The Week India – June 30, 2019

88 THE WEEK • JUNE 30, 2019

BY SNEHA BHURA

K

hadi saves water, has zero carbon footprint, creates

expansive employment at the village level and is

swadeshi—a perfect Gandhian product. V.K. Saxena,

chairman of Khadi and Village Industries Commission

(KVIC), talks about how his organisation is giving a diff erent

dimension to Gandhi’s vision. Edited excerpts:

What is the share of khadi today in textile industry in

India?

In 2014-2015, khadi’s share was only 4.23 per cent of the

overall textile production. However, in 2018-2019, it was

8.49 per cent.

Th is steep rise is due to the repeated appeals of Prime

Minister Narendra Modi to adopt khadi. We started regis-

tration of new khadi institutions as well as revival of defunct

khadi institutions, for widening the scope for employment.

Consequently, the number of artisans rose to 4,94,684.

How many jobs did KVIC create in the last fi ve years?

Amid much debate about job crisis in the nation, KVIC has

created 21,70,702 new jobs through its various schemes.

Th is includes 20,63,304 under Prime Minister Employment

Generation Programme (PMEGP), 62,737 in khadi sector,

34,310 under Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana

(KSY) and 10,315 under Honey Mission.

KVIC as the nodal agency of PMEGP had taken

various steps of digitisation. On July 1, 2016, KVIC

launched its own online portal which has brought

transparency and expedited disbursement of

margin money subsidy under PMEGP.

Th ere is an increased interest in khadi today.

To make khadi a fashionable fabric, KVIC has

taken initiatives involving corporate brands and

PSUs. KVIC has also signed an MoU with the

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)

for better design development and training at

diff erent khadi institutions. KVIC has initiatives

to ensure retail presence to khadi in major malls

and retail stores. Designer intervention, which

involves reputable designers like Ritu Beri, is also

planned to introduce trendy designs in khadi.

KVIC has initiatives for remote areas in the

country.

Following the clarion call of “sweet revolution”

given by prime minister, KVIC launched the

Honey Mission in August 2017. It identifi ed the

farmers and unemployed youth, and distribut-

ed beeboxes with live beecolonies. During this

process, it broke the world record in distributing

maximum number of beeboxes in a single day.

Under KSY, we have distributed 9,198 electric

potter wheels to the marginalised potters. We

even reached the remotest areas of Leh-Ladakh

to create employment opportunities. We held

training programmes and distributed 100 mod-

ern charkhas, 20 modern looms and 100 electric

potter wheels, besides blungers and pug-mills in

three villages of Leh.

We also distributed new model charkhas and

looms in the remotest areas of Himachal Pradesh,

Gujarat, West Bengal, Assam, Jammu and Kash-

mir and other states. KVIC distributed charkhas

and launched spinning and bee-keeping pro-

grammes for tiger-attack survivors of Bali island

in Sunderbans, West Bengal.

What would you consider the golden years of

KVIC since its inception in 1956?

Undoubtedly, it is the ongoing period after 2015,

when khadi was promoted by none other than

its biggest brand ambassador, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi.

■ INTERVIEW

V.K. Saxena

KVIC chairman

KVIC HAS

CREATED 21

LAKH NEW

JOBS IN LAST

FIVE YEARS