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REBUILDING LIVES AND LEGACY OF TRADITIONAL INDIAN ART

Each crisis comes with an opportunity to think over and repurpose ourselves. This is a time when the government’s call to Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Vocal4Local can turn the tide in the favour of our handicraft and handloom sector.

The handicraft and handloom sector in India is a Rs 24,300-crore industry and has been one of the most crucial industries in terms of employment generation, especially in the rural areas. The industry contributes nearly Rs 10,000 crore annually in export earnings, which underlines the potential and significance of this sector in the nation’s economy. Each handicraft in our country defines the identity of a particular place and narrates the story of the history and tradition of the community. The handicrafts sector is a home-based industry, which requires minimum expenditure and infrastructure to establish. Therefore it can create jobs at minimal cost. It generates a revenue stream which is ploughed back into the local economy and stems the flood of rural-urban migration. It assumes more significance as the majority of the workforce in this industry comprises women giving them a means to social and financial independence.

Covid-19 has been an unprecedented crisis across the entire spectrum of our economy. But the sector which was amongst the worst impacted is the handicraft and handloom sector when both the production as well as the sales came to an absolute standstill during the lockdown. Even as we are returning back to the new normal, there is still the impact of the Covid-hit households incomes resulting in altered consumption patterns where consumer spending behaviour is inclined more towards purchasing essential goods. The artisan goods, being ‘non essential’ in nature, have therefore led to huge piling of the unsold inventories which has led to poor incomes of the artisans affecting their access to essential commodities and basic healthcare services.

This is the time when we can change this crisis into an opportunity where we can revamp this sector having the tremendous potential of employment generation and turn it into a game changer for the rural economy. To begin with, we need to understand what ails the sector and why the potential of the handicraft sector remains untapped. The sector is highly unorganised with limited access to capital, markets, and market intelligence, changing designs and technology and purchase of raw materials. There is little compliance to the international standards, thus hitting the competitiveness of the Indian handicrafts in the global markets. Little awareness of the government schemes supporting the handicraft sector leads to poor utilisation of the schemes or marginalisation of the small artisans by the middlemen.

As we recover in the time of the pandemic, there is an immediate need for a financial bailout for small artisans who are reeling under severe financial stress through easy access to credit and raw materials.

With the call of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Vocal4Local and Make in India, there is a need to strengthen institutional procurement of artisan products which will help bring cash in the pockets of the artisans and help them bounce back into business. There is a need for capacity building of the artisans, training for improved design interventions and product development, impetus on good branding and marketing strategies and adherence to international standards.

E-commerce and online marketing provide a window to the artisans from the remotest corners of our villages into untapped markets in urban India and also in other countries.

We need an inclusive approach to support the artisans by revamping the entire value chain, strengthening both production and marketing to increase the competitiveness of the products internationally.

Collaboration with the corporates to take it up as a CSR project or collaborating with the art schools to help in the design improvement keeping in mind the latest trends can go a long way in providing the small artisans the resources and skills required to keep them abreast with the changing needs and dynamics of the markets.

At Samarpann, we conceptualized the Initiative of Rebuilding Lives under our Social Enterprise – ‘From the Countryside’. We reached out to 500 artisans in Uttarakhand and Maharashtra who are engaged in the traditional art forms of Moonj Grass Basketry and Warli Painting respectively. The difference we could bring out specially in the lives of the women artisans based out of Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand has been phenomenal. Nestled in a small hamlet in the Himalayas, these women lost all their meagre sources of income which was through the sale of the moonj grass boxes and baskets in the local markets. This impacted their access to essential goods and also forced their children to agriculture or daily wage activities, thus decreasing their chances of returning to schools on reopening. We provided a market for their products by connecting these women artisans with the corporates and individuals. Taking Diwali as a pilot project, we redesigned the products as per the market needs and curated gift hampers suited for the occasion. Providing their products a visibility through the internet and social media, we were able to bring in the much needed advertising component to showcase the beautiful handwoven basket to the domestic as well as international markets. The Diwali project of “Rebuilding Lives” helped these women increase their revenues by over 300% of the pre-Covid time. This not only provided them with an immediate financial relief but also provided an evidence-based methodology to scale up the project and make it sustainable while keeping it aligned with the rich and diverse human and cultural capital of our country.

Each crisis comes with an opportunity to think over and repurpose ourselves. This is a time when the government’s call to Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Vocal4Local can turn the tide in the favour of our handicraft and handloom sector and make it achieve its true potential.

Megha Bhargava is Deputy Commissioner, Income Tax. Ruma Bhargava is founder, Samarpann. The views expressed are personal.

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