Bengaluru: Basavaprabhu Hoskeri, President of the Dharwad Taluk Kshetriya Seva Sangha(DTKSS), Working President of the Karnataka Vidyawardhaka Sangha, and General Secretary of the Gandhi Peace Foundation Centre, Dharwad, has been a staunch advocate of Khadi. He has been serving as President of the Dharwad Taluk Seva Sangha for the past 15 years, following the demise of its founder, Shankar Kurtkoti.
Wearing Khadi since college days: He has been wearing Khadi ever since his college days and continues to do so to date. As he himself admits, he has been an ardent fan of wearing Khadi and only Khadi, right from his college days, when he came in contact with Chatra Yuva Sangarsha Vahini, the youth wing of Lok Nayak Jayprakash Narayan's Total Revolution movement, and later with the Gandhi Peace Foundation Centre of Dharwad.
Significance of the Garaga centre: Basavaprabhu Hoskeri informs that the Dharwad Taluk Kshetriya Seva Sangha (DTKSS) centre at Garaga village in Dharwad Taluk has the rare distinction of being authorised to produce the hand-woven national flag as per the specifications of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Of late, from the past 10-12 years or so, the Huballi-based Khadi Federation at Bengeri has also been into the production of the national flag.
Only two centres earlier in the whole country: Before that, recalls Basavaprabhu Hoskeri, "Initially, the Khadi centre of Udgir, near Latur in Maharashtra and the Dharwad Taluk Kshetriya Seva Sangha(DTKSS) centre at Garaga were the only two units in the entire country, authorised to produce the national flag, since 1975".
Man behind the national flag: He also recalls, "Our former President of the centre, Shankar Rao Kurtakotiji, brought this great assignment from Khadi and Village Industries Commission(KVIC), and it succeeded in reaching the stringent target of meeting the standards. From then onwards, the centre hasn't looked back".
Atop all top institutions: "Our BIS flags will be supplied mostly to Central/State government Secretariats, Establishments, Armed forces, Embassies, etc. The tricolour which flutters atop Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House, Red Fort, Supreme Court, State Assemblies and other such places, comes from Garaga", tells Basavaprabhu Hoskeri.
About 30,000 metres of flag cloth: Detailing the statistics about the Khadi cloth being produced at the Garaga centre, Basavaprabhu Hoskeri gives the numbers, "Every year about 35-40,000 meters of Khadi is being produced and out of which 25-30,000 metres is flag cloth only. The spinners and weavers spread over the seven nearby villages, and the flag cloth production amounts to Rs 1.2-1.5 crores every year".
The Flag has 40 warps and 38 wefts of 36 counts: "The flag cloth prepared here has 40 warps and 38 wefts of 36-count thread made out of fine Jaidhar variety of superior cotton. Each square meter of cloth weighs 205 grams + or - 05-10 grams. After weaving, the cloth is sent to Mumbai Khadi Dyers & Printers, where it is dyed and stitched into the national flag. Further, the final product will be verified for ISI specifications," he explains.
Flags in nine different sizes: Basavaprabhu Hoskeri tells, "The national flags are made in nine different sizes; six sizes get the Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS) mark. These flags range between 14x21 feet (the biggest) and 2x3 feet (the smallest). The Centre sends most of the flags to Khadi Bhavan in New Delhi, from where the flags reach every nook and corner of the country".
Why Khadi and Gandhi? He is perplexed at the latest Gandhi-bashing trend among the present generation and worried about the continuation and propagation of the Gandhian values and way of life. At times, he also feared whether it would be the end of Gandhism along with his generation. However, Basavaprabhu Hoskeri becomes optimistic, and opines, "Whatever misinformation campaign spree let loose on the social media is by the people who have never understood, read or experienced Gandhi. It is also intriguing how the latest generation has been poisoned with so much hatred, for whatever reason. At no stage earlier was there so much animosity! Gandhi, in this respect, is a thought process and not as an individual".
It is impossible to finish Gandhi: "However, now a new ray of hope has emerged for all of us who believe in Gandhian principles, and we have come to a clear-cut conclusion that it is practically impossible to bulldoze the Gandhian philosophy, contrary to the systematic attempts being made in this regard now. The reason for such an analogy is that Gandhi has gone beyond the horizons of the country and has been more acceptable elsewhere across the globe", exclaimed Basavaprabhu Hoskeri.
Gandhi's all over the world: He asserts, "For instance, Martin Luther King is called the American Gandhi, Nelson Mandela is termed as South African Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi is known as Myanmar's Gandhi. Not just that, wherever social activists fight for justice in a non-violent, humanitarian path, such individuals are held in high esteem and are showered with praises like adhering to the Gandhian path, apart from being called Gandhi! To what extent the Indian community tries to retain the identity of Gandhi or not, we are not sure. But, let there be no doubt that the rest of the world will certainly do so".
