Guwahati, Jan 25 (PTI) Renowned sericulturist Jogesh Deuri on Sunday said getting selected for the Padma Shri award was a recognition for Assam and the northeast’s famed Eri silk.
Assam is famous for its
'Muga' silk, but it is Eri that has immense potential and is the future, Deuri told PTI.
''Eri is inextricably linked to our tradition and identity. I want to take Eri to the global platform,'' the retired official of the state’s sericulture department said.
He thanked the Union government for selecting him for the Padma Shri, as well as the state government, which had bestowed the 'Assam Gaurav' on him in 2022.
Deuri is credited for setting up the unique Bodoland Silk Park at Kokrajhar, which has a cocoon bank, a spun mill, a printing unit and a pupae processing unit, providing a fascinating behind-the-scenes view of the silk-making process.
He said that the focus is on modernisation and mechanisation of the silk industry to attract youth to production of the yarn.
''I have initiated several innovative steps to take the industry, which is now small scale, to a large-scale one, as there are immense possibilities for the youth to take up production,'' Deuri said.
Deuri said that while he was the Director of Sericulture at Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), he had started the observance of 'Eri Day' on May 1 from 2019, and now ''though I have retired, there are plans to organise an Eri and Muga festival whose tag will be 'silk to tourism’''.
''Eri is our future, Muga is our hope and Mulberry is our scope, and we must all strive together to take our traditional silk of Assam and the northeast to the world,'' he said.
The sericulturist is among the five Padma Shri recipients from Assam, along with former Union minister Kabindra Purkayastha (posthumously) for public affairs, Pokhila Lekhtepi, Nuruddin Ahmed and Haricharan Saikia, all for art. PTI DG RBT
