305. All-India Spinners’ Association – Mahatma Gandhi and Khadi

After failure of Non Co-operation movement, while national politics were dominated by communal issues and controversies in legislatures, Gandhi retired from the political scene; to be precise, he retired only from the political controversies of the day to devote his time to the less spectacular but more important task of nation-building “from the bottom up”.

He toured the country extensively from one end to the other, using every mode of transport from railway trains to bullock-carts.

He exhorted the people to shake off the age-old social evils such as child-marriage and untouchability, and to ply the spinning wheel.

Primarily advocated as a solution of the chronic under-employment in the villages, the spinning-wheel in Gandhi’s hands became something more than a simple tool of a cottage industry. In his efforts to “sell” the spinning wheel to the people, he romanticized it.

All India Spinners Association was launched with the intention of propagation, production and the selling of khadi in 1925.

Every member of the All-India Spinners’ Association was under an obligation to Propagate Charkha; Wear Khaddar and Spin 1000 yards of yarn per month. We note here that the All-India Spinners Association was established as an integral part of the Congress organisation.

It consisted of members, associates and donors with an executive council. It was set up as an expert organisation for the development of hand-spinning and Khaddar with independent existence and powers.

Mahatma Gandhi brought the charkha into larger use with his teachings. He hoped the charkha would assist the peoples of India achieve self-sufficiency and independence, and so used the charkha as a symbol of the Indian independence movement and included it on earlier versions of the Flag of India.

Techniques were improved upon, and employment to the scale of two lakh was created. After independence, the movement continued, and the All India Khadi and Village Industries Board was created, which later culminated in the formation of Khadi, Village and Industries Commission.