India's paramilitary forces to use khadi in uniforms
Union Home Minister Amit Shah instructed Director Generals (DGs) of all paramilitary forces to use khadi in their uniforms and products from village industries in their canteens.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently instructed Director Generals (DGs) of all paramilitary forces to use khadi in their uniforms and products from village industries, such as pickles, papad, honey, soaps, detergents, shampoos, phenol, tea, mustard oil etc., in their canteens, according to a government statement.
It added that the move came after several meetings between the authorities of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and paramilitary forces. Government sources said the meetings had been going on for two weeks, and reached the stage of finalisation after several samples were shared by KVIC for approval.
Vinai Kumar Saxena, Chairman, KVIC, said samples of cotton and woolen uniforms, blankets, and camouflage uniform, etc provided by paramilitary forces have been developed by KVIC and have been submitted to a few forces for final approval.
He added it is noteworthy that the sample developed for camouflage fabric was not only liked by one of the paramilitary forces but also was found quite superior to existing material used by the forces.
Enthused with Amit Shah's instruction, Saxena said:
"This move will not only double the Khadi and Village Industries turnover, which is nearly Rs 75,000 crores currently, but also create millions of additional man hours for the Khadi artisans who will weave millions of metres of khadi fabric for our paramilitary forces.”
In June 2019, KVIC reported that the share of khadi fabric in the total textile mill production doubled to 8.49 percent in the past five years. While the mill fabric production was 2,486 million square metres in the 2014-15 fiscal, the production of Khadi was 105.38 million sqm, showing a share of 4.23 percent of the overall textiles production, it said.
Besides Amit Shah, Union MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari has also been supportive of khadi. He has said everything will be done to promote khadi without compromising on the core ethos of the movement, and it may include better charkhas as well. Gadkari also said he wants the KVIC's turnover to grow much larger.
(Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of India)
(Edited by Evelyn Ratnakumar)
