Union Minister for Textiles and Women and Child Development Smriti Irani recently launched the ‘Kasturi’ brand for Indian cotton and said efforts are underway for phased introduction of a certification system for organic cotton across the entire value chain. She said the certification system for cotton will help promote its use and enable India to become a world leader in cotton products and manufacturing.
She was speaking at a webinar jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industries, Cotton Corporation of India and Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, under the guidance of Ministry of Textiles, to commemorate World Cotton Day 2020.
“Ministry of Textiles in pursuit of the agenda of cotton farmers and cotton product manufacturers has pursued with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry a certification system for organic cotton to be introduced in phases in the entire value chain,” Irani said.
Textiles Secretary Ravi Capoor said certain “markers” have been developed in conjunction with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) for branding Indian organic cotton, and it is in the last stages of finalisation.
Notably, 51 per cent of the total organic cotton production of the world is led by India.
Launching the ‘Kasturi’ brand, the minister said it signifies everything that is Indian about our cotton, including its brightness, purity and potential to go to greater heights. “We are looking at prospects in emerging fields like PPE where we can leverage cotton from across the dimension of technical textiles,” she said. Irani also said she was hopeful that the agricultural reform Bills passed recently passed by the Parliament will strengthen cotton growing opportunities for Indian farmers.
Highlighting that the Cotton Corporation of India undertook one of the largest procurement at minimum support price in the previous season, Irani said she is hopeful of even better prospects for farmers this year, when cotton procurement season begins, with over 430 centres operational across the country
