This August, India celebrated its 76 Independence Day with great euphoria and the Har Ghar Tiranga (National Flag on every house) campaign. Amidst the country-wide huge enthusiasm for buying and hoisting the national flag, the concept of Khadi Tiranga, the national flag with the hand-spun and handwoven fabric of India, got a setback. Polyester-made national flags were seen everywhere with the minuscule presence of khadi-made Tiranga (tri-coloured flag). It reminded the famous line of Coleridge “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink”. Alternatively, after successful National Handloom Day campaign, with proper planning the use of khadi—which imbibed the spirit of freedom movement—could be ensured in Har Ghar Tiranga campaign for the next Independence Day.

Khadi is not a mere fabric for every Indian. It is a symbol of India’s unique freedom struggle for self-respect through self-reliance and indigenous rural technology and the commitment to small and marginalised farmers, weavers, and spinners. In the recent amendment of the Flag Code, the Indian Government permitted the use of national flags made of machine-made polyester fabric. As per the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign resulted in a business of approximately ₹500 crore through selling 30 crore Tiranga flags. However, this extra business did not help the weaver communities of India. Rather, machine-made landfill-generating polyester manufacturers in India and abroad, mostly in China, benefited from the opportunity.  

Veteran designer and khadi entrepreneur Ravi Kiran has explained a plan to make 30 crore khadi flags in an analytical but simple manner. Let us understand the process. A 1ft x 1.5ft is the recommended flag size to hoist on homes and offices. Let’s assume we have to make 30 crore flags. We could fit 8 such flags in a 1-metre fabric of 48" width. So, we need 3.75 crore metres of fabric. If a handloom weaver weaves 6 metres of fabric a day, he produces 1,800 metres a year considering 300 working days in a year. So, if we have 10,417 weavers working full time for two years, 30 crore such flags can be delivered. These 10,417 weavers can be from 20 different states. With a conservative approach, it is an achievable target in 2 years. To complete the process in one year, 20, 834 weavers will be needed.

If such an idea is implemented, it would be a huge booster for India’s handloom industry, which is still recovering from the pandemic. Apart from the weavers, a good number of people would get employed in every state in the stitching of the khadi flag. Imagine if this cotton were organic, we could have converted huge acres of Bt cotton land to indigenous ones. That means farmers would grow desi cotton, along with food crops. Further, if we can focus on natural dyes for those flags, we may revive many of our natural dye units and artisans.

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has shown a very impressive growth by registering a ₹1,15,000 crore turnover through many innovative projects and strategic collaborations with the Indian Railways, and leading apparel companies like Arvind, Titan, Raymond, and Aditya Birla Fashion Retail (ABFR). There are other new ways of earning profits for KVIC. The organisation successfully initiated Polyvastra by blending polyester with khadi to cater fabric for the uniform of the Indian Army. Similarly, for some specific cases, where we need to protect our tall, large tricolours from adverse weather, KVIC can create Tiranga fabric by blending khadi with polyester and sell it with Khadi Mark through its stores. KVIC has the required strength to focus more on a truly green value chain and empower the farmers, and handloom weavers by making the khadi flag and a khadi cloth for all Indian households. This regenerated khadi supply chain with a newfound competence can gradually take part in the emerging worldwide ethical fashion industry.

It is interesting to note that the global ethical fashion market size reached a value of nearly $6.35 billion in 2019, having increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7 per cent since 2015. The market is expected to grow from $6.35 billion in 2019 to $8.25 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 6.8 per cent. Indian khadi can have a sizable pie of the global demand. After a successful Har Ghar Khadi Tiranga campaign, every year on Gandhiji’s birthday (October 2), the government can consider launching Har Ghar Khadi Kapada (A khadi cloth in every house) campaign to create a steady domestic demand of khadi and provide a boost to Indian ethical wear industry. Later, many corporates may join hands with KVIC to cater to the newly generated national and global demand of green ethical wear.

It is well documented that bringing distributive justice to the economic system, poverty alleviation, and making our environment pollution-free are on UNESCO’s agenda to save our earth from the climate crisis and abysmal income inequality. We need to act locally but think globally in a more responsible way. So next time, we may focus on the khadi material which in turn would mean focusing on the Indian weavers, farmers, dyers, and the natural environment. The Har Ghar Khadi Tiranga and Har Ghar Khadi Kapda campaigns are to be carried out with a multistakeholder participative approach, where the government, artisan communities, consumers, and corporates—all will have effective roles to play. It will help us to shift the business model of Tiranga from capitalism for selected few to inclusive growth, from importing to Make in India, where the interest of ecology and marginalised communities will coalesce. There is a need to prepare a concrete plan to make khadi an emblem of self-respect, encourage our indigenous talent, and respect the Gandhian ideal of sustainable development. It is possible to combine fashion, with comfortable wear and marry local with the global.