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Freedom movement much before Gandhi: Basavaprabhu Hoskeri went down the memory lane to draw his point, "The freedom movement in the country was ongoing even much before Gandhi was born. It is also not proper to attribute or claim that only Gandhi's efforts bore the fruits of independence. Gandhi's tenure in the freedom movement was no doubt a major contribution, paving the way for a Gandhian era and thereby the struggle and sacrifice of Gandhian followers in a very big way".
From Champaran to the Quit India movement: "Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915, and he first started his struggle in Champaran, which went on until the Quit India movement. Meanwhile, there was also a series of agitations all along the way. Although and all along, gaining independence was the main motto, at the same time, it wasn't the end of it, as there were any number of continuous battles like fight against alcoholism, fight against untouchability, fight in favour of Khadi and Gramodyog, fight for the upliftment of Harijans, fight against illiteracy, fight for women empowerment...and so on and so forth. In this way, his focus was on all the woes being faced by the countrymen, while the freedom movement was just a political part", felt Basavaprabhu Hoskeri.
What is Khadi: He also stressed that, "Although packing off the Britishers from the country was a vital aspect of the freedom movement, it was just a political one, while liberating the countrymen from all the woes they were facing happened to be a fundamental thrust of the same. You may ponder what this Khadi is and why so much importance should be attached to it. It is also a sort of cloth, so why is so much significance accorded to it? Generally, people speaking about Gandhi tend to wear Khadi, and there is no rule that all such men and women wear it".
A series of complaints: At the same time, Basavaprabhu Hoskeri laments, "If you were to consider Khadi as just another type of cloth, you can find any number of complaints. For instance, firstly, in comparison with other forms of cloth, it is too costly. A long time back, when we were kids, clothes manufactured with artificial fibre were costly, while the hand-spun Khadi used to be cheap. Now, when we are becoming old, artificial fibre clothes like Terylene, Terrycot, Polyester or what you call synthetic clothes have become damn cheap, being sold for a meagre amount of Rs 10-15 on the footpaths. On the other hand, all pure forms of cotton, wool and silk have become dearer! So, if you were to compare Khadi with other clothes, there is no doubt that Khadi has become costly!...
...Khadi maintenance, a costly affair: Secondly, the maintenance of Khadi is equally difficult and a costly affair. When you wish to wear anything, it is quite natural that it needs to be neat, ironed and good-looking. If you wear ironed synthetic clothes, they can be worn for at least 2-3 days, whereas Khadi can be worn only for the same day, or else you need to get it starched, which again is a costly affair...
Not long-lasting: Thirdly, Khadi is not as long-lasting as synthetic clothes; fourthly, Khadi doesn't look all that attractive! These days, everything needs to be beautiful, including the carton or packaging, irrespective of what is being packed. So, with this series of adverse factors, who will come forward to buy Khadi? So all those who believe themselves to be intelligent are clever enough to avoid buying Khadi. They may lecture on Khadi, but that doesn't mean they wear Khadi".
Why should one buy Khadi? To make his point, Basavaprahu Hoskeri makes an analysis, "If you were to buy Rs 100/- worth Khadi, Rs 50/- will straightaway go to the spinner and weaver and Rs 33/- goes to the raw materials deployed for making. If it is for cotton Khadi, it goes to buying cotton; if it's silk Khadi, it goes for buying silk; if it is woollen Khadi, it goes for buying wool. If some other filament, like Jute in West Bengal and Yak in Myanmar, is used, the amount goes to buying such yarns. Rs 08/- goes to the administrative expenditure, and Rs 09/- goes to transportation. If at all, the hundred rupees are systemically earmarked for the production processes in this country, it is only evinced in the Khadi sector".
A satisfaction of helping the workers, farming community: He also emphasised the principled rationale associated with wearing Khadi, "In other words, by buying Khadi worth Rs 100/-, you are helping the workers involved in the making of Khadi, helping farmers growing cotton, silk, wool, jute and farmers rearing yak. Tall claims are being made on the importance of farmers; they are even termed as the backbone of the country, but these days, neither do they have a back nor a bone! But if you buy Khadi, you will be directly helping the peasants and thereby the economy of the country. What more satisfaction do you need just by buying Khadi? Are you not helping the fellow beings and, through them, the society at large?
Khadi is a way of life: Ultimately, Basavaprahu Hoskeri becomes candid and clear in his philosophy of wearing and buying Khadi, "Please don't buy or use Khadi thinking it a cloth because Khadi is a way of life and not merely a piece of cloth. You can only wear and buy Khadi if you believe in this philosophy, and not as a symbol of Gandhi and the freedom movement. Just raising slogans in praise of the nation will not help develop the country, while buying Khadi will definitely do. So, the choice is yours".
All-season employment: Basavaprahu Hoskeri signs off by quoting Gandhi, "Mahatma firmly believed that in our country, after agriculture, it is Khadi which can provide all-season employment, at the workers' doorstep, in a decentralised manner, without polluting the environment and checking urbanisation and its evils successfully".
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