The Corporate Affairs Minister, Mr M. Veerappa Moily, has urged the Union Finance Minister and also the Minister of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Textiles for immediate restoration of import duty on silk yarn to 30 per cent from current levels of five per cent and also to announce a special package of Rs 300 crore for sericulture.
Letter sent
Mr Moily, in a letter to the three ministers, said reduction in import duty in the last budget has caused distress among the sericulture farmers and also to reelers of Karnataka.
Crash in prices
As a result of import duty reduction, the silk yarn prices have crashed from Rs 400 to Rs 150.
“Even after 11 months, the rate has not improved,” he pointed out.
The sericulture farmers of Karnataka have been agitating over the issue ever since the price crash.
In Karnataka, about 80 per cent of the total production of silk is produced from Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Chamrajnagar and Mysore districts.
“The farmers have become restless as their livelihood has been badly affected,” said Mr Moily
“I have informed the Central Ministers the reduction in import duty would affect the silk production in the country and is likely to expose our country to import from China and wiping out this industry from the map of India.”
Proposed Packagefor farmers
The Union Minister has also proposed for providing a package of Rs 300 crore which is pending consideration with the Central Government.
Mr Moily has also written a letter to the Ministry of Human Resources Development to set up a committee in the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore, to examine the feasibility of granting autonomy to the centre of excellence for studies in classical Kannada.