Khadi village Board

Khadi village industry,stamps on khadi

Khadi is Indian handspun and hand-woven cloth. The raw materials may be cotton, silk, or wool, which are spun into threads on a spinning wheel called a charkha.

Khadi is a versatile fabric, cool in summers and warm in winters. Being a cruder form of material, it crumples much faster than other preparations of cotton. In order to improve the look, khadi is often starched to have a stiffer shape. It is widely accepted in fashion circles and congress leaders these days.

Mahatma Gandhi began promoting the spinning of khadi for rural self-employment in 1920s India. He also wanted to spread the message of not using foreign clothes. The freedom struggle revolved around the use of khadi fabrics and the dumping of foreign-made clothes. Thus it symbolized the political ideas and independence itself, and to this day most politicians in India are seen only in khadi clothing. The flag of India is only allowed to be made from this material, although in practice many flag manufacturers, especially those outside of India, ignore this rule.

Khadi was used, and dyed random colors, in some of the costumes for the Star Wars prequels, such as Mace Windu’s (Samuel L. Jackson) attire.

1920 It was at the time of the Nagpur session (1920) that the Indian National Congress decided to encourage “Khadi”. The first Khadi Production Centre was established at Katiawad, Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi used to refer to Khadi as “The livery of freedom”.

In fact, Khadi was introduced in 1920 as a political weapon and as the best instrument for giving concrete expression to the Swadeshi Spirit to boycott foreign goods. Khadi rendered an opportunity to every man, woman and child to cultivate self-discipline and self-sacrifice as a part of the non-cooperation movement.