Khadi workers on 'Satyagraha', dispute Modi govt's claims on ghost artisans

While the government claims it has weeded out seven lakh 'fake artisans', representatives of khadi producers cry foul.

Less than two weeks ago, at an election rally in Dausa (Rajasthan), Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that his government had increased Khadi production, creating new employment for the rural poor.

“Eleven lakh people used to be employed in Khadi, we have created conditions to increase it to 22 lakh now,” he said, while taking a potshot at the Congress party for ‘destroying’ khadi.

On Monday, however, over a hundred khadi workers assembled at Gandhi Smriti in the capital had a different tale to tell.

So does a 2017-18 report of the government’s own ministry in charge of khadi production, which puts the