Dinesh K Patnaik, India’s ambassador to Spain, and Manoj K Mohapatra, India’s ambassador to Guatemala, visited the handloom clusters at Birabarapur, Abhimanpur, and Manibandha in Cuttack’s Badamba block.
Both ambassadors met and communicated with artisans, including national awardee Arjun Pal, and expressed their appreciation for the new designs. They also went to Maa Kalapata PG and Maniabandha Hastatanta PG to see the beautiful and exquisite designs of women entrepreneurs who learned the skill through a training programme organised by the Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) in collaboration with the Tata Trust.
Patnaik and Mohapatra praised the women weavers’ efforts and encouraged them to diversify their products and introduce locally made products on a global scale. Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani, local MLA Debi Prasad Mishra, ORMAS Joint CEO Bipin Rout, and Secretary and MSME Bibhuti Bhusan Das were among those who accompanied the ambassadors.
