MAHATMA GANDHI’S KHADI(Mahatma Gandhi chi Khadi)

Dr.R.B.ChavanFormer Professor, I I T Delhi

ConsultantMahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural

industrializationWardha

LECTURE OUT LINE

Definition of khadi

History of wool, Cotton and Silk

Textile industry of India

Cotton cloth Manufacturing processes

History of khadi and past glory

Gandhi’s khadi

Khadi before independence

Khadi after independence

Present state of khadi

Khadi as employment generation activity

Short film on khadi

DEFINITION OF KHADI

Stages of cloth manufacture

Raw fibre e.g. cotton

Yarn (spinning)

Cloth (Weaving)

Spinning

Conversion of raw fibre to yarn

Weaving

Conversion of yarn into fabric

Weaving

Interlacement of yarn in length and width direction

Length direction: Warp (Tana)

Width direction: Weft (Bana)

Spinning

Hand spinning

Spinning by hand operated machine (Charkha)

Spinning by electrically operated machine (Spinning machine)

Weaving

Machine known as Loom

Hand operated loom (Hand Loom)

Electrically operated loom (Power loom)

Types of Fabrics

Khadi fabric

Handloom fabric

Mill made fabric

Khadi Fabric

Yarn: hand spinning or charkha spinning

Fabric; hand weaving using handloom

Handloom Fabric

Spinning: Electrically operated spinning machine

Weaving: hand weaving on handloom

Mill made fabric

Spinning: Electrically operated spinning machine

Weaving: Electrically operated loom

Classification fibres

Natural

Plant origin: Cotton, Jute

Animal origin: Wool, Silk

Regenerated

Raw material is natural e.g. wood

Conversion of wood to fibre

Viscose rayon (Artificial silk)

Synthetic

Raw material is petroleum based

Polyester, Nylon, Acrylic

History of fibres

History of fibres is as old as human civilization

Fibre Year Source

Wool 8000 B C Sheep

Cotton 8000 B C Plant

silk 6000-7000 B C Silk worm

Rayon 1890 Wood pulp

Nylon 1939 Petroleum base

Polyester 1941 Petroleum base

Acrylic 1950 Petroleum base

Decentralized Sector

TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN INDIA

NATURAL FIBRES / FABRICS

MAN-MADE FIBRES / FABRICS

Organized Sector(Mills)

Spinning Composites Handloom Powerloom Khadi

WOOL

JUTE

SILK

COTTON

RAYONCellulose / viscose

BLENDED(Synthetic + Natural)

SYNTHETIC(Nylon, PET, PAN)

KHADI 0.4%

India is one of the largest producer of natural and manmade fibres

WORLD FIBRE CONSUMPTION

CONSUMPTION (1000 TONNE)

YEAR COTTON REGENERATED WOOL SYNTHETIC

TOTAL

1990 18700(1.8 CRORE

2700

(0.27Crore )

2000

(0.2Crore )

14900

(1.49 Crore)

39300

(3.9 crore)

1995 20700(2.05 Crore)

2500

(0.25Crore )

2000

(0.2Crore

17300

(1.7 crore)

42600

4.26 crore

2000 234002.3 Crore)

2400 (0.24Crore )

2200

(0.22Crore )

20500

(2.05 Crore)

48500

4.85 crore

Total Employment in textile sector

3.5 Crore people in yarn and cloth production

9.3 Crore Total including Ginning, marketing,

Garment and other allied jobs

10% of population employed in textile related activities

Second largest employment after agriculture sector.

OUT OF TOTAL TEXTILE PRODUCTION

COTTON 70%

MAN MADE AND SYNTHETIC 20%

WOOL, SILK, JUTE ETC 10%

TOTAL CLOTH PRODUCTION (2004-2005) 473300 LAKH METER

Invention of power operated textile machines

Ginning and spinning weaving machines1700-1750

Earliest records of cloth production 2500 – 3000 B C

Before the invention of power operatd machines all yarn and cloth production was manual

Which was present day khadi fabric

Glory of Ancient khadi

Vedic Period (5000 BC)Hand-spinning and hand-weaving seem to have been well developed in India even in the prehistoric age. In Vedas which are regarded the oldest books in the world, there is quite detailed description of processes of producing numerous varieties of cloth and their uses. There is description of fabrics from natural fibres, in Manusmriti too, In Ramayana and Mahabharata there is repeated mention of the cotton fabrics with fanciful colours and artistic and intricate weaving patterns decorated with gold thread .

