The Union Ministry of Textiles launched five common facility centres for small jute handicrafts units in West Bengal, Assam and Bihar.
Three such centres have been set up in West Bengal and one each in Assam and Bihar.
The centres will run under a ministry-designed Rs 10-crore scheme, which involves financial aid, training, inputs and marketing assistance to women-driven self-help groups. Under the first phase of the scheme in West Bengal, the initiative will support several tiny SHGs. The groups have been clustered in three districts at block levels, formed under the National Rural Livelihood Mission.