Question : Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) comes under —
(a) Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises
(b) Ministry of Commerce & Industries
(c) Ministry of Rural Development
(d) None of the above
Answer : (a)
Related facts
Context
- Seeking to encourage commercial plantation of sandalwood and bamboo, the KVIC has recently (June, 2020) begun a drive with plantation of 500 saplings each of sandalwood and bamboo.
- Location of this initiative is Nashik training center(KVIC) spread over 262 acres of land.
Procurement
- KVIC has procured sandalwood saplings from Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) Kannauj.
- Bamboo saplings — from Assam.
Sandalwood & Bamboo : Characteristics and importance
- The plantation of the Sandalwood is estimated to fetch between Rs 50 crore to Rs 60 crore in the next 10 to 15 years.
- A sandalwood tree matures in 10 to 15 years and as per the current rate, sells at Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12 lakh each.
- Sandalwood and its oil have high demand in countries like China, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and the USA.
- ‘Bambusa Tulda’, used for making Agarbatti sticks, brought from Assam has been planted in Maharashtra.
- The 500 bamboo saplings will provide at least 2500 bamboo logs in the third year and will generate an additional income of nearly Rs 3.25 lakh to the institution which will grow every year by nearly two-times.
- Further, in terms of quantity, 2500 bamboo logs will weigh approximately 65 MT of bamboo that will be used for making Agarbatti sticks and thus create large-scale local employment.
KVIC & aim of the initiative
- KVIC comes under MSME.
- In the last few months, KVIC has planted nearly 2500 trees of Bambusa Tulda in different parts of India.
- Bamboo plantation will support the local Agarbatti manufacturers in the light of recent decision taken by the Central government to make India ‘Aatmanirbhar’ in Agarbatti making.
By — Pankaj Pandey