When the name Khadi is mentioned the scene of weaving cloth by hand comes to everyone’s mind. The spinning wheel while making yarn, makes a knocking sound as it gives away the busy day of the weavers. With time, industrial revolution happened and machine made clothes supplanted the spinning wheel. This increased the cloth production and brought down the price significantly but at a very high cost. This mode of production had a serious negative impact on the environment. The amount of noise in these machines is one of the major contributors toward noise pollution. As a result, our hearing problems are getting worse day by day and the smoke from the machine causes serious air pollution.
During Swadeshi movement, local cloth was given priority over foreign cloth. As a result, many people were taught to operate the spinning wheel. Initially, many found it a bit difficult to operate but gradually everyone learned to weave yarn with the spinning wheel. Spinning wheel khadi can play an important role in protecting the environment from disasters because there is no noise pollution. There are still some weavers who are working with handmade khadi fabric and we need more such people. Many people complain that because of its thickness handmade khadi cannot be worn all the time. Although thick, the specialty of this fabric is that it feels hot in winter and cold in summer. But I think we failed to properly inform people about the benefits of handmade khadi. If the common man can realize the benefits of handmade cloth then the demand for khadi made with spinning wheel will increase and it will play a big role to protect the environment. We also need to come up with ideas about how to make thin khadi fabric with a spinning wheel. As a Khadi entrepreneur, I believe that one day Khadi will change just like Jamdani.
