Khadi & Village Industry : A Case Study of Khadi Institutions in India

Khadi constitutes an important segment of the textile sector. Khadi has been defined as any cloth woven on handlooms in India from cotton, silk or woollen yarn handspun in India or from a mixture of any two or all of such yarns. The main objectives of the study are to assess the employment generation potential of the Khadi institutions. Secondly, the study focuses on identification of problems faced by the selected institutions. Data presented related to the period 2003-08, and projection of production and requirement of spinners and weavers by 2012. The study also collected data on all khadi institutions and assessed their capabilities, projection of their requirement in terms of spinning and weaving infrastructure, upgradation of skills of artisans and supervisory workers. Totally, 200 khadi institutions were identified. All the A+&A category institutions were surveyed. The paper focuses on employment generation of Khadi sector during study period and projections for 2012.