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After repeated cases of baby-lifting from government hospitals, the Tamil Nadu health department has decided to use technology to safeguard newborns from kidnappers. From tomorrow, access to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Government Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital will be controlled by a biometric security system. This would be a pilot project and would be extended to other hospitals in the State, it is understood.
The new move is in line with the previous initiative of using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to ensure that children are not kidnapped from the labour ward. The tags functioned much like those used in big textile establishments to prevent shoplifting.
While the RFID system offers three-layers of security for the baby, mother and patient attenders at labour wards using tags, readers and monitoring, besides an alert system, the biometric system is simpler. It primarily restricts access to the Neonatal Intensive Critical Care Unit (NICCU) where sick newborns are admitted.
Informed Dr R Narayana Babu, Director of Medical Education (additional incharge), from Wednesday, entry into the NICCU will be only through the biometric system. Mothers of the sick children admitted in the NICCU will be given ID cards.
This measure would ensure the safety of the children admitted in the NICCU, because they are alone most of the time with their mothers coming in only to feed them. So there is a risk of baby-lifting, the doctor noted.
The staff members attached to the ward have been given ID cards while the process of entering the details of mothers whose children are admitted in the ward has begun. Dr K L Malarvizhi, nodal officer for RFID tag system, said the biometric and RFID systems have different uses and objectives. The first is for the labour ward where there are a large number of attenders milling around. In such a scenario, a tag that sends a warning if the baby is moved five metres away from the mother is used.
For a change, the foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh has hit a record $32.09 billion at the end of December, up $720 million from the previous month. The reserves were sufficient enough to cover about nine months' worth of imports and are $4.6 billion higher than that of last year.
Steady garment exports and remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas have helped build reserves in recent years. Both garment exports and remittances are said to be the key drivers of the country's more than $200 billion economy.
On the back of rising demand of domestic mills, the prices of cotton moved up on Monday. Moreover, good export enquiries and tight supplies at the producing centres have supported the cotton price to increase.
Traders said that at present, cotton supply is tight and demand of domestic mills has increased. This has enabled the prices of cotton to soar. On the other hand, enquiries from exporters are higher. Gujarat Sankar-6 cotton was up Rs. 100 to Rs. 39,900-40,200 per candy of 356 kg.
About 22,000 bales of 170 kg arrived in Gujarat and 1.35 lakh bales arrived in India. Kapas or raw cotton traded up on strong demand for cottonseed from oil millers. Kapas gained Rs. 10 to Rs. 1,040-80 per 20 kg and gin delivery kapas stood at Rs. 1,080-1,120. Cottonseed traded up by Rs.10 to Rs. 480-520 per 20 kg.
Gokak Textiles has announced that due to his personal commitments, Mohan Ketkar has resigned as the company secretary and compliance officer of the Company with effect from 02 January, 2017.
Further, the Company has informed that Vikram Nagar, Chief Financial Officer has been appointed as the Compliance Officer for the interim period till the appointment of a qualified Company Secretary takes place.
This year’s New Mexico Cotton Growers conference will be held on January 11 at the Ruidoso Convention Center, 111 Sierra Blanca Drive, Ruidoso, New Mexico between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.This year’s conference will focus on cotton nutrition and fertilization, disease management, cotton varieties, cotton economics, the current regulatory environment and cotton classification and grading.
The said conference provides an opportunity for cotton growers in New Mexico to update their knowledge on important production practices and to also learn about new technologies in cotton production coming out from the industry. It also provides an opportunity for cotton growers to network among themselves and discuss matters that are of mutual benefit.
The total cotton output in 31 autonomous regions and municipalities in China came down by 4.6 per cent or 260,000 tons in 2016 compared to that in 2015. The decrease that included the main cotton producing province of Xinjiang was despite the increase in yield per unit area, according to a bulletin released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China.
The Bulletin on the National Cotton Output in 2016 is based on the result of nationwide statistical survey in 31 Chinese provinces. The cotton sown area of Xinjiang was acquired through remote sensing survey.
The total cotton sown area in the period stood at 3,376,100 thousand hectares down by 11.1 per cent or a decrease of 420,500 thousand hectares compared to 2015, the Bureau added. However, the cotton yield per unit area amounted to 1,582.5 kg/ha, up by 7.2 per cent or an increase of 106.5 kg/ha compared with 2015. The total cotton output accounted for 5,343,000 tons, down by 4.6 per cent or a decrease of 260,000 tons compared to that in 2015.
"The textiles minister Smriti Zubin Irani unveiled ‘Jute-Smart’ an online portal to facilitate purchase of jute bags from the industry by state procurement agencies, on ‘Good Governance Day’. The launch also included Dashboard for Integrated Skill Development Scheme hosted on the NIC Cloud with access to public; and Bunkar Mitra – a Helpline for handholding of handloom weavers."
The textiles minister Smriti Zubin Irani unveiled ‘Jute-Smart’ an online portal to facilitate purchase of jute bags from the industry by state procurement agencies, on ‘Good Governance Day’. The launch also included Dashboard for Integrated Skill Development Scheme hosted on the NIC Cloud with access to public; and Bunkar Mitra – a Helpline for handholding of handloom weavers.
Jute-Smart’ aims to provide an integrated platform for stakeholders for easy access to information, transparency and ease of doing business. B-Twill Supply Management & Requisition Tool, in short, Jute-Smart’ is a web-based application that facilitates end to end transactions relating to procurement of B-Twill sacking. It is designed to integrate the process of indenting of B-Twill by SPAs; remit the required fund by )State Procurement Agencies) SPAs into their respective bank accounts; allocate Production Control cum Supply Order (PCSO) by the Jute Commissioner, etc.
