The government is looking to inject new life into the jute industry by diversifying into new avenues to promote the use of jute bags. These include a range of products like waste paper baskets, folders and laptop bags to molded items. Children’s school bags can be made of jute. An important characteristic of jute is that it absorbs and retains moisture. This makes it very effective to be used for the construction of roads.

India accounts for an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s total production of jute products. Over 90 mills are currently operational, 67 in West Bengal alone. The rest are in Bihar, Assam, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The industry supports about 40 lakh farmers and 3.7 lakh jute laborers.

Unrest is growing among jute producing farmers and mill workers. However, the industry’s overdependence on government orders is considered to be a major factor behind the current state of affairs. The government buys jute sacks worth Rs 5,000 crores a year for the packaging of food grains and sugar.

Large scale imports from Bangladesh, which offers a 10 per cent subsidy on domestic jute products and huge funding to its mills and exporters, have added to the stress.