The Economics of Rubber Based Industry in Kerala

The importance of industrialisation in achiering rapid economic growth has been recognised in India's development strategy ever since the inception of economic planning in the country. Being the secondary sector in the generation of national income. industry contributes significantly to the process of economic development. Extensive debates have taken place on the nature of the industrialisation strategy to be pursued in the economy since Independence. This is reflected in the industrial policy which evolved through the various five year plans and policy resolutions. Stupendous efforts have been made by the government since the commencement of planning and particularly since the 1960s to industrialise the Indian economy and develop the infrastructural base for sustained industrial development. It is difficult to assess the performance of the industrial sector over the past three decades with respect to the broad objectives of industrialisation. However. there are certain areas in which the achievements have been clearly significant.

Marine Bacteria As Source Of Pigment For Application As Dye In Textile Industry

The textile industry is one amongst the rapidly growing industries world wide, which utilizes enormous amounts of synthetic dyes. Consequently, the effluent from these textile industries poses serious threat to the environment which is often very difficult to treat and dispose. This has become a very grave problem in environment conservation and hence natural pigments have drawn the attention of industry as safe alternative. In this context, in the present study an attempt was made to bioprospect marine bacteria towards isolation of a suitable and ideal pigment that could be used as a natural dye. A marine Serratia sp. BTWJ8 was recognized to synthesize enormous amounts of a prodigiosin-like pigment. The pigment was isolated and characterized for various properties. The pigment was evaluated for application as a dye in the textile industry. Results of the studies indicated that this pigment could be used as a natural dye for imparting red-yellow colour to various grades of textile materials. The colour was observed to be stable after wash performance studies