KHADI AND VILLAGE INDUSTRIES: AN EVOLUTION
Dr Balraj Vishnoi
(author )
Beginning
can be initiated by taking note of the phases through which the policy relating
to khadi & Village industries has been developed over the years. For this
purpose, the past may be divided into two periods : one upto 1947 and the other
after 1947. While in the first period, the development of khadi and village
industries was entirely a non-governmental effort under the inspired guidance
of Gandhiji, the originator, in the second period the Govt. of India and the
planning commission assumed the responsibility for fitting khadi & village
industries within the overall framework of the five years plans.
1.1
Four phases may be
distinguished in the first period. Originally, Gandhiji conceived khadi as the
best instrument for giving concrete expression to the “Swedeshi” spirit and for
making effective the boycott of foreign goods in general and foreign cloth in
particular. Khadi was also expected to provide on opportunity to every man,
woman and child for cultivating self-discipline and self-sacrifice as part of
the non-cooperation movement.
1.2
For ensuring coordinated
development of khadi throughout the country, Gandhiji set up in December, 1923,
the All India Khadi Board with branches in all provinces. The organization was
an integral part of the India National Congress and worked under its direction and
supervision. This initial phase can be said to have begun in 1918 and ended in
1924.
1.4
The second phase opened in 1925
with the formation for an autonomous organization called “All India Spinners
Association” (AISA) of Akhil Bharat Charkha Sangh. Although several congressmen
continued to play an important role in the affairs of the sangh, it was
organizationally independent of the congress. AISA did commendable work in
regard to propagation, production and sale of khadi. However, Gandhiji
continued to distinguish the increased volume and value of khadi produced or
sold from the larger social objective of the khadi programme with emphasis on
the latter.
1.5
In the thirties, Gandhiji
turned his attention to other village industries and the result was the
establishment in 1935 of another organization with the name, All India Village
Industries Association (AIVIA). He wrote “Khadi is the central sun around which
the other village industries revolve like so many planets. They have no
independent existence nor khadi can exist without other village industries.
They are absolutely inter-dependent”. Prime facie, the creation of a separate
organization for village industries (AIVIA) may appear to be at variance with
Gandhiji’s philosophy. But on a closer look, it would be clear that AISA and
AIVIA were conceived for different purposes. AISA dealt with the revival of the
extinct craft of spinning and took upon itself the whole process of promotion
production, sales, technological development and welfare of the artisans. AIVIA
concerned itself with resuscitation of some languishing industries through
improvement in tools and training and philosophy of “Swadeshi”. The latter did
not take upon itself the entire responsibility for production and sale. It
organized State Level Association to provide support to craftsmen in varying
ways. Even so, just before his death, Gandhiji saw the necessity of bringing
together not only these two organizations but other organizations in-charge of
constructive work. He proposed merging them in one organization called Akhil
Bharat Sarva Seva Sangh.
1.5 There is evidence to show that Gandhiji was
not entirely satisfied with the progress of the two organizations and the
manner in which the programmes of Khadi & Village Industries were being
developed, as they were ends in themselves. In the latter half of the forties,
he felt an imperative need for an entirely new approach, according to which the
programmes should be carried out as part and parcel of the wider programme of
new-violent village uplift or village reconstruction. He named it as “Samagra
Seva” and said that khadi could begin to have permanent effective only in the
context of complete reorganization of the entire rural economy. He sincerely
felt that otherwise all efforts would not only be inadequate but also largely
futile. In his words, our main concern should be to lay the foundation for this
work as deep as possible and not merely be satisfied with production of khadi
and sale of khadi itself. He laid stress on village self-sufficiency, limitation
of Government Assistance to education, technical research and technical
guidance and reduction on dependence on raw materials from outside.
