UP’s Gandhi Ashram, India’s oldest khadi flag maker, faces hard times | India News
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MEERUT: In 1997, Meerut’s Gandhi Ashramestablished in 1920 to encourage the use of “swadeshi” products, made 1.25 lakh khadi national flags in the run-up to India’s 50th Independence day celebrations. In 2022, as the nation prepares for its platinum jubilee, this number has dropped to just 4,000.
The rambling 13,210-sq-m site, visited on a few occasions by Mahatma Gandhi, now employs just 60 workers, compared to over 600 in its “golden days”. Its office-bearers, elected as per the rules of the Societies Registration Act, sit at a crumbling retail counter to cater to infrequent walk-ins.
The dilapidated condition of the ashram donated by Chaudhry Raghubir Narayan Singh Tyagia wealthy zamindar of Asaura in Hapur district over a hundred years ago, is a result of corruption charges against its management, piling debts, ongoing litigation, and severe competition from machine-made polyester flags.
“We make the cloth by hand, which involves processes like colouring and dyeing. We do not use machines. The government sells flags made of different materials at post offices for around Rs 20. For us, the cost of printing a single chakra inside the flag is Rs 15. The smallest size, 1 ft x 1.5 ft, costs us Rs 175 to make. Polyester ones can be made cheaply. How can we compete?”, said Prithvi Singh Rawatsecretary, Gandhi Ashram.
The ashram still manages to clock an annual turnover of Rs 3.5 crore but flag sales are negligible, it is khadi bedsheets, quilts, and outfits that bring in most revenue. As per officials, there is a small profit on sales, which is “barely enough to cover the salaries of the staff”.
This is vastly different from 1960, when the facility was the sole manufacturer and provider of national flags in the country, said store manager Sanjiv Kumar Singh. “It continued to dominate the market until the 1980s,” he added.
Secretary Rawat said the public’s passion for khadi had begun to diminish. “Government orders, too, have shrunk. Even today, the UP government distributes more than 10 crore blankets annually but it’s the private players who get the orders and not us,” said secretary Rawat.
Some office-bearers are accused of “joining hands with the land mafia to dispose of prime land in lieu of heavy bribes”. The matter is subjudice. An inquiry is on.
The rambling 13,210-sq-m site, visited on a few occasions by Mahatma Gandhi, now employs just 60 workers, compared to over 600 in its “golden days”. Its office-bearers, elected as per the rules of the Societies Registration Act, sit at a crumbling retail counter to cater to infrequent walk-ins.
The dilapidated condition of the ashram donated by Chaudhry Raghubir Narayan Singh Tyagia wealthy zamindar of Asaura in Hapur district over a hundred years ago, is a result of corruption charges against its management, piling debts, ongoing litigation, and severe competition from machine-made polyester flags.
“We make the cloth by hand, which involves processes like colouring and dyeing. We do not use machines. The government sells flags made of different materials at post offices for around Rs 20. For us, the cost of printing a single chakra inside the flag is Rs 15. The smallest size, 1 ft x 1.5 ft, costs us Rs 175 to make. Polyester ones can be made cheaply. How can we compete?”, said Prithvi Singh Rawatsecretary, Gandhi Ashram.
The ashram still manages to clock an annual turnover of Rs 3.5 crore but flag sales are negligible, it is khadi bedsheets, quilts, and outfits that bring in most revenue. As per officials, there is a small profit on sales, which is “barely enough to cover the salaries of the staff”.
This is vastly different from 1960, when the facility was the sole manufacturer and provider of national flags in the country, said store manager Sanjiv Kumar Singh. “It continued to dominate the market until the 1980s,” he added.
Secretary Rawat said the public’s passion for khadi had begun to diminish. “Government orders, too, have shrunk. Even today, the UP government distributes more than 10 crore blankets annually but it’s the private players who get the orders and not us,” said secretary Rawat.
Some office-bearers are accused of “joining hands with the land mafia to dispose of prime land in lieu of heavy bribes”. The matter is subjudice. An inquiry is on.
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