CM Vijay opens ₹19.20-crore integrated government silk cocoon market complex at Sokkathur, Dharmapuri

4 November 2026 · English Tamil Nadu

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Topics: Tamil Nadu · 4 November 2026 Current Affairs (UPSC / TNPSC / SSC / RRB)

News

On 4 Nov 2026, CM C. Joseph Vijay, by video link from the Secretariat in Chennai, opened the 'Integrated Government Silk Cocoon Market Complex' built at Sokkathur, Dharmapuri district, for ₹19.20 crore on about 80,000 sq ft. It has a dedicated cocoon sales hall, separate waiting halls for men and women farmers and reelers, a canteen, parking, drinking water and a sericulture-inputs sales centre; 9 old buildings were renovated and a 1,110 m compound wall built. Cocoons will be sold through transparent e-auctions. MSME Minister P. Madhanraja and Chief Secretary M. Saikumar were among those present.

Key facts

Background

• Sericulture is rearing silkworms to produce silk. Life cycle: egg → larva → pupa (inside the cocoon) → moth. Cocoons are heated and reeled before the moth emerges. The silk filament is made of the protein fibroin, coated with the gummy protein sericin.
• Silk varieties in India (MoSPI): Mulberry – Karnataka, West Bengal, J&K, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh; Tasar – Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh etc.; Eri – Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya etc.; Muga – Assam only. India is the world's second-largest silk producer (after China).
• Central Silk Board (CSB): a statutory body set up by an Act of Parliament in 1948, under the Union Ministry of Textiles; headquarters Bengaluru. The mulberry silkworm is Bombyx mori, which feeds only on mulberry leaves.

Tamil Nadu link: Tamil Nadu's Department of Sericulture is headquartered at Salem and has functioned as a separate department since 1979. In 1956 sericulture was confined to pockets of Coimbatore and Dharmapuri districts and later spread to the plains (TNAU). Tamil Nadu is in the forefront in India in bivoltine silk (TNAU). Kancheepuram and Arani silk sarees hold GI tags. The government aims to make Tamil Nadu India's top silk-producing State.

Source: Daily Thanthi, Dinakaran, Dinamalar (4 Nov 2026); MoSPI Statistical Year Book – Sericulture chapter; TNAU Agritech – Sericulture in Tamil Nadu

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