1.6
It must be added that the
enthusiasm of Gandhiji for Khadi & Village Industries and the building up
of programme of “Samagra Sewa” around them was not shared fully by all national
leaders of importance. Even among those that conceded a role for khadi and
village industries, some stressed the need for adopting better technology and a
flexible attitude to the use of machines. It was in answer to these doubts and
hesitancies that Gandhiji wrote in the “Harijan” dated June 20, 1946 as follows
: Khadi (including village industries) is the only true economic proposition in
terms of the millions of villagers until such time if ever, when a better
system of supplying work and adequate wages for every able bodied person above
the age of sixteen, male or female, is found for his field, collage or even
factory in everyone of our villages so as to give the villagers the necessary
comforts and amenities that well regulated left demands and is entitled to”. In
this context, is worthwhile recalling two statements mode by Gandhiji on the
use of machines.
(A)
“What I object to is the craje
for machinery, not machinery as such. The craje is for what they call labour
saving machinery. Man go on saving labour till thousand are without work and
thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and
labour, not for a fraction of mankind, but for all”.
(B)
“The supreme consideration is
man. The machine should not tend to make atrophied the terms of man. For
instance, I would make intelligent exceptions. Take case of the singer sewing machine. It is one of the few useful
things every invented, and there is a romance about the device itself. Singer
saw his wife laboring over the tedious process of sewing and seaming with her
own hands, and simply out of his love for her, he devised the sewing machine,
in order to save her from unnecessary labour. He, however saved not only her
labour but also this labour of everyone who could purchase a sewing machine”.
1.7
Perhaps, the first move to make
khadi a governmental programme was made in 1946 by the Government of Madras
which deputed a senior officer to obtain advise from Gandhiji and set up a department
of khadi soon thereafter. This was followed by the central Governments
recognition of the importance of rural cottage industries in the Industrial
Policy Resolution of 1948. The Constituent Assembly also included development
of cottage industries in rural areas among the Directive Principles of the
constitution in Article 43. These ideas were elaborated in the first five year
which began in 1951-52.
1.8
According to the First Five
Year Plan, “village industries have a central place in the rural development
programme”, and their development “should be as much a matter of state’s
concern as the increase in agriculture production”. It recognized that the
development of village industries called for “a great deal of local initiative
and cooperation”. As they involved “Processing of local raw material for local
markets with simple techniques. The plan envisaged the “Possibility of turning
waste into wealth, for instance, production of gas from cow-dung and other
refise of the village………………, production of bone manure…………soap making out of
non-edible oils etc”. The plan added : “while organization in village
industries requires drive and direction from the central and state governments,
the primary responsibility for carrying out programmes for village industries
rests with the State Governments ; but in many aspects the frame work within
which they execute the programmes for individual village industries is set by
policies followed by the Central Government. In the Central Governments, there
is therefore need for an organization which will give close attention to the
programmes of these industries and help the create favorable conditions for
action by State Governments, constructive organizations and village
cooperatives”. In accordance with this recommendation, the Government of India
set up the All India Khadi Board in January, 1953. The main functions of the
Board were to prepared and organize programmes of the development of Khadi and
Village Industries, including training of personnel, manufacture and supply of
equipment, supply of raw materials, marketing and research and study of the
economic problems of different village Industries. However, the Board was
expected to function as a clearing house of information and experience
regarding these industries and to work in close cooperation with the State
Governments and the Akhil Bharat Sewa Sangh which had earlier taken over the
activities of AISA and AIVIA in 1948. It was soon found that the Board was
suffering from several procedural handicaps, particularly the lack of timely
financial arrangements. It was, therefore, decided in 1955 that the Board
should be replaced by a statutory body. A bill was accordingly introduced in
Parliament Proposing the establishment of a commission with “power executive as
well as administrative”, for proper development of Khadi & Village
Industries. It also provided “for the All India Khadi & Village Industries
Board functioning as an advisory body which advise the commission generally in
the discharge of there duties”. With the passing of the above bill and the
promulgation of Act No. LXI of 1956, the Khadi and Village Industries
commission come in to being in April, 1957. Besides Khadi, initially 10 village
industries were named in the schedule. “Subsequently, 16 village industries”
were added to the schedule, one in 1959, one in 1962, ten in 1965 and one each
in 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1984, these bringing up the present total of 26 as
follows :-
Beekeeping ; cottage match industry : Manufacture of Fire works and
Agarbattis ; Cottage Pottery Industry ; Cottage Soap Industry (Now-edible oils
and soap Industry) ; Flaying, curing and Tening of hides and skins and
ancillary industries connected with the same and Cottage Leather Industry ;
Ghani oil Industry ; Hand Made Paper ; Manufacture of can Gur and Khandsari
Palmgur making and other palm products Industry and processing, packing and
marketing of cereals, pulses, spices, condiments, Masalas etc……………….
