Guidelines for Technical Textiles Degree Programme in UG and PG Issued

· Guidelines to update Existing Conventional Degree Programmes with New Papers of Technical Textiles

· Internships Support for Technical Textile Announced

‘General Guidelines for Enabling of Academic Institutes in Technical Textiles- for Private & Public Institutes’ and ‘General Guidelines for Grant for Internship Support in Technical Textiles (GIST)’ issued

Grant of upto INR 20,000 per student per month shall be provided to the empanelled companies for providing internships to B.Tech students of relevant Departments/Specializations in Public/Private Institutes under the GIST guidelines.

Driven by set of highly educated and skilled professionals, India will take a huge leap in the cutting-edge research, production, and innovative applications related to Technical Textiles

The Ministry of Textiles has given clearance to two guidelines, namely, ‘General Guidelines for Enabling of Academic Institutes in Technical Textiles- for Private & Public Institutes’ and ‘General Guidelines for Grant for Internship Support in Technical Textiles (GIST)’, under the Flagship Programme of National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM). The clearance was given during a Meeting of the Empowered Programme Committee (EPC), informed Secretary Textiles, Smt. Rachna Shah, during a press interaction held on 5 January 2023.

The ‘General Guidelines for Enabling of Academic Institutes in Technical Textiles- For Private & Public Institutes’ will enable New Technical Textiles Degree Programme (UG & PG) and updating of existing conventional degree programmes with new papers of Technical Textiles. The Ministry of Textiles intends to develop eco-system in technical textiles not only in textile field but other disciplines of Engineering like Civil, Mechanical, Electronics etc., Agriculture institutes, Medical Colleges, Fashion institutes.

The Guidelines cover the funding of upgradation/enhancement of laboratory equipment, training of lab personnel and specialized training of Faculty members of the relevant department/specialization in the University/Institute, with respect to the undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) degree programmes. This will cover Public funded institutions and also private institutions having NIRF ranking. The assistance for introducing full course in technical textiles an be upto 20 crores PG course and upto 10 Crores at UG level. At UG level introducing one mandatory subject and few electives, grant upto 7.5 crores may be given.

The guidelines will put emphasis on creating an effective and world-class knowledge ecosystem to make India a world leader in the field of technical textiles in the next decade. India will take a huge leap in the cutting-edge research, production, and innovative applications related to Technical Textiles, driven by the set of highly educated and competent professionals.

The detailed ‘General Guidelines for Enabling of Academic Institutes in Technical Textiles- For Private & Public Institutes’ are available on official website of Ministry of Textiles under NTTM web page https://www.texmin.nic.in/technical-textiles-mission.

The online applications may be submitted on the dedicated online education application portal under http://nttm.texmin.gov.in/only, from the date of opening of portal (10th January 2023) till 2nd March 2023 (17.00 hrs).

The implementation of General Guidelines for Grant for Internship Support in Technical Textiles (GIST) shall be conducted in two phases, (i) Empanelment of the eligible Companies, (ii) Internship Program, wherein the grant of upto INR 20,000 per student (B.Techstudentsin2nd/3rd/4th Year of the relevant Departments/ Specializations of eligible private/ public institutes) per month shall be provided to the empanelled companies, subject to the maximum period of 2 months of funding support for internship period. The eligible agencies will be textile industries with turn over more than 10 crores, Textile Research associations under Ministry and textile machinery manufactures. The empanelled industries/ institutions can give training to engineering institutes of concerned discipline in Public funded institutions and also to Private institutions with NIRF ranking upto 200.

This move will support in creating quality manpower, especially industry-trained engineers and professionals, and highly skilled workmen both for manufacturing and application areas of technical textiles along with fostering Academia – Industry linkages in the field of Technical Textiles.

The detailed ‘General Guidelines for Grant for Internship Support in Technical Textiles (GIST)’ are available on the official website of Ministry of textiles under NTTM page, https://www.texmin.nic.in/technical-textiles-mission. The applicant companies may submit their applications by cut-off date 23.02.2022.

Talking about the progress of NTTM, the Secretary informed that 74 research proposals worth INR 232 Crores in different application areas of technical textiles including Geotech, Agrotech, Specialty fibres, Protech, etc. have been approved to premier institutions like IITs/ NITs/ Textile Research Associations (TRAs) with industry partners in most of them.

She added that as technical textiles are to perform some specific functions, ensuring quality is paramount and to achieve this, the Quality Control Orders (QCOs) are under consideration of 107technical textiles items. QCOs for 19 Geo-tech, 12 Pro-tech, 22 Agro-tech and 6 Medi-tech are under consideration. 48 items of Medi-tech are already covered under CDSCO regulation.

More than 500 BIS Standards have been developed on technical textiles and BIS is working on developing 40 more such standards as per requirement of industry. SRTEPC has been assigned the role of the Export Promotion Council for promotion of Technical Textiles.

Smt. Shah emphasized that the Ministry has also issued guidelines for inviting research proposals for indigenous development of Technical Textiles machinery/Tools/Equipment& Instruments, which allows participation from private industries also. Premier research organizations like DRDO, CSIR have also been approached for inviting research proposals. Guidelines for promoting Start-ups in technical textiles are under formulation.

She said that a Demonstration Centre for Agrotech at Navsari Agricultural University is also being set up to show the advantages of using Agro-textiles. This is in line with Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of doubling farmers’ income. Various promotional activities in India and abroad have also been planned through conferences, exhibitions, knowledge tours, buyer-seller meets, etc.