Question

Which Indian state leads in the production of Jute?
1. Odisha
2. Jharkhand
3. West Bengal
4. Bihar

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : West Bengal

Solution: The correct answer is West Bengal.

• Jute has been grown within the Bengal region for hundreds of years. It had been produced for domestic consumption within the villages of present-day Bangladesh and West Bengal.
• In the 17^th century, the Europeans exported it to Southeast Asia.
• By the 1790s a small export had developed in the Scottish city of Dundee, where the flax spinning industry could use a small percentage to lower costs.
• Thomas Neigh, a Dundee merchant invented the mechanical process of spinning jute in 1833 by first soaking it in whale oil.
• Raw jute was exported from Bengal by British merchants in increasing quantities from the 1840s replacing flax within the Dundee mills – becoming called "Juteopolis".
• In 1858, Indian financiers supported the importation of spinning machinery from Dundee so as to form their own industry. The Indian jute barons were ready to pay workers less and gradually began to require over. Dundee had better access to European markets and therefore the mills didn't completely collapse until the 1960s.
• By 1895 jute industries in Bengal overtook the Scottish jute trade. Many Scots worked in Bengal to line up jute factories for Indians, dominated by Marwari brokers like G. D. Birla.
• Jute supports around 40 Lakh farm families and provides direct employment to 2.6 Lakh Industrial Workers and 1.4 Lakh within the tertiary sector.
• Jute is cultivated between kharif and rabi seasons.
• Nadia, Murshidabad, Purnea, Cooch Bihar, West Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, North 24-Pargana, Hoogly and Malda districts in West Bengal account for 71% of area under jute cultivation in India and 73.09% of total raw jute production in the country.
• There are 77 composite jute mills in India, of which 60 jute mills are located in West Bengal.
• Jute industry contributes to the export earnings within the range of Rs. 1,000 to Rs.1,200 crore annually.