Fusing Mahatma Gandhi's swabalamban (self-reliance) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachhata Ahbiyaan, the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises – Giriraj Singh launched environment-friendly shubh hawan samagri. Manufactured by Kumarappa National Handmade paper Institute (KNHPI) – a unit of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), the product was launched on September 12 in Jaipur.
Valuing the KVIC's innovation in this connection, the minister said that this eco-friendly shubh hawan samagri would not only ensure the proper utilization of excess of flowers and coconut shells, but would also help in Swachhata Abiyaan as the unutilized flowers and coconut shells often cause civic blues.
KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena informed that before production, the scientists of KNHPI sent the ingredients of this hawan-samagri for its evaluation. "After proper scientific evaluation, it was found that the gross caloric value of flower and coconut shell used in making this hawan-samagri was far better than the commercially available ones," he said.
It is worth mentioning here that as many as 36 ingredients, including sandalwood, nagkesar (mesua ferrea), camphor and cardamom, have been mixed with the hawan-samagri and it would be available at all KVIC outlets. While the price of one-kilogram pack would be Rs 101, it would cost Rs 57 for half kilogram pack.
As the minister was very enthusiastic about such innovations, he had expressed his desire to get the handmade paper (made from cow-dung) so that it can be properly utilised, subsequently increasing the cattle-owners' income as well as creating cleanliness on roads and streets. Taking minister's desire seriously, the KVIC Chairman directed KNHPI to explore the feasibility in this connection. The KNHPI scientists, in a record time of four days, developed the paper by mixing cow-dung with paper rags. Singh later launched hand-made paper at KNHPI. He also thoroughly took the stock of the paper-making process – made of mixing the plastic waste with cotton rags, under KVIC's ambitious project named REPLAN (REducing PLAstic in Nature), which was launched recently. "What else can be a better example of swachhata abhiyaan than REPLAN by KVIC, who has not only derived a proportional yet novel way to reduce the plastic menace," he said.