While dedicating the rs 12,000-crore expansion project at the SaIl’s rourkela Steel Plant to the nation on april 2015, Prime Minister narendra Modi had asked the Indian steel industry to boost its production to surpass china and ensure quality which attracts global attention. “We must go to the top,” Modi had said. now two years down the line, the Indian steel sector is all set for a boom with the initiatives being taken by the Steel Ministry to realise PM Modi’s dream of a self-reliant nation. In a conversation with Bureaucracy Today, Union Steel Minister chaudhary Birender Singh and Steel Secretary aruna Sharma share how the Ministry is leading the sector to a fast-paced growth and striving to give it a massive makeover.
Though the metal work of excep-tional quality has been part of India’s history as is evident from the ashoka Pillar which has not rusted till date despite being over a thousand years old, the present Indian steel industry is crippled by lack of research.
“Research and development in the Indian steel industry is dismal. Whatever little r&d is being done is scattered and isolated. on the one hand, there is overlapping and duplication of research efforts and on the other, no research is being done on future requirements of the industry. We are happy and contented with token r&d here and there. to address this issue, the Steel Ministry is trying to bring together all r&d efforts under one umbrella of the Steel research and technology Mission of India (SrtMI) with public-private partnership,” says Union Steel Minister chaudhary Birender Singh.
The Ministry, he says, has strictly told the private steel sector to invest in research. “What we need to do is to push ourselves and to come out of our comfort zones. only then we can become self-sufficient and strong,” Singh says.
MAKEOVER OF STEEL SECTOR
Cashing in on the Government’s push for r&d and makeover of the steel sector, the private steelmakers have come up with various out-of-the-box ideas which can be incorporated in day-today life. recently the tata Steel has exhibited its steel doors and cupboards with the elegance of wood to Ministry officials. also a private steelmaker is coming up with a steel-made smart door which can be operated by mobile phones.
“The Indian steel industry has always focused on manufacture, they never focused on marketing. We are trying to change this trend,” says Steel Secretary aruna Sharma.
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