Lok Sabha Question No. 2066 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-30
Subject: Jute Smart Platform
Ministry: TEXTILES
Asked by: Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik, Sudheer Gupta, Subrata Pathak, Ravi Kishan Shukla, Prataprao  Jadhav, Shrirang Appa Barne, Ravindra Kushawaha, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Bidyut Baran Mahato

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2066 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2021

## JUTE SMART PLATFORM

## 2066.  SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRI SUBRAT PATHAK:

SHRI RAVI KISHAN:

SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

SHRI RAVINDRA KUSHWAHA:

SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

## Will the Minister of TEXTILES वस्त्र मंत्री

be pleased to state :

(a) whether Jute industry is one of the major industries providing direct employment to workers in mills, tertiary sector and allied activities and supports the livelihood of farm families in the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof indicating the estimated number of persons engaged in the sector;

(c) whether the Government provides support to the jute growers, jute mill workers etc. if so, the details thereof;

(d)  whether  a  software  platform  'Jute-Smart'  has  been  launched,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the manner in which it has been able to strengthen the farmers and persons engaged in the trade of jute in the country; and

(e) whether the Government has made any assessment to ascertain the achievements of Jute Improved Cultivation  and  Advanced  Retting  Exercise  so  far,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  indicating  the  extent  to which income of jute farmers has increased?

## उत्तर

## ANSWER

## वस्त्र राज् यमंत्री ( श्रीमती दर्शना जरदोर् )

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF TEXTILES (SMT. DARSHANA JARDOSH)

(a) & (b): Yes Sir. Jute industry is one of the major industries providing direct employment to 3.70 lakh workers in organized mills including tertiary sector and allied activities, around 2.00 lakh in Jute Diversified  Product  (JDP)  -  MSME  sector  and  also  supports  the  livelihood  of  several  lakh  farm families.

(c): The Government of India has taken a number of steps by implementation of various schemes for providing support to the jute farmers and jute mill workers. The details of which are as follows:

- i. JUTE -ICARE (Jute: Improved Cultivation And Advanced Retting Exercise):-National Jute Board  (NJB)  has  been  implementing  Jute-ICARE  (Improved  Cultivation  and  Advanced Retting  Exercise)  programme  since  2015-16  in  association  with  Jute  Corporation  of  India Ltd.  (JCI)  and  Central  Research  Institute  for  Jute  &  Allied  Fibres,  (CRIJAF),  Ministry  of Agriculture. The programme provides package of scientific methods for jute cultivation and retting exercises which include (i) Registration of farmers (ii) Supply of HYV certified jute seeds (iii) Mechanical interventions like : seed driller for line sowing, Nail / Cycle weeders for de-weeding (iv) Retting accelerators like : CRIJAF Sona, NINFET Sathi for faster retting and better quality. under this scheme,since 2015-16, a total of 3.00 lakh farmers have been supported  (covering  an  area  of  1.25  lakh  hectare)  and  a  2,650  MT  of  Certified  jute  seeds, 4150  seed  drill  machines,  4950  nail  weeder  machines  and  3034  MT  of  CRIJAF  SONA/ NINFET SATHI have been distributed.
- ii. Workers' Welfare Scheme (Sulabh Sauchalaya): NJB has been providing assistance@90% of actual expenses subject to maximum of Rs. 60.00 lakh (per mill/annum) for construction of sanitation facilities for jute mill workers. Under this scheme, since 2014-15, a total of 1445 Toilet units have been constructed in 46Jute Mills.
- iii. Scholarship Scheme for the girl children of the workers of jute mills, MSMEs : NJB has been providing Scholarship / Incentive support to the girl children of the workers of JuteMills / JDP  -  MSME  units  on  passing  out  secondary  and  higher  secondary  examinations.Since 2014-15, Scholarship / Incentive of Rs. 18.36 croreshas been given to 24,913 girl children.
- iv. Support  to  the  jute  growers:  The  Government  of  India  is  committed  to  ensure  that  jute growers receive Minimum Support Price (MSP) whenever the market price falls below MSP. Jute  Corporation  of  India  (JCI),  a  PSU  under  Ministry  of  Textiles,  is  the  nodal  agency  to undertake  support  price  operation  for  raw  jute  directly  from  the  farmers.  JCI  has  been mandated to purchase raw jute whatever quantity is offered by the farmers at MSP. Since, the market  price  of  raw  jute  has  been  ruling  over  the  MSP  price  during  the  last  few  years, therefore there has been minimal procurement by the JCI under MSP. The MSP announced by Govt. of India during the last several years is given below:-

| Year    | MSP of TDN3 grade of raw jute(Rs./Quintal)   |   % increase over previous year |
|---------|----------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|
| 2013-14 | 2300                                         |                            4.5  |
| 2014-15 | 2400                                         |                            4.3  |
| 2015-16 | 2700*                                        |                           12.5  |
| 2016-17 | 3200*                                        |                           18.52 |
| 2017-18 | 3500*                                        |                            9.38 |
| 2018-19 | 3700*                                        |                            5.71 |
| 2019-20 | 3950*                                        |                            6.75 |
| 2020-21 | 4225*                                        |                            7    |
| 2021-22 | 4500*                                        |                            6.5  |

* TDN3 basis instead of TD5 basis as per recommendation of CACP, Govt. of India from the crop  year  2015-16  and  no.  of  grades  has  been  reduced  from  8  grades  (TD1-TD8)  to 5grades(TDN1-TDN5).

- v. Support  to  the  jute  mill  workers:  The  Government  of  India  has  decided  to  continue  Jute Packaging Material (Compulsory Use in Packing Commodities) Act, 1987. Through this act, every year, Centre Government specifies the commodities and the extent to which they are mandatorily required to be packed in Jute Packaging Materials. The total purchase as per the directions issued under the JPM Act currently constitutes about 70% of the total production of jute goods and 88% of the total production of sacking. This has helped the jute industry has been receiving steady  order in every month to keep their mills running and hence has assisted in sustenance of employment of jute mill workers.

(d): The Government has developed an end-to-end web-based platform for procurement, inspection, dispatch of jute bags to State Procurement Agencies/Food Corporation of India (SPAs/FCI)& payment to  jute  mills  which  is  transparent,  rule  based,  simple  to  use  and  real  time.  The  software  application known  as  'Jute-SMART'  launched  in  November,  2016  is  a  Jute  Sacking  Supply  Management  & Requisition Tool. Through this software, different SPAs/FCI are procuring around 27.00 to 30.00 lakh bales  (70.0%  of  the  total  production  of  jute  goods)  of  jute  bags  annually  which  amounts  to  about Rs.7,000 to 7,800 crores.The smooth purchase of jute bags through this platform has helped in prompt payment to jute mills and in-turn to the jute mill workers. This has made a time consuming complex operation easier to perform thereby removing hindrances in production and supply of jute bags.

(e): Yes Sir.  Evaluation  of  Pilot  Project  on  Improved  Cultivation  and  Advanced  Retting  Exercise (ICARE) was carried out by the National Productivity Council (NPC) for the National Jute Board. As per  the  report,  the  ICARE  intervention  has  resulted  in  increase  in  income  for  farmers  by  about  Rs. 10,000 per hectare, productivity by 15% and quality of raw jute by 1 grade.