Policy Change
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) decided to transfer operation of purchase and supply of B-Twill sacking by the SPAs from the Directorate General of Supplies & Disposal (DGS&D) to the Office of Jute Commissioner, Kolkata with effect from November 1, 2016. Annually about Rs 5,500 crores worth of jute sacking is procured through support by the government to support the Indian jute workers and farmers.
Previous system relied mostly on paper and there were bottlenecks to information sharing between the stakeholders, mainly SPAs, the Ministry of Food and Public Distribution, Jute Mills, Inspecting Agency, Loaders, Consignees, Pay and Accounts Office etc. Since B-Twill sacking is an essential requirement for procurement of foodgrains, the entire operation is time-bound and needs to be closely monitored. In addition, the system provides for automated transactions through banks to reduce cost to the State Procurement Agencies on account of loss of interest in their funds. Necessary training has been provided to the State Procurement Agencies, Banks, Inspection Agencies and supplying jute millers for using this system.
ISDS Initiative
Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS), the flagship demand driven placement linked skilling program of the Ministry is an initiative towards this direction. The Ministry is partnering state government agencies, industry, major textile training institutions, Textile Research Organizations and industry associations for implementing the scheme. Out of the 12th Plan target of 15 lakh persons under the scheme, the Ministry has so far trained a total of 8.82 lakh persons.
Bunkar Mitra — Handloom Helpline Centre
Currently 28 Weavers’ Service Centres (WSCs) are functioning across the country to provide technical assistance to handloom weavers in improving their skills. For seeking assistance, weavers have to personally visit the WSCs. As on date, there is no single point of contact where weavers can seek solutions for their technical issues/problems.
In order to enable poor weavers to overcome these problems, the Central Government has decided to establish a ‘Bunkar Mitra-Handloom Helpline Centre’ where professional queries of weavers will be answered by the experts in the field. This helpline will function from 10.00 am to 6 pm and initially it will be provided in 6 languages viz., Hindi, English and 4 other regional languages (Telugu, Tamil, Bengali & Assamese).
As the local crop is estimated to be not more than 11.25 million bales this year, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) of the Sindh-Balochistan Zone has appealed to the National Government to remove 4 per cent import duty on raw cotton whereas the requirement of Pakistan’s industry is not less than 14.5 million bales at the moment.
APTMA-SB Zone also mentioned that a removal of import duty was also demanded two months ago against which the relevant Ministry had said that it was too early to remove this duty and the government wanted to wait till the major portion of the local crop was sold and of the hands of the farmers. As it stands today, the situation is that 80 to 82 per cent of the crop has been absorbed by the textile industry. Therefore, the objective as stated by the ministry has been achieved. APTMA Sind Baluchistan also said that it is misleading to state that the Ginners and TCPs have sufficient stock of cotton lint to fulfill the needs of the industry.
Since it is clear that the local crop is short of the requirements of the industry, it is necessary that timely action may be taken so that the exports of the country do not suffer any further. It is not possible for the Pakistan Textile Industry to bear the additional burden of 4 percent import duty and compete in the export market against countries which have a lower cost of raw cotton due to local availability without import incidentals.
Fluctuating material prices and comparatively lower foreign direct investment have hit Vietnam’s exports. Vietnam’s total exports of garment and textile products till December 15 of the current year showed a year on year growth of 4.8 per cent.
This is the lowest in the last ten years. Britain’s exit from the European Union has resulted in falling orders from importers. Shoe exports during the period had a growth rate of 8.1 per cent, lower than 16.3 per cent of 2015 and 22.9 per cent of 2014.
The country is the world’s fifth largest garment exporter. It has maintained double-digit growth, ranging on average from 10 per cent to 36 per cent, since 2001. Garment exporters are also faced with increasingly intense competition from outsourcing hubs Cambodia and Bangladesh, which get tariff preferences in the US market. Market access for Vietnam’s clothing in the US is limited by an average tariff of about 11.1 per cent, with tariffs on some textile and apparel products nearing 30 per cent.
However, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, which will become effective in 2018, will prepare importers, customers and investors for better growth in future. Moreover, there are other free trade agreements as well – such as the one with the Eurasian Economic Union, which Vietnamese shoe and apparel exporters can exploit yet to boost exports.
Knitwear exports from Tirupur grew by 12 per cent in 2015-16 compared to the previous year. The share of Tirupur knitwear exports in India’s total garment exports is 20 per cent. Exporters want a one-time long term initiative to be undertaken to uplift the skill proficiency of existing laborers in order to increase productivity at par with competing countries and at the same time reduce waste.
Limping back on a slow-but-promising western order recovery and robust domestic consumption, Tirupur is pursuing another growth cycle. The cluster sees protective wear, sports garments and defense-related businesses as obvious lines, given its huge spinning capacities.
Entrepreneurs want to wean themselves away from the fickle western apparel market to focus more on avenues of sustainable business like technical textiles or medical textiles and specialised products such as car upholstery.
The cluster was recently the beneficiary of a Rs 6000-crore textile package, manufacturing parks, and private water supply for entrepreneurs. Now entrepreneurs feel they deserve to have a knitwear board, on the lines of the one for jute in Kolkata, so that policies are framed to favor them. They also want sponsors to conduct training programs.
The industry has been through booms and lulls and prolonged slackness in export orders, besides troubles closer home with hundreds of dyeing units found to have improper effluent treatment mechanisms forced to shut down.
