Paat Mitro

23-12-2023

Paat Mitro

Why in the news? 

The Ministry of Textiles recently launched the “Paat -Mitro” mobile application to provide important information about MSP and agronomy to jute farmers.

Key Points

India is the world’s biggest producer of jute, followed by Bangladesh. Jute is primarily grown in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh.

About the Paat Mitro:

• It is a mobile application developed by the Jute Corporation of India Limited (JCI).

Purpose:

○To provide important information about Minimum Support Prices (MSP) and agronomy to jute farmers.

○to raise awareness and promote Jute-based technical textiles, with a special focus on Jute Geotextiles.

Features:

• It is available in six languages.
• All the functionalities are made available to the users free of cost.
• In addition to the latest agronomic practices and MSP, Jute Gradation Parameters, Farmer-centric schemes like ‘Jute-ICARE’, weather forecasts, JCI’s Purchase Centres’ locations, and Procurement Policies are also made available in the app.
• Farmers will also be able to track the status of their payments for the raw jute sold to JCI under MSP Operation.
• Latest technology features like Chatbot are included for their queries.

The Jute Corporation of India Limited (JCI)

• It was set up in 1971 as an official agency by the Government of India with the aim to provide minimum support price (MSP) to the jute cultivators and also work as a helping hand in the raw jute sector.
• JCI was established by the Indian Government for the welfare of the jute growers, for example, granting them a certain amount of funds with the help of which they can have their own farming sector of jute.
• The JCI was first started as a small official agency at the beginning but then slowly it expanded its networking and now has almost spread in 7 states successfully for jute growing.
• The states which are eminent for jute growing in India include West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh.

Mission

• Implementation of the policy of the Govt. of India for providing Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the jute/mesta growers of the country.
• Serving as a price stabilising agency in the raw jute sector and taking necessary measures in this respect.
• Undertaking various extension measures for implementation of different jute related projects.

Functions of the Corporation:

1. Procurement of raw jute directly from the growers either through our own purchase centers or through co-operatives at the minimum support prices fixed by Govt. Of India from time to time.

2. Ensuring correct weight, condition and grading to the growers for their produce when they tender raw jute.

3. Display of reference samples of various grades/varieties of raw jute for the benefit of the jute growers.

4. Building infrastructure for orderly marketing of raw jute and establishing market linkages.

5. Providing market information as a decision support system to the jute growers.

6. Implementing various quality/quantity up-gradation projects for the benefit of the jute growers.

7. Ensuring timely supply of raw jute of specified BIS standard backed by stringent quality control system sales service to the buyer mills against sale contract.

                                                        Source:PIB