Today is the 54th Republic Day and it is most appropriate to write a Review on the Khadi and Village Industries Commission. It is not a Ministry, but an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Industries. The Commission has its headquarters at Bombay, to be exact, in Vile Parle West. My brother-in-law, the late R. N. Mohanty, an IAS Officer of Orissa Cadre, was the Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission. The Commission brings out two journals - Khadi Gramodyog in English, and Jagriti in Hindi, brought out by its Publicity Department. The Commission has also a Training Department.
Khadi and Swaraj are synonomous. When the country was under the British Rule, Bal Gangadhar Tilak asked the countrymen to burn their imported attire and wear dresses made out of hand spun and hand woven cloth. Khadi was the name for this cloth. Mahatma Gandhi followed it up with vigour and determination. He himself gave up his Barrister’s attire and put on a white Khadi cloth which barely touched his knee and another white hand spun cloth to cover his body. He attended the Round Table Conference, wearing this dress. Winston Churchill, then Prime Minister of Britain, had called him the half-naked Fakir. Some people think that any cloth that is coarse is Khadi. No. Khadi’s hallmark is that it is hand spun and hand woven. For spinning the yarn you need a Takli. In those days a Takli was the symbol of Swaraj. Then came the wooden Charkha, which can fold itself nicely into a box. It has one spindle. It is still available. The quality of yarn you get by spinning in a box Charkha is a lot thinner that the yarn you get through a Takli. The thickness of the yarn is measured by an unit called Count. A 100-Count yarn is thinner than a 60-Count yarn. In between the Takli and the box Charkha was the Charkha with a Wheel. The Indian National Congress, before independence, had this Wheel Charkha in its Flag. Now there is the Magan Charkha having multiple spindles, developed in Magan Wadi, Wardha. Sewagram, near Wardha, now in Maharashtra, was the laboratory for experimenting many new ideas of Gandhi - Basic Education, Sanitation and Magan Charkha.
During the independence movement, the All India Spinners’ Association was organised at Sewagram. It was the nodal agency for coordinating all activities relating to Spinning.
My wife is a habitual Khadi wearer, but I am not, although some of my best and most expensive clothes are in Khadi. Twenty years ago, there was no polyester Khadi. Today it is there, but people like my wife do not recognise it as Khadi. She has seen Gandhi, but I have not.
In Britain you get Jackets and Overcoats under the Brand Name of Harrys Tweed. These are nothing but made of hand spun and hand woven wool. The same is the case with Scottish Tweed and Yorkshire Tweed. The time has come to stitch Jackets, Overcoats and close-neck Jackets and sell them in the Khadi & Gramodyog Bhavans all over India. We depend too much upon the Certificate issued by the Commission. Let the Khadi garments and cloth sell themselves by their own merit in normal shops.
In marketing the buyers are segmented, and goods are manufactured according to the preferences of the buyers. But the Bhavans cater to one segment, i.e., the traditional Khadi wearers whose number is decreasing very fast. Even the politicians and NGO activists have become quite choosy.
Therefore, it would be a good marketing policy to manufacture dresses, even trendy dresses and designer clothes, for those who can afford to buy them.
Khadi silk sarees are very nice - light and extremely beautiful. So also silk ties and scarves. Coton Khadi sarees manufactured in Gandhigram are available in all the Bhvans. In the Bhavans you get honey, pappad, pickles, sandalwood materials and the like.
J. C. Kumarappa, a Chartered Acountant by profession, became a profound scholar in Gandhian Economics, which has its abc in the economy of Khadi.
There are fake Khadi Stores in many towns and cities; and in the rural areas you do not get the outlets for Khadi. Let us not over protect Khadi, but allow it to make a niche for itself.
On the eve of the 54th Republic Day President Kalam has urged for Provision of Urban Facilities in Rural Areas (PURA). Let Khadi be an essential facility. Khadi can not be separated from the Indian economy, Indian culture and Indian mindset.