The Union Textiles Minister, Ms. Smriti Zubin Irani, has called for a well-coordinated cohesive governance approach for more effective programme implementation and sectoral outcomes. Noting that many States do not have dedicated Textiles Ministers, she stressed the need for more dialogue and convergence at intra-State, inter-State and Centre-State levels.
Accordingly, in line with the spirit of co-operative federalism, the Minister has ensured that the views and contribution of all States would be reflected in the new textile policy, so that India becomes the textile destination of the world.
The Minister expressed these views while speaking at the concluding session of the one-day Annual Conference of State Textiles Ministers in New Delhi.
Earlier, delivering the keynote address, the Minister of State for Textiles, Mr. Ajay Tamta, highlighted various measures taken by the Centre to boost the growth and remove bottlenecks and challenges facing the sector.
Stating that a huge apparel package has been given by the Government, Ms. Irani noted that there is need for support of the State Governments in expanding manufacturing capacity and employment generation capacity. Only this would address the challenges of industry such as cost of power and labour. Capacity enhancement in production of textile machinery in the country is also essential.
Referring to the importance of branding in the textile sector, Ms. Irani mentioned that India’s positioning in international market depends upon branding of its textile products. She recalled how branding of handloom products by involving top designers and retail giants in the country has led to a paradigm shift in the handloom sector.
Stating that education of children is the primary concern of weavers and artisans, she spoke of the MoU between IGNOU and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to provide free, anytime, anywhere education to children, and sought support of the State Governments for the success of the programme, specifically in identifying artisans and weavers who need such support.
The Textiles Secretary, Ms. Rashmi Verma, in her address, highlighted the challenges faced by the textile sector, especially in the export market, due to uneven tariff and non-tariff barriers and expressed the hope that GST will bring down input costs, give a boost to textile exports and bring in greater capital investment in the sector.
The conference gave a platform to the States to exchange their views on various policies and programmes implemented by the Centre and specific challenges faced by them in their implementation.
In all, Ministers and senior officials of textile departments of 18 States participated in the conference.