Textiles minister, Smriti Irani said that the ministry of finance is planning to converge all the insurance schemes for handloom weavers including the Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana (MGBBY) to increase their insurance cover. MGBBY will be merged into Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana from next fiscal.

The finance ministry is already coordinating with the concerned ministries to successfully converge the schemes, Irani said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. The office of development commissioner for handloom implements the MGBBY through LIC.

“Close to 129 cotton man-made fibre textile mills have been reported as closed in the last five fiscals and there were 2,002 such small-scale mills in the country as on September 30, 2016,” textiles minister said.

She also said that the government is working towards implementing Processing Development Scheme to help textile processing units with setting up or upgrading Common Effluent Treatment Plants with zero liquid discharge technology or marine discharge technology.