Cloth of India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon promote Khadi as the ‘Cloth of India’ in the overseas market. It will form a unique Indian product after yoga, as it is the second most recollection by non-Indians towards India.

PM’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)

The Prime Minister’s plan of generating employment from the above mentioned programme aims at generating jobs in rural and urban areas. This would be achieved by establishing micro enterprises and self-employment ventures. This plan will help in bringing back the tradition of Khadi which has been declining due to the change in the urban attitude and preferences.

Analysis

The Khadi industry provides employment to nearly 7.5 million people in India. Employment to weavers and spinners is confined to the rural areas of majorly two states, namely Assam and Andhra Pradesh. Though Khadi is a little pricy, its hand process has a unique quality which no machine cloth can provide. The preference of people is gradually inclining towards mixes of cotton and synthetic, which come cheaper and faster than Khadi. This has given a major blow to the millions of handlooms in India. Industrialization is undermining India’s traditional fabric making as mill made cloth is being adopted by the mass. Cases of starvation deaths have been reported among the families engaged in khadi making due to the decline of this industry.

Solar run spinning wheels have been planned to be introduced by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to provide employment to five crore people in the next five years.

Assessment

This move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will help to revive back the lost Khadi Industry. It will help to establish Khadi as a global product entity. The government can tie up with international textile brands to promote the product in the initial stages. These international brands can help provide sales and marketing easily as they have a well-established customer base.

Khadi textiles may attract an international audience as very few countries can still make this unique kind of cloth. This skill is confined to the rural families in India, where it is passed on from generation to generation.

By using solar energy to power spinning wheels, the usage of electricity will be reduced drastically which will bring down the cost per unit, which in turn would help to bring about a change in the preferences of the next generation.

Thus, the overall idea of making Khadi the cloth of India will establish a source of livelihood for the rural community, boost exports and will prevent migration to the cities in search of jobs.  It will create employment generation in the field of logistics, manufacturing industries and raw material providers.