TECHNOLOGY MISSION ON SILK IS ON
THE ANVIL
K.C.
PANT ASKS INDUSTRY TO FOCUS ON QUALITY SILK
SILK
WEEK INAUGURATED
A Technology Mission
on Silk is on the anvil. The Mission document prepared by the
Central Silk Board will be finalised in consultation with the
States. The Mission will focus on a rapid growth of the sector
with emphasis on increasing productivity of quality silk for both
domestic and international market. This was stated by the Textiles
Minister Shri Syed Shahnawaz Hussain at the inaugural function
of the Silk week here today. The suggestion to set up the Technology
Mission had earlier come from the Deputy Chairman of the Planning
Commission Shri K.C. Pant who inaugurated the Silk Week.
Shri Pant said, the
Planning Commission is giving importance to Sericulture by providing
adequate plan funds for its sustained growth. He said, this sector
provides employment to about 5 million persons in rural and semi
urban areas, large number of whom are women. The sector being
labour intensive, the emphasis on this sector is in line with
the government’s effort to provide 10 million new employment opportunities
every year.
Shri Pant said, the
share of India’s export of silk is a mere 3.7 percent of the world
trade accounting for US $ 450 million in export earnings. India
is the second largest producer of raw silk in the world, it is
also the largest consumer. He said, the bulk of our production
gets easily absorbed into the domestic market. He said, the production
of bivoltine silk, needed mainly to meet the high end and export
markets, is minimal and mostly met from imports. Shri Pant said,
recent breakthrough achieved by the R&D institutions of the
Central Silk Board in evolving a technology package for practising
tropical bivoltine culture and its increasing acceptance in the
field have given new hopes for large scale production of quality
silk.
Shri Pant asked the
Central Silk Board to focus on quality in order to develop niche
market for Indian silk products, thereby generating large-scale
employment opportunities in the country. He said, the post quota
regime beginning 1st January 2005 gives us a chance
to recover some of the ground that we have lost in the past. But,
he said, we have to move expeditiously to seize the opportunity
when it opens.
Exhibitions, buyer-seller
meet and fashion shows are some of the highlights of the ‘Silk
Week’. The three day event is being organised to focus on the
various aspect of the sector including the problems faced by the
weavers and the producers. Weavers, producers, designers, exporters,
buyers, experts, and scientists have been invited to participate
in the event. Coinciding with the Silk Week a conference of State
Ministers and Secretaries dealing with Sericulture will be held
tomorrow to review policy and programmes in the light of emerging
WTO imperatives.
