dewaxed and preswollen jute fiber was subjected to mild bleaching or oxidation using aqueous bleaching agents (h//2o//2, bleaching powder and naio//4) and nonaqueous chlorine (cl//2 in ccl//4) to bring about low changes in the functional groups ( $minus$ cho and $minus$ cooh groups) of the jute fiber to make it amenable to further chemical modifications. the chemical modifications were done using phenol, formaldehyde, ethylene diamine and hydrazine hydrate as the modifying agents separately or in sequence. oxy-jute from either of the bleaching/oxidizing processes as well as the raw and dewaxed preswollen jute fibers showed poor resistance to microbiological attack, but the same was improved to a high level (70-75 retention of tensile strength after the fiber was subjected to a standard test procedure for microbiological degradation) on modifying the oxy-jute fibers chemically through reaction with phenol and formaldehyde under a sequence of treatment at ph 8 under a reflux condition (95 $degree$ c) for 1.5-3 h. (edited author abstract) 10 refs