Importance of Khadi and Swadeshi

• Khadi and Swadeshi always reduce the gap between rich and poor, which has incidentally increased around the world during last five decades.
• According to Stephen Graffdy, the graetest danger of globalisation is that state loses control over the economy, profit can be taken out of the country and local accountability of companies seems to be over.

Steps Taken to promote Khadi and Swadeshi

• In the last five years, several artisan-centric programmes were launched following the Prime Minister's call of 'Khadi for Economic transformation'. During this, the KVIC provided more than 32,000 New Model Charkhas and 5,600 modern looms, which has increased the Khadi production substaintially.
• The KVIC has also created employment through Khadi in the remotest part of the country such as Leh, Ladakh, Kaziranga forest, Sunderban in West Bengal etc. For the first time, Khadi brought major textile corporates in Khadi sale by manifold.
• KVIC also brought major PSUs in the Khadi fold, for purchasing Khadi gift coupons for their employees –which has given the business of over Rs. 100 crore.
• The introduction of new trendy designs such as Westernwear for women and other innovative products, with high-quality stitching, has changed the image of Khadi. 
• New schemes such as Honey Mission, Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana, Leather Artisans Development Scheme etc. were launched for the benefit of farmers, Advasis, SC/ST and marginalised communities of potters and cobblers.
• To bring the deviated youths and fatigued farmers to the mainstream of development radar, at Kupwara in Jammu & Kashmir, KVIC distributed as many as 2,300 Bee-Boxes in a single day and created World Record, in collaboration with the Indian Army.
• Similarly, under Kumhar Sashaktikaran Scheme, 10,000 electric Potter Wheels along with other equipment were given to the potters across the country. Khadi has recently launched a programme for the development of another marginalised community of cobblers –polishing and mending shoes and footwears sitting on the footpaths in the scorching sun and shivering westerlies. 
• To give them a social status, KVIC has rechristened them as charm-chikitsak (Leather-technicians) and set to distribute 70,000 advanced leather tool-kit this year providing proper training.
• World's Largest Wooden Charkha was installed at IGI Airport Terminal-3 as the grand testimony of Charkha and Gandhian philosophy.
• KVIC installed monumental grand steel Charkha at Connaught Place along with Charkha Museum, which has emerged as the main attraction of Connaught Place.
• Similar grand steel Charkhas were installed on the bank of Sabarmati in Ahmedabad and in the heart of Champaran in Bihar.
• Under the Moringa plantation drive,46,500 Moringa saplings have already been planted by the KVIC this year, which will not only help the farmers but will also supplement Honey Mission
• Time has come when we should eradicate the contradiction between economic growth and social welfare.

We must draft economic policies and programmes oriented towards Mahatma's principles of Swadeshi, which can uplift the economic sustainability of the deprived classes, farmers and women workers.