Port Blair, May 15: An Awareness Workshop on Jute Diversified Products (JDPs) sponsored by National Jute Board (NJB), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, Kolkata & organised by Jute Service Centre (JSC)-Port Blair in collaboration with A & N Consultancy Centre (ANCON) & in association with DIC, LDM, ANIIDCO, Banks, Ward Councillor, Ward No. 10, PBMC, NCUI, ACANI & Yuva Sakthi was held at New Community Hall, School Line on Monday, May 14, 2012. More than 70 persons participated in the programme which included women, educated unemployed youth and members of SHGs.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Gautam Mandal, Manager, DIC called upon the beneficiaries to attend the programme sincerely & derive maximum benefit. He informed that in view of the ban on plastic carry bags, jute will be a good alternative & taking up self employment in this sector will solve the unemployment problem to some extent & provide a source of income generation for the family. He also informed that Finance & Marketing can be easily arranged for the deserving projects.
Earlier welcoming the gathering Er. Johnson Abraham, Sr. Manager & Jute Service Centre in charge, ANCON informed the role of ANCON in organizing such programmes in various parts of Port Blair & in the rural areas of South Andaman and the help that will be provided by ANCON after completion of the training programme. He also dwelt briefly on the genesis of Jute products in A & N Islands during 2002 when the first Jute Fair was organized in Port Blair by ANCON & its chronological development to date.
Mr. Ajay Kumar Das, Dy. General Manager (Tsm.), ANIIDCO informed the beneficiaries that most of the tourists visiting A & N Islands was looking for Souvenir to take and if the Jute products could be developed with a local flavor then it would find favor with the tourists visiting these islands. He moreover said that ANIIDCO can act as a Marketing & Financing agency for the upcoming units.
The Project Officer NCUI, Mr. Surinder Nath Singh felt that jute products would be successful in the market as it was environment friendly. He urged the beneficiaries to learn about a new product & to bring out the latent creative talent in the beneficiaries by making the jute products unique.
Fr. Evans Suares, Director, ACANI encouraged the participants to convert opportunity into ideas & later crystallize them into successful projects for the benefit of family & society as a whole.
Ms. Chandrakala, Academic Co-ordinator, Yuva Sakthi called upon the participants to make full utilization of the Jute programmes for their economic benefit. Earlier she dwelt on the genesis & aims & objectives of Yuva Sakthi & its activities.
This was followed by a film on Jute Diversified Products which traced the origin of Jute and its traditional uses and later to Diversification of the jute material in different forms. A Display of JDP items was also done at the venue.
This was followed by a lively interactive session in which many queries were raised about the JDPs by the participants and it was replied ably by the officials of Jute Service Centre. While proposing the Vote of thanks Mr. Saikat Chakraborty, Professional Associate, ANCON called upon the participants to fully participate and get benefits of the programme.
