New Delhi, Jul 6 (KNN) There is a need to set up a university for studies on rubber cultivation and product development research in the country, an MP from Kottayam, Jose K Mani has said while raising the issue in Lok Sabha.

“Taking a Cue from the Centre’s new initiatives in setting up sector specific universities serving petroleum, railways, sports , maritime affairs and the like, harnessing youth power, etc. I propose that a University providing studies on rubber be set up to educate and train new entrants keen to serve in the field of rubber cultivation and product development/research,” Mani said yesterday.

“Natural rubber has been a commodity of both economic and commercial importance, providing sustenance to more than a million of small and marginal farmers,” he added.

India by sheer dint of research and innovation under the aegis of Rubber Board, holds technological edge in meeting the needs of the industry in core sectors like automobile, aeronautical and also consumer durables and eco—friendly toys, surgical gloves, prophylactics etc.

Rubber plants are known to be eco-compliant, aiding absorption of CO emissions and are therefore ideal for cultivation and propagation in India, which has its WTO protocol obligations to meet on emissions causing global warming, he pointed.

The Kerala Congress (M) leader Mani has written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stressing the need for setting up the university in his Lok Sabha constituency of Kottayam, which holds a dominant position in rubber cultivation in the country. (KNN/SD)