The renovated khadi and village industries products’ showroom at Kharavela Nagar in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 30: Odisha Khadi and Village Industries Board is leaving no stone unturned in the efforts to popularise their products. Aiming to accelerate marketing of khadi and village industries products of rural artisans, the board has been in touch with many academic institutes to engage the youth.

On last Sunday, two teams of rural management students of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), went to a research and exploration trip to Cuttack and Khurda districts to conduct study on the problems, prospects and possibilities of village industries units of the board.

Each team consisted of six students and one official of the board. The Cuttack team visited units such as — fly ash brick, readymade garment manufacturing, incense sticks, bread and bakery.

Similarly, the Khurda team visited stone carving, fabrication, pattachitra and modern art unit. After returning, the students gave their insights to the officials.

The board had earlier spoken to faculty members and students of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Bhubaneswar, to create more appealing khadi products for the youth. The outlet has been able to procure an order of 900 bed sheets and pillow covers from a city-based private residential engineering college.

A seminar titled ‘Khadi and youth’ was organised at Utkal University in collaboration with the development journalism, electronic and communication department.

President of the board Tejeswar Parida also led a team of officials to visit the FabIndia store to understand what kind of khadi products youngsters prefer.

He also made sure the look of the main outlet on Janpath and a mini one inside Odisha secretariat are revamped and look more attractive to the customer. The outlet now also stores more women’s garments than earlier. Regular customer meets are being held to generate feedback.

“As khadi production is less in the state, we are also importing it. Outlets in Puri and Konark would come up in view of the coming Nabakelabara. Stores will also be set up in five other districts,” said Parida. A khadi padayatra, where youngsters will march in khadi attires, will be organised on Gandhi Jayanti. Opening khadi outlets at airport and railway station are also in the pipeline.

Also, the departmental store Khadi Gramodyog Bhandar of the board will now onwards remain open on Sunday, second Saturday and government holidays, besides weekdays timings being 10am to 9pm. Jogendra Behera, minister MSME inaugurated this renovation schedule amidst cultural programmes on Sunday, where the store did an overwhelming business of Rs 15,000.