KVIC's 'Charkha Kranti' creates buzz on Gandhian values

Khadi's exponential growth, as mentioned by President Ram Nath Kovind in his address to the Parliament ahead of the Budget Session, is a result of the "Charkha Kranti" initiated by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) in the last 7 years. KVIC built several monumental Charkhas to propagate Gandhian thoughts and symbolism of Charkha in India and abroad that further popularised Khadi and played a key role in its massive growth. Khadi's success was acknowledged by the President in his address to the Parliament on January 31, and by Home Minister Amit Shah, a day before at Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad, while unveiling Mahatma Gandhi's 100 sq meter wall mural on his 74th Martyr's Day.

Interestingly, KVIC was formed in 1956 but it made no effort in the next 58 years; i.e. till 2014, to popularise Khadi, Charkha or any other symbol associated with Mahatma Gandhi. "Khadi" and "Gandhi" were only used for political gains. It was only after the year 2014, that concrete efforts were made by the Narendra Modi government to popularise Khadi and spread the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi and the symbolism of Charkha across the globe. Be it the birth anniversary or the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi, KVIC organised unique programs to celebrate Gandhian thoughts.

During the last 7 years, KVIC built monuments like world's biggest wooden and steel charkhas, world's smallest charkha on wrist watches, Gandhi ji's world's largest wall mural made of clay Kulhads, world's largest national flag made of Khadi fabric, heritage Charkha museum and many more. Charkha, which was Gandhi ji's tool in the fight against the British Rule, made its way to a foreign country, for the first time in 2017. Since then, Bapu's Charkha has reached 60 countries of the world.

"It is with the inspiration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that concrete steps were taken to popularize Khadi and Charkha not only in India but across the world. This played a major role in increasing the production and sale of Khadi and, thereby, contributed to realizing Bapu's dream of Gramoday. The Charkha Kranti also saw distribution of a record 55,000 advanced charkhas to the Khadi artisans across the country that provided them with self-employment," Chairman KVIC, Vinai Kumar Saxena said.