Jute Industry in India : Crises and Solution 

Jute Industry in India : Crises and Solution 

Jute Industry in India : Crises and Solution – Today Current Affairs

Context : 

The crisis in West Bengal’s jute industry is getting exacerbated, with several mills suspending operations this year. Jute industry has been one of the core Industry of India for long time but after the partition of India the land of the raw material has been shifted to Pakistan . and recently because of the declining demand the price of Jute products declined rapidly and thus the Jute industry has to face the big crises mainly in Bengal 

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Introduction 

  • The history of the Jute industry goes back to 170 years in the Indian context . The Acland Mill was the first jute mill established in India. It was established  in 1855 by British entrepreneur George Acland and financially supported by  Babu Bysumber Sen. This factory was installed in modern west Bengal (Rishra). 
  • India is the world’s largest country in the production of the Jute followed by Bangladesh. Presently there are 93  Jute mills in India out of which 70 mills are located in Bengal. Of the 70, 54 are located in the three districts of North 24 Parganas (25), Howrah (15) and Hooghly (14).. Apart from west Bengal , Jute is grown in Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh.. Jute is a labor intensive industry and Jute is the only crop where earnings begin to trickle in way before the final harvest. 

Climate Required for the Jute : The Hindu Analysis

In comparison to Rice , it requires less water and fertilizer . Jute is the second most abundant natural fiber in the world. It has high tensile strength, acoustic and thermal insulation, breathability, low extensibility, ease of blending with both synthetic and natural fibers, and antistatic properties. Jute can be grown in those areas where the temperature  lies between 35 to 40 degree centigrade.   

Issue of the Jute Industry : The Hindu Analysis

  • Recent crises related to Jute Industry starts when the Office of the Jute Commissioner, which comes under the Ministry of Textiles, fixed the maximum price of raw jute at ₹6,500 per quintal. If  The capacity of the  mill is 100 tones a day, The market price of raw jute has climbed to ₹7,200 per quintal which is ₹700 more than the ₹6,500 cap by the government. Another issue which the jute mill management of the State is non-implementation of the Tariff Commission’s report for fair price of B (Jute bag. )the declining demand of the Jute bag is the reason of the loss.  The Hindu Analysis
  • According to a report of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), 2022-2023, India’s jute production has been declining during the last decade. The main reason for this is the decrease in acreage, which is mostly due to cultivation of crops such as paddy, maize, groundnut and sesame. The availability of various types of synthetic substitutes is also reducing the demand for jute. One thing is good that in comparison to the previous year, this year the production of the Jute increased 
  • Because of the changing climate , the production of Jute per Bigha has declined and another big issue is to extract that fiber from the crop , first the crop is left to rot in water bodies for almost 15 days. And every farmer does not own water bodies. The labor who extracts the fiver from the crop are outsiders so approx 500 per day is paid as the wage to them . Hence for the farmer , the invested cost is more to profit.  The Hindu Analysis
  • These issues have been turned into political issues. On this issue members of the BJP won for the parliament but still the issue is unresolved . In 2021 when the farmers supported the TMC on this issue , but still they did not get any resolution from the side of TMC also . and the most interesting thing is that no trade union has protested up to now in this regard and this is more interesting that West Bengal Labor Minister Becharam Manna publicly praised the laborers of the jute industry. “They do not strike even though they are suffering,”

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Conclusion 

  • As per the above discussion, it is clear that there are many issues related to the Jute industry in India . The labor and the farmers of the Jute industry , both are being exploited by the system but still nobody raised this issue , none of them had gone for the protest. In fact their limit of tolerance is too high because of the less awareness level. Once they understand their problem and demand it in front of the government , the government will find out the solution for the issue of the Jute industry. The issues of the Jute industry are always political but nobody tries to resolve the issues of the Jute industry. 
  • The farmers must be insured with the loss of the crops and on the other side the Jute mill owner must provide the required atmosphere for the markets of the Jute products and simultaneously minimum wage of the laborers must be fixed . But all those issues would be addressed by the government if the people related to the Jute industry would raise these issues . 

Here we mention all information about Jute Industry in India : Crises and Solution  Today Current Affairs.

 

Source : The Hindu

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plutus ias daily current affairs 14 May 2022

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