Wednesday, October 07, 2021, New Delhi: The Hon’ble Union Minister of Textiles, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri Piyush Goyal, inaugurated CITI’s Interactive Cotton Webinar coinciding with the 2nd Anniversary of World Cotton Day, Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and CITI-CDRA Golden Jubilee Celebrations, virtually held on Thursday, 07th October 2021. The theme of the Webinar was “Cotton: Moving Beyond the Conventional Paradigms”.
The Chief Guest, Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Union Minister of Textiles, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution in his inaugural address emphasized the importance of Cotton to the Indian economy and said its significance dates to 3000 years ago till 1500 AD. He stressed on the industry leaders that India must regain its dominance through persistent and collective efforts from all the stakeholders. He said that we are fortunate to getting the opportunity to work under the esteemed leadership of the Hon’ble Prime Minster, Shri Narendra Modi ji who have been tirelessly working every day since last 20 years as the Head of the Government – first 13 years as Chief Minister of Gujarat and 7 years as Prime Minister in the Centre! The Hon’ble Minister exhorted the industry leaders to leverage on the abilities of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and achieve the ambitious target of making the Indian textile business size to US$ 350 bn, including US$ 100 bn exports by 2025-26! The Hon’ble Minister further insisted that India must aspire to be in the top three cotton productivity in the world from the current position and also increase the cotton productivity to 800-900 kg per hectare from the current level of 457 kg per hectare. He said it is very sad that our productivity is abysmally very low in comparison to global average.
The Hon’ble Union Minister of Textiles, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution also held interactions with the industry leaders during the Cotton Webinar. He thanked CITI for organising such a meaningful and object-oriented Cotton Webinar on the auspicious day of World Cotton Day coinciding with the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav the 75th Anniversary of India’s Independence Day and CITI-CDRA’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations! He also congratulated CITI-CDRA for doing tremendous work for the development of cotton sector and textile industry as a whole by working on the cotton development projects in the various states.
The Hon’ble Minister assured the industry players that the Government was committed to convert every obstacle into an opportunity. Hence, the industry need not to worry about their genuine concerns.
The Guest of Honour, Smt. Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Hon’ble Minister of State for Textiles and Railways delivered the Keynote Address in the Theme Session. The Minister of State congratulated CITI-CDRA for completing 50 years of service to the Indian cotton textile industry. The Minister said that Indian textile industry needs to become self-reliant by achieving self-sufficiency in the cotton productivity of ELS Cotton which is becoming a major source of foreign exchange earnings through the export of high-value products made out of it.
Shri Upendra Prasad Singh, IAS, Secretary (Textiles) delivered the Special Address in the Theme Session. He emphasized that the sustainable cotton will play a major role in the overall growth of the textile value chain and the Industry and Government can together strive further to become AatmaNirbhar in the cotton textile value chain.
Shri T Rajkumar, Chairman, CITI delivered the Welcome Address and emphasized the important role of Cotton in the overall growth of Indian Textile Industry. He appealed to the Hon’ble Minister that though, the many structural issues on raw material front has been resolved, the Technology Mission on Cotton II (TMC II) is one structural issue on raw material front which was still pending. In the absence of technology support, it is resulting in the low productivity and the Hon’ble Minister of Textiles may resolve the same on an urgent basis as TMC II could help the cotton farmers in increasing their productivity level.
Commemorating the Golden Jubilee of CITI-CDRA, Shri P.D. Patodia, Chairman, Standing Committee on Cotton of CITI-CDRA made a detailed presentation on the developmental activities of cotton being carried out by the CITI-CDRA under its on-going projects for the promotion of ELS Cotton and other home-grown varieties cultivation in various districts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Shri Patodia also apprised about the impact of CITI-CDRA activities in these states and its way forward.
The eminent speakers, moderators and subject-experts from across the globe held detailed deliberations in both the Sessions and shared their valuable insights and expert opinions on improving the sustainability, quality and productivity of Indian Cotton. They felt that India has all the required resources which can make India a global leader in the cotton textile value chain. The only thing which India lacks at the moment is the stakeholders’ willingness to adopt to global best farming practices, high quality seeds, innovative technologies, etc which make other cotton growing nations far ahead than India. The audience appreciated the deliberations held by the experts in all the sessions.
Shri S.K. Khandelia, Deputy Chairman, CITI proposed the Vote of Thanks to the Hon’ble Minister and assured him that industry will work shoulder to shoulder in realising the dreams of our Hon’ble Prime Minister.
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