Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has threatened to sue Fabindia for misusing the trademark chakra without proper authentication.
While the government is aggressively promoting Khadi, it is also important to nurture a private Khadi ecosystem for the sake of the artisans invovled.
What has the government done to promote Khadi?
Both charkha and khadi have been associated inalienably with Mahatma Gandhi, and are powerful symbols of India’s struggle for Independence.
While governments have been keen to ensure that the khadi brand is not used for private profit, the current dispensation has been especially enthusiastic.
Notably, KVIC (which functions under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), was reconstituted in 2015 with additional powers.
As more than 130 lakh people are employed in this sector, various government departments have been instructed to maximise Khadi use in a systematically.
Khadi uniforms were proposed for Air India’s cabin crew and hotels run by “Indian Tourism Development Board” were to have Khadi bed-sheets.
Stalls for selling khadi products at all government functions was planned, and Khadi was being promoted feverously as a “Fashion Statement”.
The government is also working on promoting khadi overseas, and KVIC is said to be in talks with industry associations abroad to open franchises.
What exactly is khadi?
Mahatma Gandhi popularised the charkha and indigenously produced cloth as a symbol of the Swadeshi boycott of foreign-made goods.
Khadi is a fabric that is hand-woven from hand-spun yarn, and was initially thought as a means to provide employment for rural India.
After Independence, KVIC was established by an Act of Parliament in 1956.
The Act defined khadi as “any cloth woven on handlooms in India from cotton, silk, woollen yarn or a combination of these which is also hand-spun in India”.
Since then, KVIC has been using the khadi trademark on its products and displays, but over time, many became oblivious of what Khadi actually meant.
In 2013, the government notified “The Khadi Mark Regulations, 2013” for the purpose of authentication of genuine khadi.
This mandated that all merchandise that is produced or marketed as khadi would have to bear the “Khadi Mark Tags and Labels” issued by the KVIC.
Also, persons or institutions applying for Khadi Mark registration were to be subjected to specified sample tests for verification.
Which institutions were using the khadi tag without authorisation?
Since 2014, KVIC found as many as 176 institutions that were violating the khadi trademark in some way or the other.
Among them is Fabindia, which has emerged as the largest private platform for products that are hand-made with traditional techniques and skills.
Most of the violators were single-outlet stores and retailers, and have predominantly stopped using the tag on receiving notices form KVIC.
But Fabindia chain, whose application for KVIC was rejected, was found to be a repeat offender even after receiving multiple notices.
The rejection rooted in the logic that Fabindia is a ‘for profit initiative’, which defeats the intention of the Khadi movement.
As the company hasn’t refrained, a legal notice to sue Fabindia for 525 crores, has been initiated recently.
What are the concerns?
As protecting poor artisans is the intention, it should ensure that all produce of such artisans get Khadi tagged, even if it is sold outside the government fold.
Besides, the question of whether - regulating the cloth, also means regulating symbols like charkha, and the artisans behind it needs pondering.
While the present dispute will be settled in courts, one needs to proceed form the recognition that Khadi as a brand belongs to the people.
Khadi as a concept has been around from long before KVIC came into existence, and in a sense, is a generic term as “ayurveda” or “yoga”.
But as KVIC approval is mandatory for the using the term “Khadi”, a new terminology needs to be evolved for hand-spun cloths outside KVIC’s ambit.
