Excelsior Correspondent
LEH, Oct 5: Union Minister of Textiles Giriraj Singh today handed over the Certificate of Geographical Indication (GI) Registration of Pashmina Wool of Ladakh to the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra (Retd) in the presence of officials from the Ministry, Central Wool Development Board, Textiles Committee, Industries and Commerce Department of UT Ladakh, Women Self-Help Groups (SHGs), artisans and entrepreneurs during the event held at the Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat.
The LG also handed over the application of authorised users to the Minister of Textiles Giriraj Singh.
Minister for Textiles thanked the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for creating the separate Union Territory of Ladakh after the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir due to which the region has developed its own identity and has given opportunity to Ladakh to showcase its unique products such as pashmina, sea buckthorn and apricots nationally and internationally.
Stating that the GI tagging of Ladakh’s Pashmina wool, also known as Soft Gold – which the people of Kashmir have hitherto misused by promoting it as their own, will prove beneficial to the people of the region, particularly the Pashmina herders, Giriraj emphasised the importance of increasing the production of pashmina wool in Ladakh to ensure better income for Pashmina goat herders, SHGs and entrepreneurs and also the overall growth of Ladakh’s GDP.
He highlighted the need to encourage stall feeding of Pashmina and merino sheep by engaging women to boost their source of income. He commended the efforts being made by the UT Administration headed by the Lieutenant Governor to reduce the mortality rate of pashmina goat kids.
Giriraj made several suggestions, including sending a proposal to the Ministry to set up Pashmina breeding farms at Leh and Kargil, conducting artificial insemination and stopping in-breeding of sheep; preparing a project on select breeding; conducting competition among farmers on best practices and providing incentives to them; conducting lab test of pashmina goat milk to check available nutrients; conducting exposure visit of Director of Animal/Sheep Husbandry to get first-hand experience of best practices and preparing feed pellets from stocked fodder, etc. He assured to provide all possible assistance in this regard.
Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, while terming the GI registration of Pashmina wool of UT Ladakh as historic, stated that the authenticity and assurance of best quality Pashmina wool was missing until now due to the sale of products made of fake and inferior quality Pashmina wool. He informed the Minister about the efforts made by the UT Administration for the promotion of Pashmina, including his meeting with Pashmina herders, the distribution of Pashmina kid pens to reduce the mortality rate of pashmina goat kids; the installation of the Pashmina Dehairing Plant in Leh; the establishment of Directorate of Sheep Husbandry in Ladakh; the plantation of fodder at the site of the Solar Power plant at Pang to meet the fodder requirement during the winter months; the plan to conduct branding of mountain goats to sell the meat at good rates in the market, etc.
He sought the Ministry’s cooperation in the growth and promotion of Pashmina in Ladakh. He also highlighted the need to take the initiative to attract youth to the traditional practice of Pashmina goat herding.
Earlier, the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI, welcomed the guests while the Secretary, Textile Committee, Kartikay Dhanda gave the vote of thanks.
Executive Councillor, LAHDC Leh, Tashi Namgyal Yakzee; Councillor, Kungyam, Shri Thinles Norboo; Advisor to the LG, Dr Pawan Kotwal, DGP Ladakh Police, Dr SD Singh Jamwal, Principal Secretary, Sanjeev Khirwar, Commissioner/ Secretary, Dr Vasanthakumar N, Commissioner/ Secretary to the HLG, Dr L Franklin, Secretary, Michael D’Souza, Executive Director, Central Wool Development Board, GS Bhati; Director, Research Textiles Committee, Dr TK Rout; Senior Statistical Assistant, Textiles Committee, Rajeev Kumar; officials from Industries and Commerce; artisans; members of Self-Help Groups and artisans were present during the occasion.
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