These accounts firmly establish the existence of the advanced stage weaving in India several thousand years ago.

Ancient period 2500 BC

Mohenjodaro Indus valley civilization 2500 BC

Discovery of spindles (Takli)

Clay figures clothed in fabrics

Evidence of existence of the art of spinning and weaving

Mouryan Empire (just preceding Christian Era

Indian cotton and silk fabrics most popular in western world

These fabrics were popularly known as Sindon (Sindhu) and Gangetika (Ganga) fabrics

Alenxander (Sikandar) after the attack on Indian soil looted many fine varieties of cotton and silk fabrics.

There was great demand for Indian muslin among the ladies of Roman kingdom.

It was estimated that Roman money to the tune of 10 crores of Italian coins was flowing out of Roman empire for the import of cotton fabrics from India.

Dacca (Now in Bangladesh) Muslin was most famous.

Through out the country there were large number of textile centres with their distinctive features. Some of the famous fabrics were

Printed, Chintz Muslin, Kalam kari, Bandhani etc.

Christian Era

Indian fabrics attained further refinement as depicted in dresses of Ajanta wall paintings.

Chinese traveler Huen Tsang who visited india in 7th century wrote that Indian fabrics were sold in exchange of gold and silver like precious stones

European traveler Moaco Polo visited India in 13th century wrote that the Indian fabrics were so fine and delicate that they looked like spider web.

Moghal Period

Indian textiles reached the peak of their glory in Moghal period

The story of Emperor Aurangjeb admonishing his daughter for her immodesty, as her body was visible despite her wearing seven fold muslin from Dacca, is quite famous.

Effects of British Rule and Industrial Revolution

Because of popularity of Indian textiles, the use of cotton fabrics was banned in England in 1700, but without much success

Another legislation passed in 1720 for the same purpose, met with the same fate.

The invention of steam engine, spinning machine and powerlomm brought in a revolution in cotton textile industry

These developments coupled with the rise of British power in india changed the entire scenario of cotton hand spinning and hand weaving in India.

In 1791 first cotton textile mill of England was established followed by dozens of similar mills.

The raw material of cotton for these mills was imported from India.

The storey of transformation of India from biggest producer and exporter of finest qualities of textiles (hand spun, hand woven) to the producer and supplier of cotton as raw material to the British textile mills is sad.

The emergence of Britishers as rulers of India played a crucial role in such transformation rather than Industrial revolution.

As a result of this millions of men and women spinners and weavers were rendered unemployed, deprived of the only means to earn their livelyhood and left to die of starvation

Swadeshi Movement

The unchecked deterioration of Indian economy and fast spreading misery amongst Indian masses, specially the artisans, attracted the attention of patriotic Indian leaders such as Mahadeo Govind Ranade, Bal Gangdhar Tilak and many others.

In 1876 Dadabhai Naoroji published his famous book The Poverty of India exposing the deprivations of Indian people by British rulers. All the Indian leaders were of the opinion that India's acute poverty was the dire result of the destruction of cottage industries by British regime as a result all the artisans are on the verge dying due to starvation

In 1891 The indian National Congress urged the people to use only Indian goods and gave a call for Swadeshi (Use of things made in India)

In 1905 the Swadeshi movement reached the climax by burning the English goods, especially English cloth

After the arrival of mahatma Gandhi in india in 1915, the Swadeshi movement got tremendous momentum

Gandhian Khadi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, better known as Mahatma Gandhi, is not only the Father of Nation, but also the father of modern 'Khadi'. He realized the importance of 'charkha' (spinning wheel) in London in 1908 during discussions with fellow Indians regarding the conditions in India, when he finally came to India in 1915, Boycott of foreign goods, specially English cloth and Swadeshi movement was going on and he claimed that his khadi programme gave a concrete and positive meaning to Swadeshi.

"In my opinion, it is khadi alone that has made such boycott a practical proposition" he said.

In 1919 he formally launched the khadi programme in the country,

The first khadi production centre was established in Kathiawad, Gujarat. In 1921,

In 1925, an independent autonomous body called All India Spinners Association (AISA) or Akhil Bhartiya Charkha Sangh was formed for implementing khadi programme vigorously through out India.

