The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) today said the historic Sewapuri Khadi campus in Varanasi has been revived after 26 years in a step forward to skill development and women empowerment. It said the re-developed campus was inspired by the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose birthday was being celebrated in the country today, and it was dedicated to the people of Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency. The campus was initially inaugurated by former President Rajendra Prasad in 1946 but the historic Sewapuri, a centre of rural enterprise, was closed in 1990.
KVIC chairman V K Saxena said the centre has been re- opened now with new infrastructure, work opportunities and work force and the training centre has been restarted to develop skills in various fields. After re-inaugurating the solar charkha project in Sewapuri, Saxena said, “Today the country is celebrating the prime minister’s birthday as ‘Sewa day’ but for the KVIC, ‘sewa’ means socio-economic welfare agenda and now all KVIC schemes will be called sewa schemes.” Some of the new initiatives taken in Sewapuri campus are first-ever unit of 250 solar charkhas and 25 solar looms under one roof in the country, first ever ‘lijjat’ papad manufacturing unit in Varanasi. With this, more than 500 local women and men got direct employment, the KVIC said, adding ‘sewa’ means empowerment of rural people.
