It is some sort of conclave of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision on Khadi as well as Yoga. Yes, the Khadi, signature fabric of India, is all set to rock again this year with Yoga globally. While the Ministry of AYUSH has purchased 60,000 Yoga mats, the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and Khadi Institutions have decided to purchase 2,000 and 400 Khadi Yoga kits respectively from Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to mark the 5th International Yoga Day on June 21, 2019, to promote two heritages.
Giving this information, KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said that as the International Yoga Day coming closer, the orders for Yoga kits had started flowing from all corners across the country. "These purchase orders of around Rs 2.50 crore has been given to KVIC for supplying 60,000 yoga mats, besides 2,400 yoga kits. To meet the supply of increasing purchase orders, a meeting was called on May 27 this year, in which Khadi Institutions were asked to accelerate their production. For the order from Ministry of AYUSH – which is the nodal agency for conducting the yoga day in the country, 17 Khadi institutions from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Haryana were given the assignments to supply yoga mats and they completed the task within the stipulated span of time," he said, adding, "These orders will create additional job opportunities and extra man-hours in the Khadi sector. The kit includes nine items including upper and lower for men and women, Khadi napkin, yoga mat, and a bag. The napkin has been stitched by the women of militancy affected families of Jammu and Kashmir living near Nagrota. To add to the style quotient, a unique tricolour Khadi garland (sootmala) has been included in the kit."
It may be noted that in 2016 for the first time that KVIC had made yoga kits of Khadi, designed by National Institute Design (NID), on the advice of Ministry of Ayush and within 10 days, it got purchase orders worth Rs 82 lakh. While in 2017, KVIC bagged order of over Rs 2.50 crore, in 2018 – it crossed Rs 3 crore-mark. "Since our kits won the accolades from everywhere, the orders from many other Ministries and organizations are in the pipeline to be finalized. I am sure that the combo of Yoga and Khadi will rock the whole world as both of them are the key ingredients of our Prime Minister's vision. We hope to increase it to at least Rs 5 crore through aggressive marketing this year," Saxena said.
As even the common people are also interested in buying Yoga kits for celebrating International Yoga Day, the KVIC has made these kits available for sale in all the 'Khadi India' sales outlets also.