Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has received orders for supplying 60,000 yoga mats to the Ministry of AYUSH to mark the fifth International Yoga Day on June 21 this year.
According to a statement issued by KVIC, while the AYUSH Ministry, the nodal agency for conducting the yoga day in the country, has purchased 60,000 Yoga mats, the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and Khadi institutions have placed an order for 2,000 and 400 Khadi Yoga kits respectively.
KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said the orders have created additional job opportunities and extra man-hours in the Khadi sector.
"These purchase orders of around Rs 2.50 crore have been given to KVIC for supplying 60,000 yoga mats, besides 2,400 yoga kits... For the order from Ministry of AYUSH, 17 Khadi institutions from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana were given the assignments to supply yoga mats," Saxena said.
The yoga kit included nine items like upper and lower for men and women, Khadi napkin, yoga mat and a bag. The napkin has been stitched by the women of militancy affected families of Jammu and Kashmir living near Nagrota, he said.
To add to the style quotient, a unique tricolour Khadi garland (sootmala) has been included in the yoga kit, Saxena said.
"Since our kits won the accolades from everywhere, the orders from many other ministries and organizations are in the pipeline to be finalized. I am sure that the combo of Yoga and Khadi will rock the whole world as both of them are the key ingredients of our Prime Minister's vision. We hope to increase it to at least Rs 5 crore though aggressive marketing this year," he said.