'DISHA will help apparel sector SMEs compete globally'

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Saurabh Gupta | 26 Apr, 2012
DISHA, a national program targeted at improving the social and environmental sustainability of apparel manufacturing units, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the sector, will help them to compete globally, Chairman Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), Dr. A Sakthivel said in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Addressing the meeting Sakthivel said, "DISHA is an advisory body to help small scale exporters as they need a lot of guidance and help to grow. I am happy that so many people and bodies have responded positively to it. It will help in building a quality consensus and everyone will benefit from it."

"The programme includes issues pertaining child labor, freedom of association, proper wages and much more. We want to involve all certification agencies so that, DISHA as a certifying agency is recognized by all," he added.

Sponsored by Ministry of Textiles, this initiative by AEPC attempts to educate apparel exporting members on a code of ethics that covers all critical social and environmental concerns like child labour, health and industrial safety, etc.

As a part of DISHA - Driving Industry Towards Sustainable Human Capital Advancement, AEPC has created a Common Compliance Code that will be uniformly applied to all apparel manufacturing units.

AEPC started the formation of Stakeholder Forum in New Delhi on Wednesday, with an aim to integrate perspectives, voices and concerns as well as seek assistance and contributions of various stakeholders of the apparel industry towards developing strategies to improve India’s image as an ethical sourcing destination.

The Stakeholders Forum will address the challenges of apparel exporters and provide time-honored, focused and need based solution/ assistance. Today consultations included participants from International Organizations, NGOs, Trade Unions, Third party accreditation agencies, multi stakeholder institutions, Brands, Retailers and Buying Houses. All of them gave relevant inputs during discussion.

Addressing to the stakeholders V Srinivas, JS in the Ministry of Textiles said, "I am deeply touched & moved by this initiative. We are a trade promotion ministry and our mandate is trade promotion. AEPC is the leading export promotion council and we get lot of export revenue from their efforts. To address the concern of exports I asked AEPC to work on social compliance norms and they are doing very good work. Government will provide support to the council."

Answering to the demand on issues of child labour, Srinivas said, "6.5 million Inspections have been done in the past. We are in touch with the laobur Ministry and conviction rates are coming down."

Representatives from ICRIER, STR, Ethical Trading Initiative, TUV Rhineland, WRAP, FLO-CERT, SGS, GIZ, ILO participated in the consultations.

AEPC - an apex body of Indian apparel exporters last year launched DISHA, to encourage members to follow better social practices, which will give them a competitive edge in the global market where social compliance is increasingly becoming an important buying decision.

It is to be noted that, till date (16th April 2012) 134 units have enrolled for DISHA certification, the letter of intent received from 68 units.