In proposing the khadi programme he said “every revolution of wheel spins peace, goodwill and love.

Economic Basis:Initially, Gandhiji took up the khadi programme for economic and political reasons. During his tour to acquaint himself with the realities of Indian conditions, he was deeply distressed by the increasing starvation of the villages and widespread underemployment, specially unemployment of those engaged in agriculture. He came to the conclusion that the charkha was the only solution to overcome their miserable situation.

He further emphasised, "I have never suggested that those, who are more lucratively employed, should give up their lucrative employment and prefer spinning. I have said repeatedly that only those are expected and should be induced to spin, who have no other paying employment, and that too only during the hours of unemployment"

It is an indisputed fact that no nation having crores of its people unemployed or under-employed, can hope to advance economically in an appreciable manner,

because the contribution by the unemployed persons towards generating the national wealth will be negligible or nothing, while they will continue to consume and put undue strain on the resources of the society.

Charkha aims at putting this vast human resource to productive use which is otherwise going waste.

Charkha as a machine and human hands as Mechanical Energy

We do not usually think of the charkha as a machine, but it really is so. It uses the available mechanical energy of a man, woman or child for producing material goods. The handloom does likewise. This mechanical energy is derived from the food eaten by the person

There are today great numbers of unemployed Indians.

They are, in effect, engines kept running by fuel (food), but not attached to any machines or devices for producing goods.

Gandhiji suggested to use this human energy for the operation of Charkha and thus save a vast existing waste of human energy.

If we want to increase the use of mechanical power in India, this is the quickest and cheapest way".

Dr. Harold H. Mann, Director of Agriculture of Bombay Presidency in an interview to the Times of India, published on 22.10.1927 observed: "Much could be done by the people themselves to fill their empty stomachs. They must put themselves to work, for no country could ever hope to be prosperous, if the majority of its population were idle for six months of the year. The people must be given some work, no matter how small the income derived there from, during the dry season. He said Mr. Gandhi had penetrated into the secret of the poverty of India, when he advocated the spinning wheel, no matter if it did produce only a few annas a day."

Gandhiji often said that India did not require mass-production, but production by masses.

Gandhiji intensely appealed to one and all to wear khadi, with the intent of satisfying one of the basic needs of mankind.

He went on to give vent to his emotions: "Every time that we take our khadi garment early in the morning to wear for going out, we should remember that we are doing so in the name of 'Draridranarayan' (downtrodden), and for the sake of starving millions of India".

Another important economic aspect of khadi upon which Gandhiji insisted, was self-sufficiency of individuals, specially the producers, as well as the villages.

Obviously, non-use of khadi by lakhs of producers, was bound to affect their own interest adversely and leave them on the mercy of urban khadi consumers. Gandhiji said: "We must penetrate the spinner's home and induce her to wear khadi made from her own yarn

Khadi was conceived with a much more ambitiousobject, i.e. to make our village starvation-proof. This is impossible, unless the villagers will wear khadi themselves, sending only the surplus to the cities. The singular secret of khadi lies in its saleability in the place of production and use by the manufacturers themselves"

Philosophical background

An American writer says that the future lies with nations that believe in manual labour. Nations are tired of the worship of lifeless machines.

We are destroying the matchless living machines, viz. our own bodies by leaving them to rust and trying to substitute lifeless machinery for them.

The spinning wheel is the auspicious symbol of 'Sharir Yajna' - body labour.

Reasons for survival of Khadi

It is amazing that despite the onslaughts of powerised, mechanised and organized textile mills, hand-spinning and hand-weaving of cotton fabrics survived and continued to play a significant role in all walks of India's life, though in quite subdued form.

the reasons for khadi survival are

1. Apparently hand-spun and hand-woven cotton fabric industry was fulfilling one of our basic needs, i.e. clothing. In the process it provided the only means of livelihood to millions of artisans, specially spinners and weavers throughout the length and breadth of the country,

2. Habits, and traditions of the people developed over the ages also kept alive the demand for some of their products, such as fine Bengali or Chanderi saris, muslin of very high counts.

3. Moreover, despite heavy mechanisation, the mills either could not produce quite a few varieties of the fabrics preferred by the Indian consumers, or found it uneconomical to produce them.