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1959
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Manufacture
and use of manure and methods gas from cowdung and other waste products (such
as flesh of dead animals, night soil etc.) Biogas
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1962
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Lime
stone, Lime shell and other lime products Industry
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1965
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Manufacture
of shellac; Collection of forest plants and fruits for medicinal purposes,
Fruits and vegetable processing, Preservation and canning, including Pickles
; Bamboo and cane work ; Black smithy ; Carpentry ; Fiber other than coir ;
Manufacture of Household utensils in Aluminum ; Manufacture of Katha ; and
manufacture of Gum Resins.
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1978
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Manufacture
of Lok Vastra Cloth
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1979
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Poly
Vastra
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1980
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Processing
of Maize and Ragi
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1984
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Manufacture
of Rubber Goods (dipped latex products)
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The
commission and the Government of India persuaded the state governments to set
up Khadi and Village Industries Boards, more or less, on the pattern of the
commission, in order to receive grants and loans from the commission and there
by assist the development of the scheduled Industries.
1.9
Broadly speaking, the idea was
to entrust the task of developing khadi and village industries to those who
knew them best and to give them, for the purpose, sufficient powers, funds and
as much autonomy as would be consistent with the concept of accountability of
public funds. The last mentioned aspect was to be ensured through a Financial
Advisor appointed in the office of the commission by the Govt. of India.
According to Rule 12(5) of KVIC Rule 1957, the Financial Advisor shall have
authority to advise the commission and the standing Finance Committee that a
particular decision affecting the general financial policy of the Government
should be referred to the Government for consideration. How the commission was
constituted from time to time, how the persons nominated to the commission and
the Financial Advisor perceived their respective roles and how the concept of
autonomous institution was implemented in practice would be considered a little
later. For the present, we may continue with the historical evolution of the
policy relating to KVI.
1.10
During its short terms, the All
India Khadi and Village Industries Board initiated in 1954 some experiments in
integrated rural development on sarvodaya principles, in response to the call
of the Prime Minister, Nehru. The were under the caption, Intensive Area
Scheme. The scheme was continued by the commission till 1963-64. This must be
viewed as an opportunity given to Gandhi’s to experiment “Samagra Seva” about
which Gandhiji wrote during his last years. The idea of the Prime Minister was
to try out a new approach through the Gandhians side by side with the Community
Development approach. The intensive Area Scheme was “not intended to give
ready-made programmes to the village community but…………..to guide it to
formulate its own programmes in a comprehensive manner unfettered by any
pre-conceived notions or limitations”. Each area was to consist of 20 to 30
villages, with a population of about 20,000. For implementing the scheme, a
Kshetriya Samiti for the area and gram vikas mandal for every village were
organized and the commission appointed an organizer, on assistant organizer and
some staff technically trained in Village Industries. A though the scheme
envisaged all round development, inducing agriculture and social services, the
commission had no separate funds for these non-industrial purposes and had to depend
on public contributions and the assistance from other government departments.
However, the scheme had wide ranging objectives. There were four economic
objectives : creation of employment at relatively low capital cost and raising
levels of real income; a balanced and diversified occupational pattern;
introduction of better and appropriate techniques; and local or regional self-sufficiency
in essential consumption goods. Social objectives were also four facilities for
education, health, recreation and social security; promotion of people’s
participation, self-reliance, social cohesion and cooperation in gram parivar;
creation of institutional frame work for village development and
self-government and local leadership; and reduction of inequalities and
Antyodaya. Under other objectives was listed, development of village industries
in a balanced rural economy without much dependence on outside protection. A
very ambitious list indeed. The programme had two stages-pre-intensive and
intensive. 121 areas were brought under the scheme.
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