Seeking to reinvent the age-old Indian tradition of coating houses with cow dung, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has developed Khadi Prakritik Paint, a first-of-its-kind paint in India made from cow dung with eight benefits or Ashta Laabh.
The unique product which is eco-friendly and cost-effective, was launched by Minister for MSME, Nitin Gadakri on Tuesday.Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Giriraj Singh, Minister of State for MSME, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, and KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena were present on the occasion.
While launching the paint, Gadkari said the innovative Khadi Prakritik Paint has the potential of evolving into a `6,000 crore market and creating 10 lakh new jobs that will revolutionalize the agro-based economy of the country.
“A policy will be framed for sharing the technical knowhow of Khadi Prakritik Paint to maximum people in India. KVIC will provide technical training to new entrepreneurs who could benefit by manufacturing cow dung paint. Thousands of Prakritik paint manufacturing units can be set up across the country that will give a big boost to local manufacturing and agro-based economy,” Gadkari said.
He said bulk utilisation of cow dung will ensure monetary gains to farmers that will also desist them from selling away cows in the market. “This will put a check on cow slaughtering. We will stop cow slaughtering through the economy and not through the law,” he said.
KVIC Chairman VK Saxena said Khadi Prakritik Paint was not just a product but a tool of accelerating the growth of rural economy in India. “The prime objective of developing cow-dung paint is employment generation which is the basic premise of Khadi. This paint is a reinvention of age-old practices into a scientifically-tested modern product,” Saxena said.
Production of Khadi Prakritik Paint is aligned with the Prime Minister’s vision of increasing farmers’ income. At the same time, it will create thousands of new jobs in the paint manufacturing sector as KVIC will share the technology and provide training for manufacturing of Prakritik Paint, he added.
At present, Prakritik Paint manufacturing unit at KVIC’s Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute in Jaipur, has the daily capacity of producing 500 liters of paint which provides direct employment to 10 people.
Apart from being waterproof and washable, Khadi Prakritik Paint contains the natural benefits of cow dung like anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and natural thermal insulation properties.
This paint is eco-friendly, non-toxic, odorless and cost-effective. Emulsion paint meets BIS 15489:2013 standards; Distemper paint conforms to BIS 428:2013 standards.
