Guwahati: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal held an interaction with the industry ministers of all states on ‘One District One Product’ initiative through a webinar.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India is propagating the ‘One District One Product’ movement under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to realize the true economic potential of rural India. The objective is to identify one product per district based on the potential and strength of a district, develop a cluster for that product in the district, and provide market linkages.
Addressing the state ministers, Union Minister Goyal said that India’s domestic market has been hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic. Both states and the Centre should work in total unison to put the economy back on track. ‘All states should work to facilitate investments, allocate industrial land and other approvals in a faster and transparent mode so that multiple industrial parks come up in the shortest possible time.’
Assam’s Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary underlined the initiatives taken by the State Government for the successful implementation of the ‘One District One Product’ initiative. This includes notifying of Export Commissioner, setting up of an ‘Export Cell’ in the Commissionerate of Industries and Commerce and constitution of District Level Export Promotion Committee (DEPC). Significantly, DEPC meetings have already been held in all districts of Assam.
Minister Patowary highlighted that an elaborate plan has been chalked out to promote such products in the districts and to enhance its quality to make it suitable for exports. A detailed exercise was undertaken in Assam and one product for each district was duly identified. The products identified for the districts in the State relating to the food processing sector and items like silk, tea, handicrafts, cane, and bamboo, etc.
Minister Patowary further requested the Union Minister for formulating a special and progressive industrial policy similar to the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (NEIIPP) exclusively for the benefit of the North East states. He also requested Minister Goyal to take up with JETRO for setting up of the proposed Japanese Industrial Township (JIT) soon for which land is readily available at Nagarbera.
