In tatters

  • 14/10/2004

statistics with the Union ministry of textiles (mot) point at a major slump in the textile industry. Textile mills have been downing their shutters at an average rate of one mill per week. The fact that the textile industry is the second largest employer in the country accentuates the severity of the crisis. As many as 248 mills of the country were closed from July 1999 to April 2004, rendering 329,402 workers jobless.

Jobless hands
Too many textile mills closing too fast

Name of the Number of state

Number of mills closed from July 1999 to April 2004

Number of workers rendered jobless

Tamil Nadu

120

30,202

Gujarat

59

54,997

Maharashtra

55

62,310

Uttar Pradesh

46

51,804

Andhra Pradesh

40

14,418

Source: Anon 2004, Cotton/Manmade Fibre Textile Mills Closure Report, Union Ministry of Textiles, mimeo
Maximum closures took placein Tamil Nadu, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Maharashatra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (see table: Jobless hands). So says the mot document, made available to the Indian Cotton Mills Federation (icmf), New Delhi