Decentralization of heavy industries

It is bad luck of our country that our industries have been heavily centralized. Entire textile industry of India has been centralized into 700 spinning mills through which huge amount of 40000 crores of rupees is exploited. In fact, this industry should be decentralized into every home and every village through modern tiny machines and its benefit should reach to the millions of people. Cotton is produced in every village and cloth is consumed in every village. So cloth should be produced from cotton in every home and every village. If this is done, then only wealth in villages can increase and unemployment can decrease. Just before 150 years, there was not a single textile mill in India. At that time cloth was produced in every house simply by hand. Today, we have electricity. So to decentralize this industry into every home by utilizing electricity is immediate and essential requirement of today.

   1. So three lakhs of tiny cotton ginning machines running on single phase 1 HP motor can be established in rural areas which will gin the entire cotton production of India. One such gin may cost only 5000/- rupees.
   2. 50000 tiny bailing presses are required which will press bales of 20 kg weight instead of 170 kg weight. At present India produces 200 lakhs of bales of 170 kg annually. If this process is decentralized into villages, 1000 lakhs of tiny bales of 20 kg can be built into 50000 presses. And rest of the lint cotton will be consumed in loose condition. Such a press may cost less than one lakh rupees.
   3. At least 90 lakhs of tiny spinning units of 8 spindles are absolutely required in our villages throughout India. Then major source of drain of wealth from villages will be plugged and it will create vast opportunities for self employment of villagers. At the same time cloth production will be undoubtedly cheaper in this manner.
   4. Similarly, entire sugar industry of India consists of 400 to 500 sugar mills. Great scope of decentralization exists in this industry. By imposing Central Excise Duty on sugar, Central Government has virtually given the monopoly of sugar production to giant sugar mills by using vacuum process technology. If vacuum process technology is encouraged for tiny sugar mills, thousands of such tiny sugar mills working on vacuum process will come up in thousands of villages. Such decentralization will result into cheaper sugar production and also higher sugar production. There is a vast scope of establishing about one lakh tiny sugar cum jaggery mills which can simultaneously produce sugar and jaggery without producing any molasses. This will yield 14% combined recovery. At present, alcohol and wine is produced from molasses. This very big evil can be avoided by producing sugar and jaggery with no molasses at all.
   5. Similarly, cement industry is considered as very heavy industry. Entire cement production in the country is through 80 to 100 giant cement plants. All these giant cement plant form their cartel and raise the cement prices exorbitantly and exploit the entire country. In fact, cement is not a mysterious product. It is simply a mixture of natural compounds accruing by burning limestone with clay in suitable proportion. No giant plant is necessary for this. Tiny and small cement plants from 10 to 50 TPD capacity can be established wherever limestone is available. Such small cement plant will definitely compete to the present giant cement plants of one million tonne per annum capacity. About 50000 to one lakh such tiny and small cement plants are absolutely necessary in the country. In Saurashtra area alone, there is a scope of establishing about 4000 small cement plants of 10 to 50 tonnes per day capacity. This way cement can be made considerably cheaper.
   6. Present annual production of 200 lakh tonnes of oilseeds are crushed for edible oil into 25000 expellers throughout India. This industry exploits 4000 crores of rupees from villagers every year. If two lakhs of tiny oil mills are manufactured and established in villages, entire exploitation and adultration from edible oil industry can be stopped and pure and fresh oil can be fed to the people.
   7. About two lakhs of tiny rice mills can be established as cottage industry which can easily compete to present big rice mills. Such a tiny rice mill may cost not more than Rs. 50000/-.
   8. There is a possibility of establishment of one lakh micro hydro projects by harnessing every stream of river. This will give cheaper electricity locally.
   9. There is a scope of about one lakh tiny soap making units in villages. About one lakh unemployed chemistry graduates can be self employed in this industry very easily. Giant soap units run by multinational companies are not necessary and they must be banned.
  10. About half million tiny solar power plants are required for half million villages.
  11. Millions of tiny solar power plants are required for running cottage industries and small scale industries and providing lighting and cooking amenities to rural and urban population of India.

In this way, many industries such as drug industry, chemical industry, machinery industry, automobile industry, electricity generation industry can be decentralized to great extent. Such decentralization will lead to real development of the country and common masses will be benefited. At present, entire industrial structure is in the hands of upper class 3% population only and they enjoy the benefits and they exploit the 97% people. This should end immediately. So industrial decentralization is absolutely essential.