An amendment to the Central Silk Board Act and the subsequent framing of rules will not harm the interests of silk farmers and the silk reeling industry. It will instead help in promoting the industry in a much better way and enable the country to counter the competition from China. | |
| Farmers' bodies in Karnataka recently expressed the fear that the amendment will pave the way for domination of corporates and MNCs in the industry and affect the interests of small farmers. |
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| Allaying these fears, Central Silk Board (CSB) chairman H Hanumanthappa said, "Amendments to the CSB Act are industry-friendly, stakeholder-friendly and will protect the interests of all "� right from egg producers to weavers. The amendments will make Indian silk competitive both domestically and internationally." |
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| Addressing a press conference here recently, he said the major objective of amending the CSB Act was to ensure production, certification and distribution of good quality eggs to farmers throughout the year and in sufficient quantities. By getting assured quality eggs, farmers would harvest good cocoon yields and reelers would also get an assured supply of quality cocoons throughout the year. It would also make way for large scale investment in silk production, reducing dependency on imported silk from China, said Hanumanthappa. |
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| Parliament had passed the Central Silk Board (Amendment) Act, 2006 on September 14, 2006, and subsequently Central Silk Board had circulated the draft rules to all States. Under the Act, a mechanism will be created to regulate the silk-worm seed under the Central Silk Board. |
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| Non-adherence to the standards in silk-worm seeds has now become punishable. The Act is intended to ensure quality standards for production of silk-worm seeds, restrict the output of seeds to only the authorised variety and to control their unauthorised production and trade. |
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| It would also prevent the entry of untested hybrids from other countries, Hanumanthappa said. The Act also empowers customs officials to inspect the export and import consignments. |
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| The new Act also recommends setting up of a National Silkworm Seed Regulatory Authority under the Central Silk Board to monitor the supply of good quality seeds to farmers. |
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| Under the new legislation, stakeholders will get a free hand in the inter-State movement of raw material and products, he said. |
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| The Central Silk Board would soon conduct a meeting of representatives of farmer groups, reelers, seed producers and also state government officials from major silk growing areas to discuss in detail the rules to be finalised and their impact on the industry, he added. |
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| The amendments also enable the freeing of the silk industry from the clutches of state governments, liberalise the sector and help it take on arch-rival China for the top slot in world silk trade. |
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| Earlier, all activities such as mulberry cultivation, cocoon production, reeling, weaving and marketing were governed by respective State Acts which were controlling the whole mechanism. For every activity, a licence had to be procured from the State governments, which was an obstacle for the larger development of the domestic silk industry, he pointed out. |
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| The new Act also enables the entry of corporate sector in the silk industry and allows contract farming. Already Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have permitted contract farming in silk. |
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