Beginning the discussion on Ministry of Industries and Commerce, Congress senior leader, Nawang Rigzin Jora Wednesday pointed out that the Jammu and Kashmir has three distinct geo - climatic zones and economic activity in these regions will depend on the resource of each of the region - whether natural or human resource.Jora in a statement issued to KNS said that Ladakh is semi - Arctic with niche and distinctive produce which comprise Pashmina, apricot and see buck. “Effort must be to harness these produce and carry out value addition to improve the economic well being of the people,” said Jora. In this regard, he demanded a Pashmina Park for Ladakh.He said that Ladakh produces the best Pashmina fiber in the world. Time has come to carry out value addition of this precious fiber.Jora reminded the Minister that last year in the Governor address a commitment was given to create an Apricot village.He accused the Government of failing to uphold the commitment.Jora spoke about wonder berry Sea buckthorn and demanded creation of a common facility centre to help the small farmers.Jora emphasized in Kashmir valley the thrust must be on handloom, handicraft, carpet , wood carving and paper Mache.He reminded that this was one sector which was not affected by militancy. In fact, it saw an exponential growth in this sector .
He appreciated that the government has managed GI in Pashmina and the promised new step for standardization, benchmarking and certification is a welcome step. Jora brought to light the contribution of Carpet Training Institute and Craft Development Institute and demanded that government to take consultancy from National Design Institute Ahmadabad for contemporarisation of design.Jora regretted that in recent time these sectors have seen stagnation.He advised that government encourages herbal, medicinal and essential oil. “These have high value and low volume and perfect for Kashmir valley,” he said.Jora welcomed the new initiative being introduced for encouraging IT and IT enabled services.He said that Jammu is best suited for promotion of Heavy and Medium industries. For these industries to flourish pre- requisite would be availability of land, power, water.He welcomed New Industrial Policy 2016 and hoped that all provisions for ease of doing business enumerated in the Policy must be effectively adhered to.Jora welcomed the tax incentives and financial incentive extended by the State and the Centre and emphasized that these must be continued for the next 10 years. (KNS)