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Sericulture Development In Northeast Is on Textile Ministry’s Priority List

• By  Textile Excellence
• January 29, 2018

The textile ministry recently announced that development of the silk sector in the north-eastern region of India was high on its priority list. Minister of state for Textiles, Ajay Tamta voiced his opinion that sericulture could manifest itself strongly as a means of pursuit of livelihood in the region.

The minister was speaking at a three-day meet held on the occasion of the 8^th International   Conference on Wild Silk in Guwahati.  The meet was organized by the International Society for Wild Silk Moths, Japan and Central Silk Board.

The north-eastern region in India contributes more than 21 percent of the country’s silk production. It also produces all the four varieties of silk, namely muga, eri, tassar and mulberry.

Muga, is a specialty of Assam and is peculiar only to the state. In fact, Assam owns the geographical indication tag for this variety of silk. It’s known for its golden color.

According to Ranjit Dutta, state handlooms and textile minister, “Upward of 3.1 lakh families in Assam are associated with the silk sector.”

Union Textile secretary Anant Kumar Singh said that the central government has currently sanction a corpus of INR 809 crore comprising 24 projects for the northeastern region.

Textile Excellence