Govt mulls flexible labour law for textiles, sets group to formulate strategy
25 May '06
2 min read
Textiles Minister S Vaghela (r)
Central Government has set up a sub-group within the Group of Ministers to formulate flexible labour laws for the textiles sector.
The core group comprises of Commerce Minister, Textile Minister, Labour Minister, State Chief Ministers and trade union representatives.
Panel will have to deal with a proposal for increasing working hours in a shift from 9 to 12 hours and increase weekly working hours from 48 to 60, according to Shankersinh Vaghela, Union Textile Minister.
Proposal for allowing textile units to hire workers on contract basis for short period to complete critical deliveries for their overseas clients will also be addressed by the group, said Vaghela.
Vaghela deemed textile sector is a 'sunrise sector'and added, "In 2004-05, the investment in the textile sector was Rs 14,850 crore, which increased to Rs 30,032 crore in 2005-06. The sector needs investment of Rs 1,40,000 crore between 2005 and 2010, and this target will be achieved."
Under the scheme for Integrated Textile Parks, it had been proposed to establish 25 textile parks with seed capital worth Rs18,500 crore by 2007, he informed.
Textile Ministry has so far sanctioned nine parks and the number of parks sanctioned will reach 40 in due course, conveyed Vaghela.
He stated that each park requires investment to the tune of Rs100 crore and about 75 acres of land.
Textile sector has generated 20 lakh jobs in past two years and another 12,000,000 jobs would be generated by 2010.
Textile exports in this fiscal are expected to touch $19.6 billion, up from $17 billion in 2005-06, rounded off Vaghela.
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