On December 17 last year, Minister for MSME Nitin Gadkari launched the sale of ‘Khadi Rumal’ stitched by militancy affected women of Jammu & Kashmir at Nagrota near Jammu, a center
established by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to provide employment to local women. In his inaugural address, Gadkari requested the Chairman KVIC, Shri VK Saxena to increase the stitching charges of Khadi Rumal from Rs 2 per piece to Rs 3 per piece to increase their income.
The KVIC Chairman has now approved the enhancement of wages from Rs 2 to Rs 3 per piece.
Each each women artisan at Nagrota used to earn around Rs 170 - Rs 200 stitching 85-90 Khadi Rumals on an average working four hours per day. With the revised wages, each woman will earn around Rs 250 - Rs 300 per day, increasing their income by around 50 percent.
Since the launch of the sale of Khadi handkerchief on December 17, the KVIC has sold approximately 30,000 of these items.
Highlighting this as a major step towards nation building Chairman KVIC said, “Since the inception of this training center, the intention of KVIC has been to promote ‘Khadi Rumal’ and contribute meaningfully to the families of militancy affected areas of J&K. Currently the stitching center has a production capacity of 10,000 ‘Khadi Rumals’ per day stitched by 130 women artisans.”
Speaking about the initiative, Saxena said, “’Khadi Rumal’ is a symbol of trust that the women in militancy-hit areas residing in Nagrota, have on the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Modi, who is working towards ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’. Currently we have been able to employ 130 women and as the sale of Khadi Rumal increases, we plan to reach out and empower 4000 women of this area.”
White Khadi Rumal, made of pure cotton, is being sold across various Khadi outlets in India. To increase the
outreach and availability of these Rumals PayTM has agreed to sell 2 Crore pieces of ‘Khadi Rumals’ with the help of its online platforms.
Outlining the impact potential of this initiative, Saxena said, “We have targeted to sell 5 Crore pieces of Khadi Rumal by 2020. To create 5 Crore pieces of Khadi Rumal, around 15 Lakh Kg’s of cotton will be consumed and it will require 25 lakh man-days of spinning, 12.5 lakh man-days of weaving and around 7.5 lakh man-days for cutting, stitching and packaging of Rumals. Thus creating 44 lakh man-days of livelihood, yielding wages amounting to Rs. 88 Crores for various artisans”, Saxena said.
“A humble contribution of the citizens of India could be a stepping stone for the beginning of the ‘Journey of Transformation’. Branded handkerchiefs in the market costs somewhere around Rs 100-200 per piece, whereas fine quality Khadi Rumal cost just Rs 50. I call upon every Indian to try a piece of Khadi Rumal and experience the unparalleled feeling of patriotism it instills”, Saxena further said.