Hence, quite a few varieties of hand-spun and hand-woven cotton fabrics continued to be in demand, though in a reduced volume.

Khadi in Independent India

Formation of All India Khadi & Village Industries Board and Khadi and ViIIage Industries Commission:In August 1948 the Government of India (Go I) came out with its Industrial Policy for the first time in free India, which did make a reference to the role of cottage and village industries including khadi in providing subsidiary occupation to the rural people. The Industrial Policy of 1956, contained a more positive and significant commitment of the state to support this In the meanwhile, the Congress Agrarian Reforms Committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Dr. J. C. Kumarappa, which suggested guidelines for the development of Khadi and Village Industries (KVI) sector as well. Discussions were also held between the leaders of AISA and AIVIA on one hand, and the Central government representatives on the other, to decide the measures for promotion and speedy development of KVI sector and future organisational set-up to achieve the same. As a result of these efforts, the central government constituted under Industry Ministry, the All India Khadi and Village Industries Board (AIKVIB) in January 1953.

Later, to remove procedural handicaps and financial difficulties experienced by the Board,

it was replaced by an autonomous statutory body called

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVlC), constituted under an Act of Parliament with effect from April 1, 1957.

KVIC was charged with the responsibility to plan, organise and implement the programme of promoting and developing khadi and village industries.

PROSPECTS

SALIENT FEATURES OF INDIAN ECONOMY

Growing Population, Urbanisation and Poverty:

Population

In the year 2000 India's population is estimated to cross the figure of 100 crores, About 1.70 crore persons are added to our population every year,

which is almost equal to the entire population of Australia.

According to 1991 census, 25.7% of Indians were living in urban areas,

while in 1971 the percentage of urban population was only 19.9.

With ever increasing urbanisation, and large-scale migration from villages to the cities, the quality of social amenities and infrastructural facilities in the urban centres is constantly deteriorating and their present status in most of the cities and towns is much below the acceptable human requirements.

What is more alarming is the fact that the rate of shifting of population from rural areas to urban areas is expected to go up further and by the year 2011,

just within next 4-5 years, the urban share of population is expected to reach 36.6% of the total population of about 116.4 crores.

The unnerving question is whether our urban cities, existing as well as new ones, would be in a position to bear the load of almost double the population -

Literacy Despite all our literacy campaigns, only 52.1 % of our population was classified as literate by 1991 census, which also included millions of such persons, who could only write their names and nothing more.

PovertySecondly, according to the committee headed by late Dr. D. T. Lakdawala, came to the conclusion that 38% of our population i.e. 38 crores were below poverty line earning not enough to maintain a 'minimum standard of living' (MSOL), which includes the minimum intake of nutrition to maintain the minimum physical efficiency of human beings.

Unemployment and Underemployment:Closely related to the question of population and poverty is the chronic problem of unemployment and underemployment.

It may be recalled that when planning was started in our country, achieving 'full employment' was one of the long term basic objectives, which was to be achieved within 25 years at the most. But it remains a distant dream even after about 60 years of planning in India.

unemployment has been one of the most important and urgent,problems faced by the country.

The backlog of unemployment has been constantly increasing plan after plan, as the addition to work-force due to rapidly increasing population has invariably outstripped the creation of new jobs in the process of achieving growth.

Backlog of Unemployment:

Projection of Unemployment for 1990-2000 :

Figures in Crore personsBacklog of unemployed in beginning of 1990 2.80 Crore New entrants to labour force 1990-95 3.70 Crore Total unemployed for the 8th Plan 6.50 Crore New entrants to labour force 1995-2000 4.10 Crore Total unemployed for the 9th Plan 10.60 Crore

Finding employment for 10.60 Crore persons is the biggest challenge before the nation.

The central governments of different parties provided attention only to the growth of organized sector where the employment opportunities are Minimal

Not much attention is paid for the growth of unorganized tiny sector which has great potentials for employment generation and to satisfy the call of “Berozgari Hatao”

Widest Network of Tiny Sector: KVIC with khadi and more than 100 village industries within its purview and widest network of implementing agencies in the country is easily the most important agency to develop non-farm sector and generate additional employment opportunities in the villages.

Strength of Khadi sector

The cotton khadi industry, seems to be eminently suited to make a small but important contribution in accomplishing the gigantic task of finding gainful employment for crores of unemployed in the rural areas. The strength of cotton khadi industry is 1. Fulfils one of the three basic human needs namely, cloth and hence it has vast scope of expansion with the increase in population.

