Chairman suggested that the govern-
dition of the handloom industry in
ment has to extend export concession
for few more years given the country's
infras-tructural drawback, un-rebated
taxes on exports, high cost of inputs
and preferential benefits of competitors.
Being one of the largest new job cre-
ators and employers, the textile and
clothing industry is poised to gain gov-
ernment benefits based on employ-
ment generated.
Urging the Government ensure that
the industry gets all raw material at par
or below international prices, chairman
sug ges ted that the technology
upgradation fund should be reacti-
vated and include cotton yarn in the
Merchandise Export from India (MEI)
Scheme besides including dyed,
printed fabrics and made-ups in sops
provided for export to various markets
especially the Sub-Saharan African
countries.
Slew of schemes to help tex-
tile industry
C h i e f M i n i s t e r Ta m i l N a d u h a s
announced the formation of a State
Textile Consultative Committee to
strengthen the textile sector.
Making a statement in the Assembly,
she said the committee would be
headed by the Textiles Minister and it
would strive to aid the growth of the
industry and strengthen handloom and
powerloom, yarn and apparel.
She said the State will extend financial
support of up to `2.50 crore to entre-
preneurs who come forward to set up
Integrated Textile Parks. Under the
Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks of
the Centre, 14 textile parks have been
allocated for the State.
She said a special 15 per cent discount
for silk clothing augment sales and
bring down stocks with cooperative
weavers societies and Cooptex. This
would lead to an additional expenditure
of `10 crore to the exchequer.
Under the Scheme for Integrated Tex-
tile Processing Development of the
Centre, the State government would
extend financial support of up to 25
396 October 2015 • Man-made Textiles in India
per cent in project estimates.
While the Centre had stopped financial
support for certain schemes from
2015-16, the State would continue to
provide the Centre's portion for impor-
tant projects.
`213 lakh project on the cards
to save Udaynarayanpur's
handloom industry
In a bid to save the struggling three-
centuries old handloom industry of
Udaynarayanpur, the Howrah handloom
development office has prepared a
`213 lakh project wich would soon be
sent to the Centre for clearance.
The department plans to modernize
handloom industry by providing tech-
nical assistance to the weavers and
setting up of several units to bring
down the production cost and maxi-
mize the profit. More than 3,500 skilled
weavers spread across the six gram
panchayat of Udaynaraynpur depend
o n h a n d l o o m p r o d u c t s f o r t h ei r
livehood.
''We have prepared the project pro-
posal as per the guidelines of the
Union ministry of textiles and the aim
is to improve the condition of the weav-
ers who have been drastically hit with
increasing competition from power
looms and absence of proer markets
to sell their products,'' stated the
development officer for handloom.
A sum of around `30.12 lakh has been
dedicated for the building of dye
houses. A work shed with an esti-
mated cost of around `68.51 lakh has
also been planned.
At present, the weavers have to go to
Hooghly district to avail the facility of
dye houses that increases their cost of
production.
Around 645 weavesf form the three vil-
lages of Udaynarayanpur namely Gaza
Pyrapur and Shibpur have been cho-
sen that would be trained by the expert
weavers for two years.
The project proposal prepared under
Nation Handloom Development
Programme at the behest of Union min-
istry of textiles aims to improve the con-
Nadia, Burdwan, North Bengal and
Howrah.
Officials concede that the weaves in
Udaynarayanpur have been facing stiff
competition from power looms cou-
pled with decline in demand for tradi-
tional products.
''The high cost of production has been
another factor for the dwindling
demand of handloom products. More-
over, the weaves are happy to stick to
the traditional to stick to the traditional
designs rather than experimenting with
the new items,'' the technical officer
stated.
He further told that there are no proper
markets for the weaves in the state to
sell the products and most of them
depend on trders in Burrabazar,
Manglahat and some other weekly mar-
kets.
The officials say that a rural haat has
been bplanned at Udaynaraynpur at
the cost of `672 crore that would pro-
vide a market for the weavers.
Bumper cotton production
of 400 lakh bales likely as
rains revive in key areas
The revival of monsoon augurs well for
the cotton crop in Marathwada and
Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra as
well as the rest of the country. Industry
experts maintain that the country is
heading for a bumper cotton crop at
around 400 lakh bales with nearly 120
lakh hectares coming under cotton cul-
tivation.
Director, Central Institute of Cotton
Research ( CICR), says except for
some spots such as Telangana and
Mahbubnagar,the crop is so good
across the country. "The rains have
returned and according to the IMD will
continue till the first week of October
which is very good. Except for parts of
north interior Karnataka and
Telangana, the rains have been good
in Central Maharashtra as well. In fact,
Vidarbha is heading for a very good
crop something that does not happen
every year. So far, the rainfall pattern
has been good in this region. Normally
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