The Modi government has taken many initiatives to support rural economy in the last five and half years. Khadi and Village Industries Commission has achieved success in 100 percent implementation of Prime Minister Employment Generation Program (PMEGP). The government has taken many steps to support traditional artisans and weavers. For instance, solar panels were installed in villages on the periphery of Varanasi which manufacture the ‘authentic Varanasi Saree (nowadays a duplicate version manufactured in China is available in the market)’ used to face frequent power cuts.
Now the government has come up with another great idea to support traditional artistry and village economy. Cabinet Minister Nitin Gadkari has asked Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to make Kulhads mandatory at 100 railway stations. “I have written a letter to Piyush Goyal to make use of kulhads mandatory at 100 railway stations and also suggested airports and state transport undertakings having tea stalls at bus depots to make the use of kulhads mandatory. We will also encourage malls to have kulhad tea stalls,” said Gadkari.
Gadkari has also informed that Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has supplied 10,000 electric pottery wheels in last year and 25,000 wheels are to be distributed this year. The Modi government has been distributing electric wheels, under the Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana, to increase their productivity.
An MSME ministry official said, “Mandatory use of kulhad will generate more employment in rural areas and it will also be a perfect answer to end use of single-use plastic cups.”
Not just in railway stations, the Modi government is also making efforts to increase the use of Kulhad to serve chai at airports as well as in malls.
According to KVIC chairman Vinay Kumar Saxena, the industry has industry has generated more than 20 lakh jobs in last four years. “Incredible as it may sound, amid much debate about job crisis in the nation, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, leading from the front, has created 20,63,152 new jobs and set up 2,67,226 new projects under its ambitious Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) in the last five fiscals, i.e. between 2014-15 to 2018-19,” said Saxena.
The use of Kulhad is environment friendly and these are bio degradable unlike plastic which is currently used to serve chai. The use of Kulhad is environment friendly. It will also be helpful in Modi government’s cleanliness drive as Kulhads gets easily mixed with soil. Most importantly, Kulhads will support the rural economy. The hard working artisans will be able to save their traditional arts and earn money through it.
Modi government has taken many steps to support rural economy and ensure welfare of rural India. Welfare schemes like Saubhagya, Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Mission Indradhanush were implemented to provide social security to people on the lower spectrum of social strata. Farmers and rural India voted ‘en masse’ for PM Modi in 2019 general election. Traditionally, rural India had not been a stronghold of BJP but this phenomenon changed after the rise of PM Modi. Since 2019 general election BJP has won successively in states with large rural population like Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand.