KVIC asks 200 enitites not to use 'handwoven' without approval

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has asked around 200 entities not to use terms like ‘handwoven, handspun and woven’ in handlooms without its prior permission. It is expanding its fight to protect the khadi trademark. It has also asked licensee companies to pledge a minimum guaranteed amount every month from the sale of such products.

KVIC, the sole authority for providing Khadi Mark registration, wants the entities to pay for the right to use the terms when describing their products. KVIC chairman Vinai Kumar Saxen says Khadi is handwoven and handspun and khadi is also woven in handloom, the drive is aimed at protecting customers and rural artisans whose employment opportunities are at risk by checking growing sale of “spurious khadi and nonkhadi” products.

Madhura Dutta, Executive Director, All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA), a group representing private companies and producer groups says Khadi is defined as handwoven and handspun fabric, the name by itself is a much broader term that includes a huge range of handloom production traditions in the country. AIACA has commissioned a study to review the impact of KVIC’s position to be completed by August.

This demand has also been noticed by various private individuals and companies who have taken advantage of this flow in demand and are marketing non-khadi textiles as khadi, cheating customers and rejecting poor rural artisans their rightful share. KVIC is a developmental organisation tasked with creating employment opportunities and the objective is not to increase revenue by licensing khadi. As many as 13.6 million people have got jobs through such opportunities.