Neglect of Khadi after Independence led to unemployment, says Amit Shah

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Friday said that had successive governments after Independence not neglected Khadi, the problem of unemployment would never have arisen in the country.

Mr. Shah was addressing the ‘Khadi Karigar Mahotsav’ in Haryana’s Rohtak, in the presence of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

“During the freedom movement, Mahatma Gandhi used ‘Khadi’ to eradicate poverty, make the country self-reliant, promote the idea of Swadeshi, and achieve independence. Mahatma Gandhi initiated ‘Khadi’, which brought about a revolutionary change in the lives of millions of weavers across the country,” he said.

He added that if the work undertaken in the last 11 years for the development of Khadi had been pursued consistently since Independence, unemployment would never have arisen.

“When Mr. Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he resolved to revive ‘Khadi’. After becoming Prime Minister, Modi Ji encouraged the people of the country to use ‘Khadi’. In 2014-15, the turnover of ‘Khadi’ and Village Industries was ₹33,000 crore, which has now increased to ₹1.70 lakh crore,” he said.

At another event, after inaugurating the ‘Sabar Dairy’ Plant in Rohtak, Mr. Shah said that in the past four years, the Ministry of Cooperation, along with all State governments, has worked to strengthen the foundation of cooperatives. He said he was confident that by 2029, every Panchayat in the country would have a cooperative society.

He further said that under White Revolution 2.0, more than 75,000 dairy societies will be set up across the country in the coming days, and the government will also strengthen 46,000 existing dairy cooperative societies.

Mr. Shah also inaugurated a State-level exhibition on new criminal laws in Kurukshetra, where he said that for the third consecutive time, the people of Haryana had given the BJP a majority, and their governments had left “no stone unturned” in the State’s development.

“In a State like Haryana, once notorious for job allocation through favouritism, today jobs are provided solely on the basis of merit, without ‘kharchi’ (bribery) or ‘parchi’ (nepotism). This is a major achievement of our government,” he said.

He also said Prime Minister Modi had brought reforms in many sectors, with the most significant being the introduction of three new criminal laws, which he termed the biggest reform of the 21st century. He noted that the old laws were enacted by the British to maintain colonial rule. “While we gained independence on August 15, 1947, we were not freed from the laws enacted by the British Parliament,” Mr. Shah remarked.