Nirmala Sinha, a weaver wins National Handloom Award for traditional Manipuri attire

A highly skilled 52-year-old Nirmala Sinha from Tripura, who has been announced as a recipient of the prestigious National Handloom Award 2023 by the Ministry of Textile, Government of India.

Sinha, a Divyang and resident of Barasurma village in Dhalai District, has shown remarkable skill in weaving the traditional Manipuri attire, Inaphi, using natural dyes, despite facing numerous challenges.

Sinha is among six women from Northeast who will receive the National Handloom Award 2023. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, will give the award on August 7th next at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on the occasion of the National Handloom Day celebration. Nirmala shared that she has been weaving Inaphi for the past 35 years.

Inaphi is a traditional Manipuri dress, a women’s costume consisting of a wrap-around cloth. It is a colourful and attractive piece of clothing, similar to a shawl or dupatta, used to cover the upper part of the body by women. I weave it using natural dyes on our traditional clothes, employing all traditional methods, said Nirmala.

Nirmala's passion for weaving began in childhood as she watched and helped her mother and grandmother create Inaphi.

Nirmala  is the first from  Tripura’s Manipuri community weavers who bagged the accolade for the state. On her success, Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha congratulated her on her outstanding recognition.

The Chief Minister in his social media post said that he is happy to learn that Nirmala Sinha, a prominent weaver of Dhalai district has been selected for this year’s National Award for Handloom. Her success story is a recurring inspiration to all that despite being a physically challenged person she won the national award for her determined will-power and admirable work.

Meanwhile, Tribal Welfare Minister Bikash Debbarma, Secretary (Handloom)L T Darlong, Director R Arun Kumar, and Laxam Chandra Basak, State In-charge of  Weavers Service centre, Ministry of Textiles, also congratulated her for bringing this honour to the state.