World Cotton Day celebrated at ICAR-CIRCOT, Mumbai.

ICAR-CIRCOT, Mumbai celebrated the World Cotton Day on 7th October, 2022 in association with Indian Fibre Society (IFS), Mumbai by organizing a webinar “Cotton for Economical and Social benefits” at 11.00 am in the conference hall of ICAR-CIRCOT, Mumbai.

Dr Sujata Saxena, Director (Acting) in her welcome address spoke about the importance of cotton in the economy of many countries and in providing livelihoods to poor. It was followed by the address by Dr. R.P. Nachane, President, IFS who told about the uniqueness and eco-friendly characteristics of this textile fibre. Chief Guest, Dr S. Sreenivasan, Former Director, ICAR-CIRCOT, Mumbai spoke about the role played by CIRCOT in development of cotton technology and elaborated on various research activities which can be taken up in future in view of the sustainability and environmental requirements in Textile value chain.

First lecture on Cotton Fibre Length-its economical impact was delivered by Dr P.K. Mandhyan, former Principal Scientist & Head I/c QEID and MPD of ICAR-CIRCOT, Mumbai. He explained about the developments in the cotton length measurement techniques over the years and the prominent economic impact of this quality parameter in trade. He highlighted the contribution of CIRCOT in the tremendous improvement observed in Indian cottons in respect of this economically important quality parameter. Second lecture of the webinar Technical Textiles from Cotton was delivered by Dr. A.S.M. Raja, Principal Scientist, & Head I/c QEID, ICAR-CIRCOT. He informed about the present status of usage of cotton in this field and the research and development activities undertaken by the institute in this area.

Both the lectures generated a lot of interest and there was a lively discussion. Dr. A.J. Shaikh, former Director, ICAR-CIRCOT, Mumbai was also present for the webinar. Textile Commisioner, Mrs. Roop Rashi could not attend the webinar due to some other last minute official engagements but she conveyed her best wishes. The webinar concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr A. Arputharaj, Senior Scientist, ICAR-CIRCOT, Mumbai. It was attended by more than 130 participants including present and past cotton researchers, students, scientists, stakeholders from the Industry and trade.