Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that at a time when political parties are taking recourse to image refurbishing, age-old Khadi too a marketing push so that it could become the numero uno in apparel section.
Yadav was speaking at a programme in lucknow where NIFT joined hands with the UP government for making Khadi popular
“Khadi needs a branding and we need to promote it. In pre-independence days, people used to wear only khadi making it a household thing. That branding is required in modern times too,” said Yadav.
“I have been wearing Khadi since I joined politics. Though I had problems with its quality initially, but its quality has improved now. Khadi has now become more trendy,” he said.
Without naming the Congress, the CM said that when some parties are taking help of marketing experts to keep their party afloat, Khadi needs that vital push too.
“On our part, our government will distribute charkhas to the drought-hit people of Bundelkhand free of cost. This will not only help them to earn but also make Khadi popular at village level. If we can distribute free laptops and give Kanya Vidya Dhan, why not charkhas which are the symbol of Indian independence,” said Yadav.
The CM distributed 50 charkhas in Jhansi while 25 were distributed in Banda district .
The CM also appreciated the role of NIFT, Rae Bareli, which has promoted Khadi as an ethnic dress material by making it more trendy.
“We need more NIFT like institutions in the state. The government is ready to provide land to set up NIFT either in lucknow or in Noida. I have written to the Union minister but am yet to get an answer,” he said.
Earlier UP Khadi minister Brahma Shanker Tripathi said that the CM should make it mandatory for officers to wear Khadi at least once a week.
“The employees of Khadi Gramudyog report to duty in Khadi only. If they can do it six days in a week, why can th others not do it once a week,” he asked.
The minister said that 1478 new Khadi units were set up last year providing job opportunity to 29,000 people. A target of setting up 3000 new Khadi units in UP during the current fiscal which will provide jobs to 60,000 people,” said Tripathi.