Textile Ministry functions as facilitator – Pak Minister

Pakistan’s Minister for Textile Industry, Makhdoom Shahabuddin, has said that his Ministry functions as a facilitator for the country’s textile industry and it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Power to solve the issue of gas load shedding.

At a meeting with representatives of various associations of Pakistan’s value-added textile sector, the Minister said the textile industry functions as a private sector in the country and his Ministry could only play the role of a facilitator to address the issues facing the industry.

While mentioning that the issue of electricity load shedding fell under the ambit of the Power Ministry, he stressed on the need to identify factors that hampered setting up of energy projects in the country.

He also emphasized that biogas projects could be set up in rural areas of the country to cater to domestic demand for fuel.

The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Textile has been asked to ensure the participation of the officials from the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) in the next meeting of the Ministry to be held in Karachi, Mr. Shahabuddin said.

The Minister disclosed that the Ministry had excluded 77 items from the negative list prepared for trade with India under the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status.



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Bahrain plans to set up textile labs to check quality

Bahrain is considering setting up specialized laboratories for testing all textiles, fabrics and garments that enter the country.

Currently, all textiles and garments entering the Bahrain market meet the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) norms, but there are no specialised labs in the country to monitor and control quality of those goods.

Bahrain Industry and Commerce Minister, Dr. Hassan Fakhro, said they had considered setting up specialized laboratories in the past and tried to earmark a sum for the purpose, but it was not included in the final Budget. However, he is positive that the proposal would form a part of the agenda for 2013 and 2014 Budgets.

He highlighted that presently the country lacks accurate norms to assess quality of the goods, however all goods entering the country happen to be in lines with the agreed GCC norms and standards.

The National Committee for Standards and Specifications ensures observance of GCC norms. Whenever the Committee comes across any defective goods, either during a random sample check or by way of complaints to the Ministry, it instantly initiates action against the traders selling such sub-standard goods.

The Minister was responding to the query raised by the Council’s Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee and the Woman and Child Committee Vice-Chairperson, Rabab Al Arrayedh, about inspection of textiles, fabrics and garments entering the Bahrain market.

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MSME Ministry bats for inclusion of Khadi in MNREGA

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has put forward a proposal to include Khadi spinning under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

The MGNREGA is the flagship employment programme of the Government of India, which aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Virbhadra Singh, Minister for MSME, said the daily wages of those employed to spin Khadi are lower than the minimum wages fixed under MGNREGA, which necessitates efforts to increase the earning of those involved in the Khadi sector as well.

Inaugurating a Khadi and Garmodyog fair in Rajasthan, the Minister said his Ministry will submit a proposal to the Union Cabinet seeking inclusion of Khadi spinning work under MGNREGA.

The Minister added that he would urge the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to waive the loans of those Khadi weavers who are not in a position to repay the same.

He revealed that the Government is planning to introduce a Khadi mark to ensure genuineness of Khadi.

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