Vijayapura: Sarojini Ronad was around 25 years old when she started working at Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Sangha as daily wage labour.
Today at the age of sixty, Sarojini is still spinning the machines to prepare yarn for manufacturing Khadi products by the Sangha.
Having seen several ups and downs during her vast career at the Sangha, Sarojini says that things have changed over the decades in the Khadi field.
“Today it is no longer a lucrative job. Only a handful of people are associated with Khadi. Among women, only those who either get no other work, or want to earn additional income, work here”, she said.
Sarojini is one of the 15 women who are working at the nearly 60-year-old Khadi production unit of Vijayapura city, which is believed to be one of the oldest surviving Khadi units of the district and the State.
When she had started working, she was earning 7 paise for each bundle of yarn, and today, the government pays. Rs. 7.5 for the same work.
“A woman makes around 25 yarns a day. At the maximum we earn around Rs. 190 a day after working for around 7 hours. It depends on the woman also. If they make more yarns, they earn more money”, she said.
Started in 1952, the centre once had given jobs to hundreds of people.
“The Sangha was started by B. D. Jatti, Former Vice President of India and Former Minister, B. M. Patil, father of Congress MLA, M. B. Patil. The objective was to promote Khadi among the people which had remained as an intrinsic part of the freedom movement and played a vital role in uniting people against British rule”, said S. L. Hiremath, the advisor of Sangha, who retired from Sangha as secretary.
He said that Sangha today has around 400 workers working in different departments.
Regretting that lack of support and financial aid has been adversely affecting the Sangha, Hiremath said that the Sangha had to shut down four warehouses due to shortage of funds and decreasing demand for Khadi products. Today, it has only six warehouses in the district.
“Let alone giving funds for the improvement of Khadi, the government does not even pay a good salary. Even till my retirement, I was paid Rs. 15,000 only when I had served for over three decades. The office assistant who is going to retire in a couple of years, gets only Rs. 4000/month. Now tell me, who will come here to work for such a meagre salary during the days when the cost of living has significantly increased”, he asked.
He said that the government should not only offer more funds, but should hike the remuneration of daily wage workers.
The women workers who have been working for over three decades, though happy that they are getting some work, see no future in the Khadi field. “When people don’t buy Khadi products, then we can’t expect any profit. Without profit, how can the industry function”, Sarojini wonders.
Despite working for a meagre pay, the women still thank the Father of the Nation; Mahatma Gandhi, for promoting Khadi. “Today whatever we are earning is because of Gandhi ji”, Sugalamma Kalasad, another worker says with a blend of sigh and smile.
