The Cabinet’s approval of a Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the textile sector that is expressly targeted at the man-made fibre (MMF) and technical textiles segments is a belated acknowledgment by the Government that the ground has inexorably shifted in the global textiles trade. A relentless shift in consumer preferences and fashion trends saw MMF surpass cotton as the fibre of choice in the 1990s, since vaulting its share in worldwide textile consumption to about 75%. India’s textile and clothing exports on the other hand have continued to remain dominated by cotton and other natural fibre-based products, with MMF having contributed less than 30% of the country’s $35.6 billion in overall sectoral exports in 2017-18. And MMF’s share remained relatively unchanged in the last fiscal as well when the sectoral exports were about $33 billion. While policy makers have been cognisant of the need to bolster support for the MMF segment, the task of crafting a meaningful initiative
The debate on whether the Taliban would form an “inclusive government” representing all sections of Afghan society was laid to rest by the Taliban themselves on September 7 when the group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, announced the formation of the new administration of the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’. Of the 33 Cabinet Ministers named, 30 are Pashtun, two ethnic Tajiks, and one is Uzbek. The Taliban are predominantly Pashtun, who make up some 40% of Afghanistan’s ethnically diverse population of 40 million. Women and the Hazara Shia minority — both faced targeted harassment and discrimination when the Taliban were in power in the 1990s — were excluded completely. Seventeen Ministers are on the UN sanctions blacklist for terrorists, including the head of the government, Mullah Hassan Akhund, and Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the Haqqani Network. Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s reclusive emir, will be the ‘Amir ul-Momineen’ (commander of the faithful), a title
