Jammu, Jan 9: Minister for Industries and Commerce, S S Slathia today asked the J&K Khadi and Village Industries Board to setup a wool bank in the state for providing quality wool and pashmina at reasonable rates to the Khadi Institutions, Spinners, Weavers and other related artisans, an official statement said.
 Speaking at the 100th meeting of the Board of Directors of J&K Khadi and Village Industries Board, Slathia who is also Chairman of the organization, asked the management to approach the Khadi and Village Industries Commission of India, with a comprehensive proposal for this purpose.
 The Minister also called for diversification of activities so that rural youth are imparted training in the market oriented trades to enable them set up their own income generating units.
 He also called for replacing traditional weaving loams with the modernized looms. He said the government has planned to distribute 40,000 modern looms among the weavers during next two years, so far, 2000 such looms have already been distributed, Slathia added.
 Commissioner/Secretary Industries and Commerce, Shantmanu, Secretary J&K Khadi and Village Industries Board, S. Ravinder Singh, Directors of Industries and Commerce Kashmir and Jammu, Mehraj-ud-Din Kenoo and Gulzar Ahmad Qureshi, Registrar Cooperative, J&K Sudershan Sharma, Chairman Gandhi Seva Sadhan, Prof. Ved Kumari Gai, D. P. Khajuria, Ex-Director Rural Development, Special Secretary Finance, Ishaq and representatives of Planning and Development Department and KVIC were present in the meeting.
 Slathia said that perfect training in demand driven trades was imperative to enable the youth in rural areas to start their own entrepreneurship. He urged for cluster approach to promote rural Industries in a big way.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:00:00 IST