Picking up the threads

The handicrafts and village industries sector is the second largest employment provider in India. However, this sector is facing existential threat, thanks to poor access to markets and intense competition from cheap imported and machine-made goods.

Although some enterprising artisans have been making use of communication technologies to reach out to the customers, there has not been a concerted effort to help them. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is one agency which supports rural artisans but its reach in urban markets is limited. To tap the huge potential of this sector, e-commerce platforms have taken a plunge. But how far the artisans will benefit from such initiatives is anybody’s guess.

To tap the market and to provide regular incomes to women artisans Pabitra Lama Sarmah along with her husband Rishi Raj Sarmah set up Maati Community in Guwahati, Assam in 2014. It started an initiative, Xuta, (meaning thread) to promote traditional handloom and help rural women find a livelihood. “We wanted to create a sustainable village model amongst the weavers of Pathorichuck. During a survey we conducted around March 2020, we found that nearly 70 per cent of women of 287 families of the village knew the traditional art of weaving but didn’t know they could market and earn from it,’’ says Rishi Raj Sarmah. The Maati Community takes their products to the customers. According to Pabitra Sarmah, Maati is a platform where the best of handicrafts, mainly from the North-East and a few from other places in India, are sold. It encourages artisans to exchange ideas and their expertise.

To catch customers’ attention, artisans need to present their products in contemporary style without losing their traditional touch and originality. This is a major challenge, given most of the artisans are based in rural areas and in impoverished milieus. Poor returns for their products and artforms have forced many artisans to leave their age-old occupation. To help artisans gain access to urban markets and to enhance awareness about India’s treasure of handicrafts, a young entrepreneur Swati Seth set up The Colour Caravan as a business enterprise with a social cause. Swati Seth says, “The Color Caravan is a platform for Indian handicrafts. It is a link between the artisan and urban market. The Color Caravan is not a NGO. It is very much a business venture but supports a social cause. We basically partner with independent artisans, NGOs and SHGs to not only source products from them but also develop new products with them.

The 70-year-old Kanchan Parulekar is a woman in a hurry. She left a well-paying job as a bank manager to help women in financial distress and make them entrepreneurs. A native of Kolhapur, social service is in her genes — both her parents were actively engaged in social reforms during the 1950s and 60s. Through her organisation, Swayamsiddha, Parulekar has helped more than 6000 women to become entrepreneurs.