On February 15, 2021, Union Minister Smriti Zubin Irani, Ministry of Textiles and Women & Child Development virtually inaugurated the Certified Jute Seeds Distribution Plan and Jute Farmers Awareness Workshop on Improved Cultivation and Advanced Retting Exercise for Jute (ICARE-Jute) Initiative.
- The workshop was organised at Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibers (CRIJAF) Institute at Barrackpore, West Bengal (WB).
- Both events were organized by the Ministry of Textiles through its field offices viz; Office of the Jute Commissioner, National Jute Board (NJB), Jute Corporation of India (JCI) and ICAR-CRIJAF.
About Certified Jute Seeds Distribution Plan:
This plan was launched on the lines of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Jute Corporation of India and National Seeds Corporation in 2020 for distribution of 1 thousand Metric Tonne (MT) certified jute seeds in FY22.
How will certified Jute Seeds be beneficial?
- It will increase the income by about 10,000/hec and productivity by 15% of nearly 5 lakh Jute farmers.
- It will also improve the quality of jute as well as increase its production which will reduce its import dependence from Bangladesh.
How Central Government efforts in promoting Quality Jute are benefitting Society?
ICARE: In 2015, ICARE-Jute was launched with a distribution of only about 60 MT Certified Jute Seeds which has been increased to over 600 MT in 2017.
- Through the ICARE Program Government have supported 2.60 lakhs farmers by providing them 100% certified seeds at subsidized rates and by raising awareness of scientific jute cultivation practices.
Employment: Centre’s decision regarding mandatory packaging in jute materials is benefitting over 4 lakh farmers directly including nearly 40 lakh agri-based households.
- Also, an inclusion of excavation for Jute-retting tanks under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) will help create 46 lakh mandays of work particularly in West Bengal.
Jute Geo-Textiles: Government has approved a Technical Textiles Mission which includes Jute Geo-Textiles (JGT).
- JGT is the most important diversified jute product. It can be applied in many fields like civil engineering, soil erosion control, road pavement construction and protection of river banks.
- Notably, 2.4 km road of NH 34 at Berhampore West Bengal has been constructed with JGT, 450 KM of rural roads using JGT constructed in West Bengal. About 195 rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) have been sanctioned across the country using JGT.
–Government increased the MSP for Jute from Rs. 2400 in 2014-15 to Rs. 4225 in 2020-21 nearly 76 per cent in the last 6 years.
–The Central Government has also approved construction of 46000 Retting Tanks for increasing productivity, quality and income of Jute Farmers.
Attendees: Jute Farmers from West Bengal, Upendra Pratap Singh, Union Secretary (Textiles); Sanjay Agarwal, Union Secretary (Agriculture & Farmers Welfare), Senior officers from Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, National Seeds Corporation (NSC), Industry Bodies, among others.
Recent Related News:
i.On January 27, 2021 The Textile Committee, Ministry of Textiles, signed MoU with M/s. Nissenken Quality Evaluation Centre, Japan through video conferencing to increase export of Textile and Apparel (T&A) to the Japan market.
ii.On January 5, 2021, an inter-ministerial Initiative, Toycathon 2021, was jointly launched by Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister for Women & Child Development (MoWCD), and Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Ministry of Education (MoE) along with Toycathon Portal (https://toycathon.mic.gov.in.) during the launch event in New Delhi.
About Ministry of Textiles:
Smriti Irani Constituency– Amethi, Uttar Pradesh
Headquarter– New Delhi
