Chennai, May 14 -- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, to remove the import duty on cotton.

In the letter, the Chief Minister expressed concern over the crisis in the textile sector, the state's largest employer of rural women. Vijay attributed the "severe crisis" to the hike in cotton & yarn prices driven by production shortages & increased trading activity.

"Tamil Nadu is India's largest textile and apparel exporting state. Lakhs of people are dependent on this sector for both direct and indirect employment. especially women primarily from rural and semi-urban backgrounds. Of late, the industry is facing a severe crisis due to an increase in cotton prices and, consequently, yarn ...