MULTAN, April 5: The issue of cotton standardization has been put in the cold storage since the newly-created textile ministry has taken over the affairs of the Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute in December last year. The PCSI has been given the central role under the Cotton Standardization Ordinance, 2002 to ensure the production of quality cotton in the country. The ordinance was promulgated on October 4, 2002 in order to maintain cotton standards and ensure the production of contamination-free cotton. As per the ordinance, the PCSI had to work under the federal ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (Minfal).
Although the progress on the PCSI front while being under Minfal was almost insignificant, there has been no board meeting of the institute since the textile ministry has adopted it some four months ago. A board of directors for the PCSI was notified immediately after the promulgation of CSO with the secretary Minfal as its chairman. The board had representation from both the public and private sectors.
Among the public sector, one representative each from the federal ministries of agriculture, commerce and finance were on the PCSI board, besides the representation of the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, agriculture departments of the four provinces, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan and the Textile Commissioner Organization.
From the private sector, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, the Karachi Cotton Association, the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association and growers from federal and provincial territories were on the board. Under the ordinance, the PCSI board had to meet at lease twice in a year provided that not more than a period of six months should intervene between its two meetings.
While being under Minfal, the PCSI board initially remained entwined in the debate that whether the institute should be entrusted with a regulatory role or the cotton standardization be treated as a volunteer exercise. After a year of debate on the issue, the board finally declared that the cotton standardization could not be left to the mere ‘volunteer exercise’ of the growers and ginners and that there should be a monitoring body in the form of PCSI to fashion cotton grading system in the country.
Later on, the PCSI executive committee headed by the TCP chairman was entrusted upon the task in the third board meeting held in November 2003 to propose organizational structure of the institute and the rules under which it would regulate the cotton standardization process in the county.
The executive committee could not come up with concrete proposals in the fourth PCSI board meeting even though it held nine months after the previous meeting on August 16, 2004. The committee was directed to come up positively with goals and role of the PCSI and the structure of its manpower in the next board meeting announced to be held in the first week of October 2004.
But the board could not meet on the scheduled date and later on the establishment division handed over the institute to the textile ministry from Minfal. The secretary of the new ministry is supposed to chair the PCSI board but since an official has yet to be appointed against the post, sources say the officiating official is reluctant to take the responsibility.
Analysts say the move to hand over the PCSI to the textile ministry is nothing but extremely ill-advised. They say that contamination is an issue to be addressed at the cotton picking level in the field and the agriculture ministry in collaboration with the provincial agriculture departments can better handle it.
Similarly, the standardization is a subject related to the ginning practices and upgradation of machinery and therefore can properly be addressed by the ministry of industry.
