A perfect blend of celebration, fun and motivation which converted into a meaningful evening, the 2nd annual export awards for Outstanding Export Performance in the fiscal year 2013-14, organized by NAEC (Noida Apparel Export Cluster), saw felicitation not only to the apparel exporters of Noida, but even of their life and business partners too. Receiving the awards from the Minister of State for Textiles (I/C), Santosh Kumar Gangwar was a proud moment for all of them which also motivated them as well as others for better and bigger goals. “I thank all award winners as their efforts are making us proud and I wish that now the award should go above Rs. 50 crore and that more and more exporters should grow,” said the Minister.
A positive indication of an apparel park in Noida was another reason for rejoicing as the gathering was informed that a meeting of the cluster was being organized with the Chairman and CEO of Noida Authority to get space for the apparel park.
Awards were given in various categories covering a large crosssection of Noida-based exporters. Lalit Thukral, President of NAEC, thanked all the supporters and award winners and reiterated that apparel exports from the Noida region will definitely increase as all the exporters are working hard to increase business.
“As the Minister is here and I am very well aware how dedicated he is for the industry, I would like to draw his attention to the fact that though our industry is not that old, it has seen a lot of changes on various fronts, but a thing which still has not changed is that our parent organization, the AEPC, is still where it was initially. It remains in the hands of the same group of people who governed it 3 to 4 decades ago and this is mostly because the election system of the AEPC is not democrat in nature. I must congratulate and thank the Minister for introducing EVS (Electronic Voting System), which is a big step in democratizing the working of the AEPC.
Supporting AO signature campaign, Anil Peshawari, VP of NAEC, demanded voting rights for every exporter registered with the aepc on the dais. excerpts from his speech…
“I know that exporters at large have nothing to do with AEPC; they don’t even think about it and our trade is running and flourishing not due to the AEPC, but ‘despite’ the AEPC… Why is it so that the same people, and at least a majority of them, are still continuing and that very few exporters attend the AGMs? Is it not that because the AEPC has not connected with the exporters…? Out of about 4,000 exporters, only 700 are entitled to vote. My request is only this that all people who are exporting, should be taken into the ambit of the voting process. Why are we differentiating in a democracy, where some people can vote and some can’t, and that too without any big reason? I am also sure that majority of exporters don’t even know that by paying a little extra money to the AEPC, one can have voting rights, as member exporter!”
