Government need to provide support for jute industry demands by Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha members raising the issues regarding the condition of the jute industry along with deteriorating law & order situation in West Bengal has demanded that the government should support the jute farmers and mill owners to prevent large scale unemployment in the state.

TMC came into power on the basis of improving the condition of ailing industries and hence TMC member Dinesh Trivedi has drawn the attention of the House towards the dreadful state of jute mills in the state and said that 10 mills have shut down in West Bengal between 2010-11 and 2012-13.

The jute industry in the state employs over 2.14 lakh people and accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the production in the country. He urged the government to look into the matter in order to support jute farmers and mills.

Maulana Badruddin Ajmal (AIUDF) too demanded that the government set up jute mills in Dhubri, Assam, and asked the government to fix proper price of jute produce.

Bhagwant Mann (AAP) raised the issue of spreading cases of cancer in Punjab and said there is no hospital in the state for treatment of the disease.

He demanded that government should take appropriate steps to ascertain the reason for rising incidence of cancer in Punjab and ways to prevent it.

Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA), an umbrella body of jute mills, has been writing on this since last six months to State Government but in vain. This had to happen because of Government’s failure to handle the deteriorating law & order problem. Several mills have shut down during the period of February, March, April and May this year and have gradually opened anticipating fresh Government orders.

The old jute mills are governed by the provisions of the Tripartite Wage Agreement, several small, unorganized jute mills emerged and changed the rules of the wages and started paying petty amounts to the workers which gradually created an atmosphere of distrust.

In fact, before tweaking the labour laws, Narendra Modi’s Government has to takcle the trade union monoply which is harming the industries more than anything else at present. Changing the law could be challenging for the Government and it has to happen now and with PM Narendra Modi’s vision, things can certainly change as he may encourage competition between States to boost job creation.