The Hindu Business Line : Pune institute to churn out silk paper

KEEPING up with the tradition started by Mahatma Gandhi way back in 1940, the Handmade Paper Institute is all set to start the production of silk paper in Pune.

The institute will also introduce handmade Independence Day flags. Talking to Business Line, Mr Nityanand Patil, Director, Handmade Paper Institute, said that initially, 50 to 60 kg of silk paper would be produced per day. This will be in addition to the 250 kg of handmade paper that is churned out everyday. The production will be stepped up depending on the requirements. Mr Patil said that since the lack of funds has always been a dampener, the Directorate would not be making any additional investment. It will be using the available machinery and manpower to manufacture silk paper.

Mr Patil said the institute has been working on the manufacture of biodegradable pots from agricultural waste. The pots, along with the plant, get planted and they later begin to disintegrate. Since the pots are made of agricultural waste, they provide fodder for the plant, which starts growing on its own. Mr Patil said trials on these pots have already begun and the institute is also in talks with foreign collaborators. "The intention is to do away with plastic pots, which cause too much of pollution," he said. Other research activities include raw materials such as pineapple stems, banana fibre, algi, ambadi (a plant), cotton stalk, bagasse and agricultural waste. He said that currently, handmade paper is being manufactured out of the cotton rags and wastes sourced from Tirupur mills in Tamil Nadu. "Even the soiled currency notes received by the RBI have not been left behind, as these also form a good base for the manufacture of handmade paper. From these shreddings, high quality file covers or packaging paper can be manufactured," Mr Patil said. The Institute has developed also acid-free drawing paper and botanical paper is slated for launch. , Mr Patil said that handmade paper might not have made a distinct mark in the domestic industry, but handmade paper products are being exported to Australia, Austria, the US, Sweden and Germany. These markets bring in revenues of Rs 25 lakh to the institute. The Handmade Paper Institute is also looking at other export options.

When the Mahatma gave the go-ahead

IN 1938, a chemist, K.B. Joshi, at the Indian Oil Cotton Mill at Navsari in Gujarat wrote to Mahatma Gandhi, seeking permission to use electricity for a process he had developed for manufacturing handmade paper.

Since handmade paper was touted as one of the village industries by Gandhi, he was not willing to electrify the method. However, Mr Joshi won in the end and the Handmade Paper Institute was set up in 1940 in Pune and inaugurated by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. Now, its product list touches 1,700. During the pre-independence days, only communities in Khulabad near Aurangabad, Kalpi in Uttar Pradesh, Sanganer in Rajasthan and Junnar in Maharashtra knew the art of creating paper from waste material and the method was crude.

The supply of their material was restricted to the Mughals and other rulers and the use of this paper was restricted only to writing account books by traders. The British discouraged the use of handmade paper and the industry slowly went into decline. It was at this time that Gandhi decided to revive the industry and set up the Institute in Pune.

Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Vijaya Raje Scindia were among the Institute's famous patrons. In fact, paper from this institute was used for Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi's wedding invitation card.

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