After draping Air India crew members operating Air India One, the official aircraft for flying the President, Vice President and Prime Minister, in 'khadi' uniform, it is now the turn of Tourism Ministry to use some of the indigenous fabric in its various ITDC hotels.
"Tourism Ministry is looking at various options to promote products manufactured by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) through its departments. It is considering using the products such as towels, curtains, sofa covers, handwash and shampoo in some of the hotels run under the ITDC brand," a source said.
Besides, there are also plans to open KVIC outlets at various airports across the country, he added.
Currently India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), a public sector unit under the Tourism Ministry, runs 16 hotels in the country, including three in Delhi and the rest in Jammu, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Patna, Bhopal, Bharatpur, Jaipur, Guwahati, Puducherry, Mysuru and Itanagar.
The initiative comes after BJP President Amit Shah wrote a letter last month to Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma to ensure appropriate measures for maximum use of 'khadi' in various organisations under his ministry, the source said. Sharma is also Minister of State for Civil Aviation.
Shah also attached a letter of KVIC chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena who urged Sharma to promote 'khadi' through his ministries, according to the source.
Following the receipt of the letter, Sharma had instructed his officials to find out ways through which 'khadi' could be promoted by his ministries, the source said.
Earlier, an Air India official had said the management is considering the proposal for using 'khadi' for draping the cabin crew in line with Prime Minister's pet 'Make in India' initiative.
The cabin crew strength in Air India currently stands at around 4,000.
Significantly, the cabin crew operating Air India One, during a recent official trip of Modi to Belgium and the US donned khadi uniforms.
KVIC manufactures various products-- from ready made garments and home furnishing items to personal care, food and leather products.
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Saxena said: "We have launched 'Shadi collection',
lehnga, chunni, with range starting from Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000. Overall, we have a vast product range of 2,000 products which also includes food items."
He added that there was growing craze about Khadi products among international tourists.
"A lot of foreigners are visiting our Khadi outlets these days. Recently, parliamentarians of 26 countries were on a tour, they specially visited our Delhi outlet and bought lot of Khadki products. Tourists from Africa and Iran were very very crazy about our products. We are already reaching international market," he said.
He also talked about Solar Charkha, which costs around Rs 73,000.
"It is a normal Charkha, in which solar panels have been attached with a motor, which boosts production and improves quality," he said.
Saxena also touched upon a scheme where they will select 200 villages across the country to give a boost to Khadi, besides providing employment to the villagers.
"Under the scheme, we will select 200 villages, and these will be five villlages in every state. But in few states where Khadi has gone down, we have decided to adopt 25 villages, for example in Punjab. We will train villagers for running Charkhas, besides they will also make agarbattis, pickles, papad. Thus they will be self-sufficient and we will also organise bank finance for them," he said.
For the International Yoga Day, which is celebrated on June 21 every year, "we have developed Khadi Yoga kit", Saxena said.
"AYUSH Ministry has developed this and national level function of international Yoga Day is being held in Chandigarh this year. It is unique product which we have developed, which is available in our two outlets in Chandigarh also. A Khadi mat and one tricolour Khadi mala will also be part of this kit," he said.
