HANDLOOMS AND HANDICRAFTS
INTRODUCTION
As on June
2011, the handloom and handicraft sectors employed 43.32 lakh weavers/ workers
and 68.86 lakh craftspersons respectively, resulting in
total employment of 112.18 lakh persons.
With women
contributing a majority (85 per cent) of the pre- and post-loom labour and
accounting for over 50 per cent of weavers/artisans in the country, and a significant
mass of weavers/artisans consisting of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Schedules Tribes
(STs), other backward classes (OBCs) and religious minorities, these two
sectors also represent the economic lifeline of the most vulnerable sections of
the population.
HANDLOOMS
Challenges for
the Twelfth Plan for Handlooms
1.Welfare
and Livelihood of Weavers
Poverty and
illiteracy among weaver families is accompanied by poor access to basic
necessities including health, water, sanitation, housing and livelihood facilities.
The contribution of women is largely unacknowledged, although women constitute
nearly 70 per cent of total handloom weavers/workers.
2.Rising Input Costs
3.Sparse
Credit Coverage and High Cost
4.Marketing
Bottlenecks and Lack of Opportunities
5.Poor
Institutional Coverage and Management
6.Poor
Policy Dissemination and Information Gaps
Lack of
information to weavers regarding various Government policies/schemes under implementation,
is a significant cause for deteriorating conditions of the weavers. Sometimes
even the implementing agencies may not possess complete information, resulting
in critical gaps in implementation. Also, major institutions providing critical
inputs like credit, research, technology, management, and market
development, are largely centralized and hence unable to reach the dispersed
and largely home-based weavers.
7.Infrastructure
Gaps
8.Monitoring
and Evaluation
9.Education,
Skills, Research and Training
10.Limited
Role of Private Enterprise
11.Consolidation
The existing
clusters need consolidation for converting the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) into self-sustainable
community-based enterprises.
Hence, adequate
measures are necessary to ensure consolidation of all existing clusters
introduced in the earlier Plans. At the same time, for equitable growth of the
sector, the remaining clusters/areas also need coverage in a phased manner. As
such, cluster development needs to be
given continued emphasis for achieving integrated and holistic development of the
weavers. Consolidation of all efforts introduced in the earlier Plans is a big
challenge for the Twelfth Plan.
The
Vision and Strategies for the Twelfth Plan for Handlooms
The vision for
the handloom sector for the Twelfth Plan is to develop a strong, competitive and
vibrant sector in order to provide sustainable employment to
the weavers and ancillary workers, particularly belonging to the disadvantaged
sections of the population and to ensure faster, more inclusive growth of the
sector.
To achieve the
vision, the emphasis in the Twelfth Plan will be on consolidation of past gains
and strengthening of marketing systems. Effort will continue over the next five
years to promote supply of yarn/dyes and chemicals in smaller
quantities/sachets and allocation of more depots;
achieving universal financial inclusion of weavers/ancillary workers with
margin money and credit guarantee support, interest subvention, greater coverage
of Weaver Credit Cards and linking SHGs with banks, Microfinance Institutions
(MFIs) and others for greater access to credit; expanding coverage under weaver
welfare programmes; restructuring the cluster development approach for more
efficient management and
increased sustainability of existing clusters and taking up new clusters where
none have been assisted so far; broadening the eligibility of implementing
agencies to include NGOs, associations, design institutes, management
institutes and other institutions of repute which have local and regional
experience and relevant expertise; enumerating women’s contribution in
mapping/diagnostic exercises; and
establishing robust monitoring and evaluation systems, along with defined
goalposts.
The Twelfth
Plan will also encourage greater environmental compliance and occupational
health and safety by adoption of measures such as quantifying environmental
impact in planning for cluster development, mandatorily installing effluent
treatment plant (ETP) in all the dyeing units in PPP mode, promoting solar
lighting and supporting adoption of improved looms with better ergonomics to
reduce drudgery of weavers.
To overcome the exiting training and skill
gaps, the Weavers’ Service Centres (WSCs) and Indian Institutes of Handloom Technology
(IIHTs) will be strengthened and further consolidated. Formal crafts education
will be introduced through establishment of Textiles chairs in leading regional
and national universities to inspire and draw young people into joining the
sector.
A Textile
Museum/Observatory/Resource centre/ Hastkala Academy to support preservation,
revival, archiving and documentation of languishing handloom crafts (including
handicrafts) will also be set up under PPP.
Design and product diversity, including development
of niche products will be directed towards strengthening marketing and brand
building.
