Dr Rubia Bukhari, a sericulturist, writer and academic hailing from the border town of Poonch in J&K has taken up the mission to push the sericulture industry and enhance the same towards growth and development.
Rubia says that economic development and preventing migration of people to urban areas for employment, motivated her to pursue a career in the field of sericulture.
“As we are witnessing that rearing of silkworms is a rare sight these days in Jammu and Kashmir but to keep the legacy of this traditional and one of the oldest professions alive, I chose the field of sericulture”, she said.
Currently Rubia works as a lecturer, in the Department of Sericulture, Poonch Campus, University of Jammu, she was awarded with Young Scientist Award, Best Thesis Award, Women Researcher Award and Young Emerging Lecturer and Best Faculty Award.
Dr Rubia has also authored four books and is an inspiration to young brains, migrating from their roots and adopting urbanisation to live their dreams.
She said she completed Ph. D under the title: “Genetic Diversity Analysis of Indigenous Silkworm breeds using morphological and molecular markers” in 2019 from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu (SKUAST-Jammu).
Rubia has pursued Masters in Sericulture from University of Jammu.
Dr Rubia has specialization in Gene manipulation, Silkworm Biotechnology Gene Expression, Gene Characterization, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology techniques, Silkworm Breeding, Genotyping / DNA fingerprinting etc.
She has 37 original research publications to her credit published in national and international journals besides having a teaching experience of around four years.
She has also inspired and motivated young entrepreneurs with self-motivation and confidence to achieve their goals.
“During past few years some of the efficient processes have been involved for the growth of the silk industry with the help of technological advancements ,” she said.
Rubia’s family has been into sericulture for a long time. Her father and grandmother were also associated with it. She is also involved in rearing cocoons at her home.
“In Jammu and Kashmir, sericulture supports almost 60 percent of its rural population and it would not be wrong terming it as backbone in generating economy in the industrial sector,” Rubia said.
Adding that Silk has a great deal of evidence in ancient literature as it has originated in Kashmir thousands of years ago.
For her, sericulture is a significant instrument for home business development, job creation, income production and rural community empowerment.
“Many countries’ domestic industries rely heavily on Sericulture. India and China are the world’s biggest silk manufacturers. These two countries combined silk output accounts for more than 60 percent of global production,” she said.
Dr Rubia said the govt. has included sericulture as agriculture allied activity under RKVY that enables the sericulturists to avail the benefits of the scheme for the entire sericulture activities up to reeling.
She said sericulture has undergone a major transformation due to emerging technologies in the field of biotechnology leading to the emergence of newer technologies that have the potential to impact the various aspects of silkworm.
Dr Rubia opines that in order to achieve any endeavour, one needs self-motivation and confidence and keep honing talents with the most recent Sericulture technologies to assist everyone flourish in the industry.
“In my point of view, one profession with several opportunities in the public and private sectors is Sericulture. Some persons have a unique combination of both abilities and attributes, which enhances their presentation and increases audience engagement,” she said.
The sericulturist said the Government of India is promoting the sericulture sector in the country by implementing many schemes through the Central Silk Board (CSB).
“The CSB has been implementing a rationalized restructured Central Sector Scheme “Integrated Scheme for Development of Silk Industry” for the development of sericulture in the country, which is an umbrella scheme consisting of the four components for the development of sericulture and silk industry. The emphasis is on increasing domestic silk output, quality and productivity, reducing the country’s reliance on imported silk,” she said.
Dr Rubia said sericulture has undergone a significant transition as a result of increasing biotechnology technologies, which have resulted in the introduction of novel technologies with the ability to impact the many areas of silkworm.
“Technological innovation has resulted in the accomplishment of improving silk quality by controlling environmental parameters along with successful accumulation of cocoons. To increase land yield and labour, productivity mechanization is important,” she said.
“I think awareness among the common people, especially farmers who are the backbone of sericulture is very important. Through education I would like to be aware of those people who are interested in opting for sericulture as their career. I can make them aware of the latest techniques being adopted in the field of sericulture,” she said.
Dr Rubia said every year, 60–70 lakh individuals in rural India are employed by farm and non-farm businesses. She said that the possibility of transferring wealth from wealthy and urban buyers to farmers and artisan groups exists in sericulture.
“Sericulture is an important sector in rural transformation which effortlessly addresses the issues of rural employment generation and inclusive development. Women perform 60% of the labour in sericulture and it is essential to the empowerment of rural women,” she said.
Sericulture is the mainstay and means of subsistence for small, marginal farmers, weaker segments of society, and traditional sources of livelihood in numerous parts of the J&K.
Dr Rubia said that skill-based industry could provide opportunities to become self-dependent and self-employed.
“Women empowerment is necessary nowadays, women can take their interest in this field and pursue it as occupations and generate their own source of income. The Sericulture industry is already providing health insurance to women.”
“I belong to a rural background and my experience suggests that sericulture as an ideal industry is suitable for enriching the economic status of rural farming communities and eradicating the problem of unemployment to the educated youth,” she said.
