Reinventing The Spinning Wheel

Mahatma Gandhi called it the "livery of freedom". Eighty years ago, at its Nagpur session, the Indian National Congress adopted khadi as a political weapon in the freedom movement. The cloth handspun and handwoven from cotton, silk and woollen yarn became a byword for swadeshi. That was the high noon of khadi.

No longer. This despite the fact that khadi remains one of the most comfortable and eco-friendly fabrics. Gandhi's charkha has long become infra-dig. And drowsy salespeople at dull emporia, limited size and colour options of products alongside indifferent quality have put consumers off khadi.

Saddled with a dowdy, downmarket image, khadi's fortunes have been moribund: during 1998-99, production stood at 98.20 million sq m, down from 104.20 million sq m in 1997-98. There's also a drop in the number of people employed in this once-flourishing village industry—some 13.85 lakh people are currently engaged. Worse, "as far as khadi is concerned, nobody envisages any profit," says Dr Mahesh Sharma, a bjp Rajya Sabha member and chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (kvic), the 43-year-old government agency which promotes khadi.

Things now might change for the better. The Union government is planning an ambitious second coming of the frazzled fabric. The minister of state for small scale industries (ssis) and agro and rural industries (ari), Vasundhara Raje, is planning to make khadi chic and hardsell it. Says she: "Our best ambassador deserves only the very best."To begin with, the fabric is being branded. Seven months ago, kvic kickstarted the process by spinning off two brands, Khadi and Sarvodaya, the latter for marketing soaps, masalas, honey, joss sticks and pickles. "The branding of khadi is being done with an eye on the export market," says Sharma. kvic also plans to patent the fabric.

Most importantly, mnc consultants Arthur Andersen are preparing a report—due this month—on financial restructuring and marketing of khadi products. They've been paid Rs 45 lakh for the job. Not only its look, a big-budget ad campaign will also spruce up khadi's sagging image. "You need to pushsell and advertise the brand to bring it back to the forefront of people's consciousness," says Raje. So a 100-city roadshow later this year, exhibitions, airport and departmental store counters and an ambitious collaboration with premier design schools nid and nift are planned to give khadi a glamourous facelift. "We need to be vibrant, viable, and vigorous," says Shankar Aggarwal, joint secretary, ministry of ssi & ari. A survival strategy more likely, if you consider coping with the Rs 750-crore inventory.

Even the Internet will be roped in to publicise khadi's altered image. The search is on for a web development company to design and refurbish kvic's dull homepage. The focus area will be packaging—crucial for the overseas segment—and revamping of all existing khadi outlets. "undp has moved in for a few ventures and will pump in Rs 9 crore to renovate 10 existing kvic outlets," says Aggarwal. "The shopfront remains key to our success." Retail analysts are rooting for modern retail techniques across the 15,000 kvic outlets.

And as proper r&d must back any such zeal, more fabric certification centres are on the anvil to assist the one at Ahmedabad. Stringent quality tests—besides the usual isi and Agmark—will also be made mandatory. "Moreover, we're tying up with iit Delhi to boost our existing r&d facility at the Jamnalal Bajaj Research Institute, Wardha," says Aggarwal.Khadi's dalliance with the market does not please most followers. Pleads Baba Amte: "Khadi's soul will die. In the name of swadeshi, we're auctioning the symbols of freedom to imperialists." The late former Congress president Sitaram Kesri had pleaded to leave "the emotional thread for my entire generation alone".

But others like former education minister Dr Pratap Chandra Chunder are less sceptical: "If more employment is generated and we can sell khadi worldwide, it's a lot better than piling up stock. If the charkha can withstand design inputs, so can khadi." Sunil Shastri, bjp party secretary, is also upbeat: "If we can promote our indigenous products, we'll only add glory to the nation. That's the greatest swadeshi Gandhiji ever thought of."

Raje considers the high-pitch uproar against hardselling khadi baseless. "We're not altering the key philosophy. Our main agenda is to put the whole sector back on rails and to provide large-scale employment," she says. "We're talking of a khadi and village industries sector worth Rs 5,750 crore."

The country's couture circle is happy with the government's plans. Delhi-based designer Pranavi Kapoor, who works with khadi, says modern business techniques are essential for the fabric's survival. Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly says natural fabrics are a rage across the Atlantic. "It's the perfect time to exploit the situation with our exclusive home-grown products."

Designer Ritu Kumar does a reality check, though. "In my experience, it's difficult to sell khadi given its inherent uneven quality. You can't standardise the fabric nor force it to follow assembly-line norms." It'll be tough selling khadi to the West, comfortable with its stretch fabrics that need minimum laundering and ironing. She suggests inviting textile—rather than fashion—designers to work and innovate on the fabric.

Others like former Congress spokesperson V.N. Gadgil feel the overemphasis on the export market is "foolhardy". He cites the examples of the guru shirt and Kolhapuri chappals, which were but fleeting fads. Former kvic member and Gandhi Memorial Trust secretary Sailesh Kumar Bandopadhyay feels the emphasis should be on the domestic market—still tottering with a per capita textile consumption of 16 sq m per annum—prior to any expansion spree.

There's also criticism about choosing Arthur Andersen for the restructuring exercise. Says Jaitly: "Khadi and village industry are indigenous. Arthur Andersen lacks the historical and aesthetical perspectives." Agrees former kvic boss Surendra Mohan: "It's a waste of money and an insult to our intelligence, considering so many detailed reports already exist."

The Congress foresees a bigger political agenda behind all this. "The bjp-rss combination does not ideologically believe in khadi. They have appointed a full-time rss pracharak as president of the board. They want to exploit the goodwill of Gandhi for their votebank," says Gadgil. Raje defends: "If mnc consultants are fit for psu restructuring, what's wrong in here?" Wonder what Gandhi would have said to that!