State to get Silk Samagra for development of silk industry

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu, which has been ranked among the leading silk producing States in the country, will receive about Rs 6.22 crore under the Silk Samagra — an Integrated Scheme for Development of Silk Industry (ISDSI) implemented by the Union government through the Central Silk Board (CSB) at an outlay of RS 2,161.68 crore for three years from 2017-18 for the overall development of silk in the coun-try.

Tamil Nadu has registered a production of 2,072 metric tons of raw silk upto March end, 2019 and the leading marketing federations TANSILK and Government Anna Silk recorded sales during 2018 – 19 fiscal.

The TANSILK, Kancheepuram, which is the apex silk marketing Co-operative federation, transacting raw and ready silk yarn and supplying to the handloom weavers Co-operative societies and Khadi and Village Industries Board, sold 106.521 MT raw silk and 111.821 MT ready silk upto March, 2019, against the target of 330 MT for 2018-2019 fiscal.

The Government Anna Silk Exchange, Kancheepuram, transacted 87.810 MT raw silk against the target of 180 MT during 2018 – 19.

The present move to establish Silk Samagra will give a fillip to the silk industry in the State besides encourage employment in a big way. At present, 47,000 persons have been employed.

It is estimated that sericulture industry provides employment to approximately 91.20 lakh persons including 3.40 lakh persons in Tamil Nadu, in rural and semi-urban areas in the country as on March-2019. Of these, a sizeable number of workers belong to the economically weaker sections of the society, including women.

The scheme comprises of four major components - research & development, training, transfer of technology and Information Technology initiatives, seed organisations, coordination and market development and quality certification systems \ export brand promotion and technology upgradation.