Murshidabad Khadi Gramodyog Samity

Jangipur, Murshidabad, West Bengal

Murshidabad khadi gramodyog samity is a household name in the district of murshidabad. Its reputation is not confined to the district itself, its presence is felt in the vast family of khadi gramodyog samity all over the country.
Son of late hemendra narayan choubey, a freedom fighter and a person of repute in the vast area of jangipur sub-division of the historical district of murshidabad, sri swapan kumar coubey is the secretary of the samity which was founded following the ideals of mahatma gandhi’s boycott movement of foreign clothes. Other than being a strategy in his struggle for the freedom of india, gandhiji used to promote the production of khadi clothes. It had the potential for employment of the poor people of india. Afterwards, he took initiatives for establishing khadi commission. Khadi movement got its momentum through his disciple vinoda vave. Khadi cloth is of four types : (i) cotton/muslin, (ii) silk, (iii) wool and (iv) polyester. The society is mainly devoted to the production of silk clothes with some muslin and cotton cloth. A brief history of murshidabad silk: the history of sericulture in murshidabad is as old as 2000 years. E-tsing, a chinese traveller, mentioned in his travelogue about karnasubarna exporting a large quantity of silk and silk clothes to all over india. There are mentions of the glorious period of murshidabad silk during the pal dynasty, especially the period reigned by maharaj mohipal. It was supplied to the weavers in burhampur and varanasi to prepare clothes mainly for mughal royals. Sericulture spreaded to other places of india from murshidabad. Murshidabad silk attracted the portugese, the dutch, the french and the british to india for trade. In the deccans, mainly in mysore, sericulture was started by tipu sultan who, in 1796-97, sent 12 leading farmers to the nawab of bengal to learn sericulture, livestock development and preparing silk. In the middle of the 18th century, around 222 thousand maunnds (1 maunnd = 40 ser) of silk was sent to markets of england from cossimbazar. The boom, with the passage of time, however, came to a low ebb.
The people of murshidabad, known for their association with sericulture for centuries over, are determined to bring back its past glory through their diversified and innovative activities relating to the craft of sericulture. We are proud to say that murshidabad khadi gramodyog samity has always been in the march to this direction, modestly but firmly, and are sure to make a mark in the field of khadi.