Making the Most of Less Aid


use this temporary reprieve to the industry to insist that jute mills have a programme to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. This would include serious extension work to improve the productivity of jute cultivation and a diversification programme to explore and supply markets for new products. There is little evidence that Government is even aware of the need to attempt these tasks. All that the Fourth Plan Draft has to offer is a target for raising raw jute production from the present 62 lakh bales to 74 lakh bales along with a general call for "intensive efforts in selected suitable areas for raising the yield levels of major commercial crops". As for reorganisation of mills, the Draft takes a smug attitude. It says: "The programmes in textile industries, both cotton and jute, are primarily related to modernisation, with marginal expansions. Adequate provision has been made for the financial institutions to support this programme." Was finance then the only hurdle, as jute mills have always made it out to be?