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Textiles: 100 - day agenda for textiles |
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The Government last week announced initiatives such as widening the coverage of Technology Upgradation Fund (TUFS) Scheme, additional allocation of Rs 1,660 crore to the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) for procurement of cotton, and the setting up of a Working Group for National Fibre Policy to help evolve a fibre policy to address the conflicting concerns of all stakeholders.
Union Textile Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, said at a news conference here that the work programmes spelt out in the agenda would help “maximise the productivity and welfare of common stakeholders of this sector, which is the second largest employer after agriculture and accounts for 13.5 per cent of the total merchandise exports of the country.”
Mr Maran hoped these initiatives would help in the adoption of modern technology and work processes, enable industry to be globally competitive, build strong brand equity for its products and consistently record high growth rates in the years to come.
He said the initiatives include inauguration of two Integrated Textile Parks — one each in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Surat (Gujarat) — expansion of the coverage of the TUFS to benefit the decentralised sectors such as powerlooms and the small-scale sector, and extension of the scheme till the end of the Eleventh Plan (end-March 2012) and information technology initiative for e-marketing of handloom and handicraft products.
Mr Maran said the Ministry would put up for appraisal by the Expenditure Finance Committee a proposal for establishing 15 more textile parks in which the Government support by way of grant or equity is limited to 40 per cent of the project cost of private entrepreneurs for developing common infrastructure components, subject to a ceiling of Rs 40 crore. Other proposals include training programme for 5,000 weavers, health insurance for 1.5 lakh weavers, training of one lakh artisans, development programme for sericulture, and popularisation of jute shopping bags and made-ups in metros. Five lakh Artisan ID cards would be issued this fiscal, of which 1.5 lakh would be issued in the next three months.
Mr Maran said textile exports declined by about 2 per cent in 2008-09 to $21.75 billion due to the dip in demand in the major markets of the EU and the US. He said the sector suffered seven lakh job losses in recent months due to this.
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