India’s premium cotton brand Kasturi launched
India’s premium cotton would henceforth be identified as “Kasturi” in the world cotton trade, said Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani, launching the first-ever Indian cotton brand and logo on World cotton Day.
Kasturi Cotton will stand out for its whiteness, brightness, softness, purity, luster, uniqueness and Indianness, the minister said, speaking at a webinar organised jointly by Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), The Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council and The Cotton Corporation of India Ltd along with Ministry of Textiles. The theme of the meet was “New-Look Cotton”.
First for India, GSFC starts selling locally-made calcium nitrate to cut imports
In a major push for Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), chemicals major Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GSFC) on Thursday started selling locally made calcium nitrate — a 100-per cent imported water-soluble fertilizer.
Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday launched the product online. “We identified about 79 chemicals where import substitution could take place. Of these, there are 39 chemicals, where we are 70-100 per cent dependent on imports. GSFC has identified 21 such chemicals to make in India and take a big leap to achieve the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat,” the minister said in his video address. “We are planning to move all fertiliser plants in this direction and make the fertilizer-based chemical sector self-reliant,” he added.
Biopesticide developed for spice crops
Researchers at the Gurugram-based Institute of Pesticide Formulation Technology (IPFT ) jointly with their counterparts at the Ajmer-based National Research Centre on Seed Spices (NRCSS), a constituent laboratory of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, a new biopesticide for spice crops such as fenugreek, cumin and coriander.
The biopesticide formulation, prepared using fungus Verticillium lecanii, is very effective in controlling various insects found in seed spice crops, said IPFT director, Jitendra Kumar, said in a statement on Friday. IPFT is a research centre under the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
