Golden Fibre Revolution

Before independence, India was primarily an agricultural economy. However, the colonial rulers’ lack of concern about the countryside significantly impacted the common people. 

Their anti-rural policies, like agricultural commercialisation, crop exportation, and the zamindari system, were particularly problematic. It harmed food security and farmer welfare, resulting in deplorable conditions for farmers. Consequently, India’s burgeoning agricultural sector worsened. 

After independence, the new government took a few measures to improve the horticultural industry’s health, which led to the Golden Fibre Revolution. One such effort entailed multiple rural revolutions concentrating on various aspects of agriculture, such as raising output, food security, and farmer welfare.

What is the Golden Fibre Revolution?

Jute is a golden, soft, long, and silky natural fibre with a golden sheen. It is the cheapest fibre obtained from the plant’s stem skin. Jute is characterised as a golden fibre because of its vibrant colours and high monetary value. As a result, India’s Golden Fibre Revolution is linked to jute manufacturing. Jute is the most widely consumed, produced, used, and available vegetable fibre after cotton. Jute was first employed as a raw material in the fabric industry during the industrial revolution, and it is still used to make strong threads and jute products today. Nirpakh Tutej is the father of the Golden Fibre Revolution in India for his enormous contribution to guiding this critical agrarian movement. During this period, the government passed a resolution regarding the employment of modern technology to help and extend the production of honey and other horticultural products such as fruits, flowers, vegetables, spices and plantation crops. As a result, planned investments in the horticultural sector yielded strong output, with the industry developing as a significant source of income for farmers.

Background of the Jute Industry

Even though jute was available throughout Southeast Asia, the undivided Bengal jute industry was one of the most important because people commonly used its jute products. 

Bengal has a suitable river system state for jute agriculture, as indicated by the high jute cultivation and production rate. For the same purpose, the British East India Company launched commercial jute farming and utilised jute-woven bags to transport food grains worldwide.

As one of Bengal’s most treasured industries, jute developed a unique socio-economic climate that has persisted for decades. The expansion of the jute industry, reflected in Bengali culture, is the basis of the economy. 

With an annual output of around 1.986 million tonnes, India is the world’s top producer of jute. India has risen to prominence in worldwide jute output due to improvements in crop cultivation and technology use in jute farming. 

West Bengal produces more than half of all jute in the country. Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, and Assam are other jute-producing states. 

The Golden Fibre Revolution’s Importance

• Jute improves the soil’s organic fertility, making it more fertile for other crops.
• Jute producers who organise their processing and production can earn and save a lot of money from carbon credits.
• Farmers’ savings on inorganic fertilisers are used to value the carbon credit generated by jute cultivation.
• Jute has become an important raw material in the paper industry due to its renewable resource utilisation.
• One tonne of plastic bags produces 63 gigajoules of heat and 1,340 tonnes of CO2, but one tonne of jute bags produces just 2-gigajoules of heat and 150 kilograms of CO2.

India Requires a Golden Fibre Revolution

In 1854, the first jute factory in India was constructed in Kolkata. Before independence, India held a monopoly on manufacturing raw jute and jute goods. However, several challenges have harmed India’s jute sector since independence. The following are the issues that Jute industries face:

• During India’s partition, most jute mills stayed in India but relocated most jute-producing areas to Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). As a result, there was a shortage of raw materials. Despite the government’s efforts to expand the jute-growing region, India lacks sufficient raw material and must import it from Bangladesh and other countries.
• India’s jute mills and machinery are antiquated, requiring technical upgrades. In 2006, the Indian government announced the Jute Technology Mission, which includes four submissions: jute research, agriculture development and extension, raw jute processing, and raw jute commercialisation. However, this expedition could not meet its objectives and spent all of the monies available.
• India’s jute sector has stagnated, is inefficient, and unproductive due to a lack of diversification and an over-reliance on jute bags. Bangladesh, South Korea, the Philippines, and Japan, among other countries, compete fiercely in the worldwide market. However, due to sickness in the jute mills, antiquated technology, rising prices, and other factors, the industry loses competitiveness.
• India’s jute businesses are also seeing a drop in demand for their products. Synthetic fibres, plastic, and comparable alternative items rapidly erode jute’s market share. Parliament passed the Jute Packaging Mandatory Act in 1987 to protect the jute sector. However, the jute industry is in distress due to mill closures.

Conclusion

Jute is known as a golden fibre because of its colours and high cash value. So, the Golden Fibre Revolution in India is related to jute production. After cotton, jute is the most important vegetable fibre in consumption, production, usage and availability. The manufacturing of Jute has a connection to the Golden Fibre Revolution of India. Jute is the most important vegetable fibre in terms of consumption, production, use and availability.