By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Ministry of Steel in association with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is organizing a Webinar on ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Fostering Steel Usage in Rural Economy, Agriculture,Rural Development, Dairying and Food Processing’ on 20th October 2020. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel will be the Guest of Honour at the webinar. Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Rural Development, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Panchayati Raj and Food Processing Industries will also grace the occasion as the Guest of Honour. Faggan Singh Kulaste, Minister of State for Steel will deliver the Special Address at the event. The objective of the webinar is to identify present and future requirements of steel and steel products in Rural Development Sector and increase awareness on usage & benefits of using steel goods such as: Steel intensive structures in community / common facility area, Water Storage facilities, Grain Storage Silos, Common Grain Storage facilities and household water storage drums etc.
The webinar will also deliberate on challenges faced in procuring steel products and capabilities of Indian iron and steel industry in meeting the present demand, future expansion plans, manufacturing and R&D capabilities for developing new products. The webinar will also feature Secretaries’ Panel and States’ Panel consisting of Secretaries from key Rural Development Ministries from the Centre and States apart from presentations by key Rural Development agencies.
Steel will play a pivotal role in India’s ascent to a $5 trillion economy due to its critical role in growth driving sectors such as construction, infrastructure, manufacturing, railways, oil & gas, defence and rural & agriculture etc. However, despite being the world’s second largest producer of steel, India’s annual per capita steel consumption is 74.1 kg and is one-third the global average (224.5kg). Steel use in the rural areas has been much lower compared to the use of steel in urban areas.
The rural per capita steel consumption in the country has been around 19.1 kg in the year 2019 against the all India average of 74.1 kg. It is estimated that that around 54% of rural steel consumption goes for House construction, 10% for Community construction, 20% for Professional usages (primarily agricultural implements), furniture, vehicles and household items (balance 16%). Hence, apart from facilitating capacity expansion, the Ministry of Steel has taken measures to enhance steel demand usage in the country and is actively working with concerned ministries. Workshops/ Webinars with M/o Railways & M/o Defence on 17th February,20, M/o PNG on 16th June,20 and MoHUA & M/o Civil Aviation on 18th August 20 have already been organized.