2. It is an universal industry, which can easily be started in most parts of our country with modest organizational set-up.

3. It provides part-time and full-time gainful employment at the very doorsteps of the spinners and weavers in the rural areas. This aspect i of special importance to women, who need gainful-employment In large number in their homes in the rural areas. 4. Almost all the spinners in khadi, are women. Similarly, some of the weavers and most of the weavers' assistants also are women.

5. Thus khadi activities discourage exodus of the rural population to urban areas in search of employment, which results in disastrous deterioration of the environment in towns and cities through growth of slums and sub-human living conditions.

6. In short, it is an environment protecting industry suiting the rural ethos.

7. The employment generation capacity of the khadi sector is very high.

Reasons for decrease in khadi productivity

1. Production of khadi not according to market demands

2. No new technical inputs

3. No new design inputs

4. Not attracting the school and college going younger generation of boys and girls for wearing khadi

5. Old generation who were firm on khadi wearing is decreasing

6. Marketing of khadi on professional basis rather than sentimental basis

7. Many khadi institutions are on the verge of closing down

8. KVIC has stopped issuing certificates for new khadi institutions

9. Decrease in productivity means decrease in employability

How to use employment potentialities of khadi sector

Swawlambi Khadi

Principle suggested by shri khalarkar who is one of the experts in khadi spinning and design and fabrication of New Model Amber Charkha

Principle

Involvement of all job seekers in the manufacture of khadi without the certification from KVIC and selling it under any suitable name other than khadi. Because the word khadi is can be used only by the institutions certified by KVIC.

Stages involved in khadi manufacture

Pre-spinning operations 9power operation)

Raw cotton Ginning opening Carding Sliver making Roving making

Spinning operation (hand operated Charkha)

Spinning on Charkha

Weaving (hand operation)

Weaving on hand loom

Chemical Processing (power operation)

Garment and other end product stitching (hand or power operation)

Packing (hand operation)

Marketing

Mode of operations

1. Pre-spinning: common facility (Trained Personnel)

2. Spinning: individual operation (Very little training)

3. Weaving (Traditional weavers and his family)

4. Chemical processing: common facility (Trained Personnel)

5. Stitching (Training essential through master tailor)

6. Packing: (Very little training)

7. Marketing (Very little training)

Each stage will produce job opportunities depending on productivity

Methodology

1. Each job seeker of 16 and above years old, including students must spin yarn on two spindle NMC charkha at least for 1 hour per day or the time available with him/her.

2. Yarn thus produced will be given to weaver for cloth weaving.

3. This will increase the employability of traditional weaver and his family members and provide the whole family the livelyhood

4. The fabric thus produced may be processed for bleaching, dyeing , printing and finishing.

5. This can be done by creating processing facilities in the school and providing job opportunities to local qualified youths.

6. The processed fabric can then be converted to readymade garments and other end use products.

6. This activity may be started in school providing additional job opportunities to unemployed students or any other who is in need of job.

7. Packing: Packing of final products will provide new job opportunities particularly girl students and needy women.

8. Wearing of khadi products by those who were involved in all stages of khadi manufacture.

9. Excess khadi may be sold to outsider.

10. This concept using khadi by those involved in kahdi manufacture will solve the marketing problem which is one of the biggest hurdle in increasing khadi productivity and employment generation capacity of khadi sector.

Where the activity could be started

1. In schools involving students particularly for spinning on charkha

2. In villages in the form of cluster activity

3. In the form of clusters of cotton growing farmers (kapalp s se Kapde tak concept)

4. Self help groups

5. Under REGP (Rural employment generation programme) scheme

6. Any other suitable form.

CONCLUSION

KHADI AND VILLAGE INDUSTRIES IS THE ONLY SOLUTION TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT

MAHATMA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF RURAL INDUSTRIALIZATION CAN PROVIDE ALL THE

TECHNICAL INPUTS TO INITIATE SUCH ACIVITIES IN THE CLUTER FORM OR ANY SUITABLE FORM

LET US JOIN HANDS AND WORK TOGETHER TO FULFILL THE MAHATMA

GANDHI’S DREAM OF FULLY EMPLOYED AND PEACEFUL INDIA