The Ministry of Textiles has given clearance to two guidelines, namely, ‘General Guidelines for Enabling of Academic Institutes in Technical Textiles- for Private & Public Institutes’and ‘General Guidelines for Grant for Internship Support in Technical Textiles (GIST)’, under the Flagship Programme of National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM). The clearance was given during a Meeting of the Empowered Programme Committee (EPC), informed Secretary Textiles, Smt. Rachna Shah, during a press interaction held here today.
The ‘General Guidelines for Enabling of Academic Institutes in Technical Textiles- For Private & Public Institutes’ will enable New Technical Textiles Degree Programme (UG & PG) and updating of existing conventional degree programmes with new papers of Technical Textiles. The Ministry of Textiles intends to develop ecosystem in technical textiles not only in the textile field but other disciplines of Engineering like Civil, Mechanical, Electronics etc., Agriculture institutes, Medical Colleges, and Fashion institutes.
The Guidelines cover the funding of the upgradation/enhancement of laboratory equipment, training of lab personnel, and specialized training of Faculty members of the relevant department/specialization in the University/Institute, with respect to the undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) degree programmes. This will cover Public funded institutions and also private institutions having NIRF ranking. The assistance for introducing a full course in technical textiles an be up to 20 crores PG course and up to 10 Crores at UG level. At the UG level introducing one mandatory subject and a few electives, grants up to 7.5 crores may be given.
The guidelines will put emphasis on creating an effective and world-class knowledge ecosystem to make India a world leader in the field of technical textiles in the next decade. India will take a huge leap in cutting-edge research, production, and innovative applications related to Technical Textiles, driven by the set of highly educated and competent professionals.
The detailed ‘General Guidelines for Enabling of Academic Institutes in Technical Textiles- For Private & Public Institutes’ are available on official website of the Ministry of Textiles under NTTM web page https://www.texmin.nic.in/technical-textiles-mission.
The online applications may be submitted on the dedicated online education application portal under http://nttm.texmin.gov.in/only, from the date of opening of the portal (10th January 2023) till 2nd March 2023 (17.00 hrs).
The implementation of General Guidelines for Grant for Internship Support in Technical Textiles (GIST) shall be conducted in two phases, (i) Empanelment of the eligible Companies, (ii) Internship Program, wherein the grant of upto INR 20,000 per student (B.Tech students in 2nd/3rd/4th Year of the relevant Departments/ Specializations of eligible private/ public institutes) per month shall be provided to the empaneled companies, subject to the maximum period of 2 months of funding support for the internship period. The eligible agencies will be textile industries with turn over more than 10 crores, Textile Research associations under Ministry, and textile machinery manufacturers. The empanelled industries/ institutions can give training to engineering institutes of concerned discipline in Public funded institutions and also to Private institutions with NIRF ranking up to 200.
This move will support in creating quality manpower, especially industry-trained engineers and professionals, and highly skilled workmen both for manufacturing and application areas of technical textiles along with fostering Academia–Industry linkages in the field of Technical Textiles.
The detailed ‘General Guidelines for Grant for Internship Support in Technical Textiles (GIST)’ are available on the official website of the Ministry of textiles under the NTTM page, https://www.texmin.nic.in/technical-textiles-mission. The applicant companies may submit their applications by the cut-off date of 23.02.2023.
Talking about the progress of NTTM, the Secretary informed that 74 research proposals worth INR 232 Crores in different application areas of technical textiles including Geotech, Agrotech, Specialty fibres, Protech, etc. have been approved to premier institutions like IITs/ NITs/ Textile Research Associations (TRAs) with industry partners in most of them.
She added that as technical textiles are to perform some specific functions, ensuring quality is paramount, and to achieve this, the Quality Control Orders (QCOs) are under consideration of 107 technical textiles items. QCOs for 19 Geo-tech, 12 Pro-tech, 22 Agro-tech, and 6 Medi-tech are under consideration. 48 items of Medi-tech are already covered under CDSCO regulation.
More than 500 BIS Standards have been developed on technical textiles and BIS is working on developing 40 more such standards as per the requirements of the industry. SRTEPC has been assigned the role of the Export Promotion Council for the promotion of Technical Textiles.
Smt. Shah emphasized that the Ministry has also issued guidelines for inviting research proposals for indigenous development of Technical Textiles Machinery/Tools/Equipment& Instruments, which allows participation from private industries also. Premier research organizations like DRDO, and CSIR have also been approached for inviting research proposals. Guidelines for promoting Start-ups in technical textiles are under formulation.
She said that a Demonstration Centre for Agrotech at Navsari Agricultural University is also being set up to show the advantages of using Agro-textiles. This is in line with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of doubling farmers’ income. Various promotional activities in India and abroad have also been planned through conferences, exhibitions, knowledge tours, buyer-seller meets, etc.
