So this paper tries to examine the role of Bangladesh Handloom Board in the employment generation in the rural areas of Bangladesh. Now it has already passed thirty five years from its inception. So it is time to assess the overall performance of Bangladesh Handloom Board and how they tried to support and generate employment in this sector. This study was conducted to assess the role of BHB to generate employment in rural area of Enaitpur thana in Sirajgonj District. I have selected Enaitpur Thana of Sirajgonj District as a selective sampling and then 50 respondents (weavers) were interviewed with questionnaire and followed by random sampling. Out of 50 respondents, 22 have got only credit facilities and 28 have not got. I tried to find out how handloom board can implement their functions and generate employment in rural area.