147 EMPLOYEE AND WORK ENGAGEMENT: AN ANSWER TO THE PROBLEMS OF THE HANDLOOM INDUSTRY IN INDIA Surendra Kumar Department of Business Management, H.N.B Garhwal University, Srinagar (A central University) e-mail: ksurendra02@gmail.com Sneha Maindola Research Scholar Department of Business Management, H.N.B Garhwal University, Srinagar e-mail: snehamini07@gmail.com Manoj Rawat Research Scholar Department of Business Management, H.N.B Garhwal University, Srinagar e-mail:rawatmanoj562@gmail.com DoI: 10.23862/kiit-parikalpana/2021/v17/i1/209026 ABSTRACT Handloom has been a vintage industry. Its roots can be dated back to the early stages of human civilization. Over time thehandloom sectorhas endured various challenges and setbacks. Some of the major challenges faced have been due to the advancement of technological know-how and mechanizing of the production process. Lack of modernization, migration of workers to other felds have been some of the other problems faced by this industry. All these problems have left a huge impact on the workforce or employees engaged in this industry and hence the problems have become graver. On the other hand, employee engagement and work engagement, in particular, have been recognized to infuence the work performance of the employees as well as the overall performance of the organization. With this paper, we will try and understand how work engagement and employee engagement can aid the handloom industry to tackle its problems. Keywords: Employee Engagement, Work engagement, Organizational Performance, Handloom Industry, Textile Industry