Noted fashion designer Gavin Rajah to choreograph a 20-minute textile event, aimed at projecting Khadi in a modern and trendy style, at Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on April 30, during the concluding session of the two-day India-South Africa Business Summit, as a ‘The Tribute to the Mahatma and Madiba (Nelson Mandela)’.
The program is being held in memory of 125 years of the Pietermaritzburg incident where Gandhi was thrown out of a train by White supremacists, along with Mandela’s birth centenary. The Summit will be also be attended by Union Minister for Commerce, Industries and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu.
The event seeks to showcase New India in South Africa, with the intent to double two-way bilateral trade and investment within a five-year period. Saxena said on Wednesday that the KVIC had dispatched more than double the length of the desired fabric.
In March, Ruchira Kamboj, Indian High Commissioner in Pretoria, requested Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena, to provide different Khadi fabrics, including silk and muslin, in both embroidered and printed forms reflected by Gavin Rajah, who had played an active role as UNICEF’s goodwill ambassador.
Saxena said when Gandhiji reached South Africa, a war against apartheid and British rule was started. Now, Khadi is all set to bring economic freedom as the ‘Ahimsa Silk’ would showcase its piousness and economic feasibility in the land of Madiba, the clan name of Mandela.
As part of the Centenary Year celebrations of Gandhiji’s Swadeshi Movement, the High Commission of India in Uganda unveiled the Gandhi Charkha – gifted by KVIC – at the Gandhi Heritage Site at Jinja in Uganda on October 2, 2017, which is also the International Day of Non-Violence. The 25-kg Charkha was made of high-quality teak wood and is 3.6 feet long, 1 foot 11 inch tall and 1.5 feet wide, made in Ahmedabad by a Khadi institution. It was the first testimony that a Charkha had gone to the foreign soil.

www.thehindubusinessline.com