A village in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh is using charkha as a means of livelihood and it is thriving.
For 300 families in Khilchipura district of Madhya Pradesh, the charkha is a way of life and a lucrative one.
In 1946 the village set up a cooperative and has been weaving table and bed linen, towels, fabric for blazers and other clothes.
The Madhya Pradesh Handicrafts and Handloom Development Corporation provides them with the raw material and buys the manufactured products from them.
The hand-woven articles are becoming increasingly popular and mills using the latest technologies are now losing business to these villagers.
In 1999-2000 the village sold goods worth Rs20 lakh and last year the sales were worth Rs.31lakh.
The charkha was used by Mahatma Gandhi as a weapon against the British-a tool for empowerment.
Khilchipur is becoming famous as the 'village of charkhas'-a historical skill and today technology has overtaken it and it is almost extinct or has now become obsolete in other parts of the country.
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