Khadi: Call to Action
Meena Raghunathan
Impact professional/Consultant--special interest in CSR, ESG, Governance, Women Leadership. Serve on corporate board (Independent Director, non-profit boards. Author. NEW BOOK: TO EVERY PARENT, TO EVERY SCHOOL. PENGUIN.
Ponduru, a village in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, arguably produces the best khadi in India. Well at least Gandhiji thought so. He was highly impressed with the fineness of the khadi produced here and preferred it to other khadis. The best dressed (khadi-mode) contemporary politicians even today get their saris, dhotis and shirt material from here.
Ponduru khadi is hand-carded, hand spun and hand woven—truly khadi in letter and spirit.
What makes it special? For one, the raw material itself is of a special quality—it is made from special varieties of hill cotton and red cotton which are grown in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. For another, Ponduru khadi is very smooth, especially the higher count variety. This is because the jawbone of the Valunga fish found in Srikalkulam is used to comb the cotton fibers to separate them from the seeds, and the process lends a soft sheen to the cotton.
There was a time when every home in this village had a loom. But like in most of India, the number of khadi workers in Ponduru is falling. The low remuneration is of course a major reason. Those involved in the sector do not want their children to follow them—they would much rather they got a ‘professional’ degree and got a ‘secure’ job.
Fortunately, there are some efforts to improve the situation, including dedicated NGOs working in the sector. Chitrika is one such which has been working closely with the Ponduru khadi sector for over a decade now. They are helping the workers organize themselves into Producer Cooperatives, find newer markets, and improve their capacities. New and innovative designs are being brought in. All this is enhancing the incomes of the weavers, almost doubling them in the last decade.
But without a pull from the market, no government subsidies or NGO efforts are going to lead to sustainable results. An eminent Gandhian once mentioned that if every Indian bought one khadi garment a year, the sector would thrive and all our khadi workers would be able to earn decent incomes.
So here is a call to action. We are about a month away from Independence Day. Go out and buy some khadi! It is a practical and easy ‘good deed’ for 15 August!
From: https://millennialmatriarchs.com/2018/07/19/well-spun/