-Ronita Torcato
Companies enrolled with the Ministry of Textiles will receive a grant of Rs 20,000 per student per month for providing internships to B. Tech students, Union Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Jardosh announced at Technotex 2023, at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Goregaon, Mumbai.
She was inaugurating, ‘Envisioning Indian Technical Textiles @2047’, the 10th International Exhibition and Conference on Technical Textiles, organized by the Union Ministry of Textiles and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).
A flagship event consisting of buyer-seller meetings, an international exhibition and conference, the three-day event which concludes on February 24 is designed to boost interaction among stakeholders from across the global technical textile value chain.
Elaborating on the newly launched internship scheme, Minister Jardosh said that the grant of up to Rs 20,000 per student per month would be disbursed to firms providing internships to B. Tech students in 2nd/3rd/4th Year of the relevant departments and specializations of eligible private and public institutes.
She also informed that the official guidelines for private and public academic institutes in Technical Textiles will enable a New Technical Textiles Degree Programme (UG & PG) and the updating of existing conventional degree programmes with new papers on Technical Textiles.
Citing General Guidelines for Grant for Internship Support (GIST), the Minister said the scheme would be implemented in two phases: empanelment of eligible Companies and internship Program, subject to a maximum period of two months of funding for the internship period.
Eligible agencies will include textile industries with a turnover of more than Rs 10 crores, textile research associations under the Ministry and, textile machinery manufacturers. Empanelled industries/institutions can impart training to students of engineering institutes of concerned disciplines in publicly funded institutions and also to private institutions with NIRF ranking up to 200. This will enhance the creation of industry-trained engineers and professionals, and a highly skilled work force both for manufacturing and application while also fostering academia – industry linkages in the field of Technical Textiles, Minister Jardosh said.
Jardosh said the Ministry intended to develop an eco-system in technical textiles not only in the field of textiles but also such disciplines in Engineering as Civil, Mechanical, Electronics as well as agriculture institutes, medical colleges, and Fashion institutes.
It will cover funding of upgradation/enhancement of laboratory equipment, training of lab personnel and specialized training of faculty members of relevant departments/specialization in the University/Institute, with respect to the undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) degree programs, she said.
The Minister also spoke about the National Technical Textiles Mission ( NTTM) which has an outlay of Rs 1,480 crores and whose key pillars include ‘Research Innovation & Development’, ‘Promotion and Market Development’, ‘Education, Training and Skilling’ and ‘Export Promotion’.
The focus of the NTTM is to develop the usage of technical textiles in various flagship missions and programmes of the country including strategic sectors”, she said.
An important component of the mission being R&D, the scheme is open to industry and research institutions. Accordingly, the Textiles Ministry has invited good proposals for the manufacture of technical textiles machinery in India.
India is the third largest exporter of textiles and apparels in the world and a variety of industries benefit from its products, including those in the automotive, agricultural, home care, construction, aerospace, protective gear, and healthcare sectors.
