The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the continuation of three Central Sector Schemes of the Ministry of Textiles relating to sericulture sector viz, R&D, Training, Transfer of Technology and I.T Initiative (Rs.203.71 crore), Seed Organization, Coordination & Market Development (Rs.159.44 crore), and Quality Certification System (Rs.11.85 crore) during XII Plan. The total allocation for the schemes will be Rs.375 crore.
The CCEA has also approved Rs. 115 crore from the overall allocation of Rs.375 crore to meet the skilled farm workers' wage under the central sector scheme.
The overall effort is to increase the silk production from the level of 23,060 MTs during XI Plan to 32,000 MTs during the XII Plan.
The core objective of the Central Sector schemes is to improve the productivity and quality of silk through R&D intervention to promote Bivoltine (BV) and Improved Cross Breed (ICB) silk to produce import substitute silk in India.
The seed production units shall be equipped and strengthened to bring in quality standards in seed production network, besides increasing the production capacity to cater to the silk production target. The quality certification system is proposed to be continued to promote quality up gradation and to create quality consciousness among producers and consumers of silk.