The brand of
‘Handmade in India’ will be promoted domestically as well as abroad, and since
the handlooms, handicrafts, and khadi and the village industry sectors are
distinct but have threads of commonality, greater synergy will be encouraged between
them to achieve more efficient utilization of resources.
The coverage of
‘Handloom Mark’ is proposed to be enlarged to cover all handloom products
within a definite time frame. States will be encouraged
to leverage the rich tradition of the handloom sector to develop tourism
potential by showcasing the unique skills/products by setting up permanent
establishments where live demonstration of the crafts along with sales counters
could be provided for, at strategic locations, which could serve as captive
marketing channels for weavers.
To boost exports,
besides participation in fairs and exhibitions abroad, ‘India Weaves Week’ will
be organised at the Indian Embassies/High Commissions.
Special
Assistance to NER will be extended through focus on up gradation of looms, dye
houses and work-sheds after in-depth evaluation and review of existing
infrastructure.
SHGs will be
formed and training facilities upgraded to arrive at 100 per cent coverage of
handloom workers.
An Apparel Designing
and Training Institute is proposed to be set up, linked with one Special
Weavers’ Service Centre.
A new umbrella scheme that gives space for framing
projects for NER within the objectives for the handloom sector with
flexibilities in guidelines to suit their peculiar difficulties is proposed.
One of the projects within the scheme would be conversion of domestic handloom
units into Minimum Economic Size (MES) commercial units aimed at creating
commercial areas with infrastructure including worksheds,
equipment and
common facility centres for making the handloom industry in NER more market responsive
and professionally oriented.
19.164. Major
interventions proposed for the handloom sector during the Twelfth Plan are
given in
HANDICRAFTS
Handicrafts are items made by hand with the
use of simple tools, generally artistic and/or traditional in nature, which are
used for decorative purposes, including as gifts and souvenirs as well as for
utility purposes.
Handicrafts
activity is predominantly carried out in the unorganised household sector, and in India as well as in many other
regions of the world,
the handicrafts sector is identified as the largest sector of rural employment
after agriculture.
Challenges for
the Twelfth Plan for Handicrafts
1.resource
Mapping and Data Base: Several crafts are
languishing and slowly dying due to prolonged neglect and lack of awareness, and
inadequate appreciation of the intricacies and skills involved. Lack of proper
processes and systems for identification, documentation and mapping of all
crafts in India is still a major challenge. Data on craftspersons, including
their socio-economic status, livelihood and family details, and scientific
mapping of market trends and consumer profiles is also inadequate.
2.Infrastructural
and Technological Gaps
3.Technical
Resource Gaps
4.Regional
Imbalances
5.Programmatic
Issues
Various
programmatic issues, such as eligibility criteria, financial aspects and fund
release pattern need to be reviewed to facilitate greater efficiency in
implementation.
The
Vision and Strategies for THE Twelfth plan for Handicrafts
The vision for
the handicrafts sector for the Twelfth Plan is to create an equitable,
world-class globally competitive and enabling environment, and provide sustainable
livelihood opportunities to the artisans through innovative product designs, improvement
in product quality, introduction of appropriate technology including modern
technology, wherever required, and preserving traditions, thereby resulting in
balanced socio-economic development and inclusive growth of the sector.
In line with
the vision, focus will be on consolidation of existing infrastructure including
measures to ensure sustainability; institutionalisation of systems of
implementation and scientific evaluation and continuous monitoring of all
existing programmes; and compulsory
scientific mapping of crafts, artisanal communities, market trends and consumer
profiles and using this as basis for introducing new schemes or programmes,
where necessary.
For this
purpose, the existing programmes/schemes in the Eleventh Plan will be continued
with suitable modifications and consolidation and, in addition, some new
initiatives will be introduced. Existing clusters will be consolidated through
design development efforts, intensifying
forward and backward linkages, and fostering compliance and quality control, so
that they become sustainable, vibrant and resourceful centres of craftsmanship.
Core issues of water and energy management, sanitation facilities for workers,
and crèche facilities for women artisans will be included mainly through
convergence with other programmes, and details on raw material availability and related
information will be placed in public domain.
New clusters
will be demand and need-driven, and set up under the PPP mode wherever
possible.
MFIs and Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs)
will be tapped as additional sources of credit, and banks will be encouraged to
ensure that lending to artisans which falls under priority lending, is at least
10 per cent of such lending, and give due thrust to the Scheme of Artisan
Credit Card (ACC).
Technological interventions
will be promoted to enhance competitiveness of handicraft products.
