Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, on a visit to Coimbatore and Tirupur, urged textile and apparel entrepreneurs in the two districts to take a look at Odisha’s highly developed industrial base and potential collaboration opportunities there.
Following a meeting with representatives of the Tiruppur Exporters’ Association, Pradhan wrote on X that he had learned important things about the knitwear, garment and textile industries. He added that textile players had made useful suggestions designed to increase exports, create employment and stimulate growth in the textile sector.
He pointed towards Odisha’s increasing reputation as a textile cluster and encouraged entrepreneurs and garment producers to step up their operations in areas such as Sambalpur. Pradhan underlined the promise of such linkages to stimulate entrepreneurship and drive socio-economic growth in eastern India, pointing out that the government would extend all policy support to release the sector’s full potential.
The minister, on his visit, also visited garment units at the Netaji Apparel Park and spoke with women employees of Odisha working at KPR Mills.
He also held discussions with members representing academic institutions, manufacturing industries and the engineering industry in Coimbatore. Looking back at the discussions, he recalled them as frank and interactive, ranging over salient points of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 like credit systems, mother-tongue teaching and learning that is future-fit. He said Coimbatore, being one of India’s leading educational and industrial hubs, can become a model for economic and industrial growth based on indigenous-language education.
