I&B Ministry starts PM Narendra Modi's khadi initiative

NEW DELHI: Following an idea floated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann ki Baat address last month, the government will now welcome guests with khadi handkerchiefs or gift books instead of giving bouquet.

A beginning has been made by the information and broadcasting ministry which has directed Press Information Bureau headquarters and regional and branch offices to follow the green initiative proposed by Modi. Last week, the home ministry issued instructions to states where the PM would be touring saying he should be welcomed only with one flower or a book as a memento.

In his June 25 Mann ki Baat address, the PM had said, “Recently I had the opportunity to go to one of my favourite events. A very good programme is being run in Kerala for the past few years by PN Panicker Foundation, which encourages people to cultivate the habit of reading books… (At the)inaugural function, I was told that instead of bouquets, they gift books…. Thus I was also reminded of what slipped my mind. Because when I was in Gujarat, I had set this tradition of welcoming by not giving bouquets but books or handkerchiefs. And that too a khadi handkerchief so that it promotes khadi.