The Textiles Ministry is working on finalising the long-pending national textiles policy but the government is not yet ready to give out a timeline for its announcement, Textiles Minister Smriti Irani has said. “Following our consultations with various expert groups and industry representatives, three-four things had come up and three different steering committees were made,” the Minister said at a press conference on Tuesday.
These groups are trying to find out ways to address various challenges being faced by the sector, including identifying natural fibre growth possibilities and global best practices and roping in states for proper certification of jute seeds, she added. “When we are ready to announce the textiles policy we will let you know,” Irani told presspersons.
The proposed national textiles policy, which has been under discussion for several years, was initially reported to have set a target of achieving $300 billion textile exports by 2024-25 and creating around 35 million new employment opportunities. The pending textiles policy notwithstanding, the Textiles Ministry was continuously identifying the biggest needs of the industry and addressing them, Irani said. “Big steps have already been taken such as announcement of the package for the garments sector, enhancement under MEIS (Merchandise Export from India Scheme) and outreach for weavers and the artisan community,” she said.
Development and modernisation of the textile sector in the north-eastern states was being given the highest priority by the Textiles Ministry, Irani pointed out. This will create more jobs, especially for women of that region, and also lead to enhancement of the infrastructure of north-eastern states,including roads, power, water supply and construction of offices, she said.
There are 23.77 lakh hand-looms in the country, of which 16.47 lakh (69.28 per cent) are in the North-East, according to the hand-loom census of 2009-10. Twenty-one readymade garment manufacturing units are fully operational in the seven states of the North-East: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. “Three factories have become fully operational in each of the seven states in a record time of two years,” Irani said.