Awards/scholarships will be
introduced to encourage young generation craftspersons, and Shilp
Gurus/National Awardees will be conferred honours at par with other National honours.
The marketing
strategy will involve sustained focus on brand building and promotion of
‘Handcrafted in India’ brand through a dedicated campaign to
promote domestic sales as well as exports, including a new consumer awareness scheme
for domestic markets, introduction of national level
events on the lines of National Handlooms Expo, and greater involvement of the
private sector including the civil society. PPP mode will be encouraged at all
levels in marketing promotion.
Steps will be
taken for adherence to compliance issues so that products meet the acceptable
international quality standards and also convey their historical, cultural and
traditional significance.
As proposed for handlooms, States will be
encouraged to leverage the unique skills and products of the handicrafts sector
to develop tourism potential in individual States through suitable linkages
with the tourism industry. Efforts will be made to conceive or upgrade craft
training programmes to cover core areas such as craft design, technology,
marketing and management through recognised institutions and
universities.
Social welfare
measures will be modified to provide for improved delivery, monitoring and
grievance redressal mechanisms. A new Scheme called
the ‘Infrastructure and Technology Development Scheme’ will be introduced by
shifting the infrastructure components of existing schemes for developing infrastructure
with focus on technology.
Emphasis will
also be placed on establishment of Handicrafts Museums/Conservatories/Resource Centres
for preservation, revival, archiving and documentation of languishing crafts.
Another new
initiative called the ‘North Eastern Regional Development Scheme’ is proposed,
to tap the potential of handicrafts in NER, by
facilitating access to markets, providing infrastructure support for improved
quality and productivity and introducing an institutional framework of development.
Twelfth
Plan Schemes for Handicrafts
Babasheb Ambedker Hastshilp Vikas Yojna: Consolidation
of clusters by strengthening existing skills, harnessing design development
efforts; New clusters preferably in PPP mode.
Design and Technology Up-gradation Scheme: Introduction
and dissemination of new Designs; Development of Innovative
Technologies/Technical Processes; Showcasing of
Prototypes in Exhibitions as well as online.
Marketing Support and Services Scheme: Initiation
of new consumer awareness scheme for increasing domestic sales;
Introduction
of national level events; Brand promotion; Domestic Exhibitions and
International Exhibitions/events.
Human Resource Development Scheme: Introduction
of Craft Training Programmes in design, technology, marketing and management
through recognised institutions and universities.
Handicrafts Artisans Comprehensive Welfare Scheme: Modified
Rajiv Gandhi Shilpi Swasthya Bima and Janashree Bima Yojana; Credit
Guarantee/Interest Subvention; Cards to new Artisans.
Research and Development Scheme: Completion
of Handicrafts Census; Studies on languishing crafts; Occupational Health and
Safety Issues; Special advocacy efforts for benefit of artisans.
Infrastructure and Technology Development Scheme (New): Strengthening
of Raw Material Depots/CFCs as well as opening of new ones; establishment of
Mini Haats/Urban Haats; Construction of warehouses; Handicraft Museums.
Special Package for NER (New): Capacity
development; Setting up State Initiative Design Centre/International Craft
Complex; Raw Material and Design Banks; Marketing Extension activities.
Twelfth
Plan Interventions for Handlooms
Marketing,
Exports, Brand Building and Promotion of Handloom Products—Marketing
Events; Urban Haats; Retail Outlets;
Strengthening
of Handloom Organisations; Marketing Incentive Component;
International Fairs and Exhibitions; and Export Projects.
Infrastructure
and Cluster Model—Consolidation
of existing Clusters; New Clusters/Projects; Will include Group Projects/
State-specific Projects and Innovative ideas; New component of Margin Money
support.
Raw
Material Availability—Yarn to be
supplied, including supplies under 10 per cent Hank Yarn Price Subsidy and
increased freight/depot charges for NE States; Depots to take up distribution of
dyes and chemicals also; Depot-cum-Warehouse for supply of smaller quantities
of yarn.
Credit
Availability—Credit Guarantee and Interest Subvention to weavers against
targeted credit.
Social
Welfare Measures/Environmental Compliance—Health
Insurance Scheme and Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana;
Environmental
Compliance Projects; Solar lighting; Looms
improvement and better ergonomics.
Training,
HRD, R&D and Technical Processes—Improvement in
infrastructure and machinery in existing WSCs and IIHTs;
Introduction
of degree courses; R&D Projects; Revival and documentation of languishing
handloom crafts.
North
Eastern Region—Umbrella scheme
for greater flexibility; conversion of domestic handloom units into Minimum
Economic
Size (MES) commercial units
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