The Hindu Business Line : Re-crafting the Indian economy

Business jargon such as product diversification, and market dynamics will not help handicraft tradition to survive. Actually, the USP of handicraft sector is the artisans' age-old skill and artistry.

HANDICRAFTS SUCH as Kerala's Kathakali mask painting have survived because of the dedication of a handful of senior artisans. — V. Sreenivasa Murthy

India has a rich tradition of handicrafts, dating back to the Harappan period. Indian skills in metallurgy, pottery, bead making, inlay work, seal making, stone sculpture, fine jewellery and delicate carving on semi-precious stones, weaving fine cotton clothes drew a wry comment from Pliny, the Roman Chronicler of the 1st Century AD, that Indian handicraft was depleting the Roman treasury to the extent of 50 million sestertius every year.

Economic Historian Angus Maddison in his book The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, noted that India was the world's largest economy between 1st and 15th Century AD, with a 32.9 per centshare of world GDP in the 1st Century to 24.5 per centin 1500 AD. It was down to a pitiable 3.8 per cent in 1952. The declining Indian trade is attributed to British government's domestic trade policy to replace Indian cottage industry creations with factory products. The British increased their share in global trade by marketing Indian handicraft, agriculture and handloom products in western and European markets. They deliberately did nothing to protect the Indian domestic industries. The rich Indian handicraft traditions received a body blow.

Traditional handicraft

Though many handicraft traditions disappeared due to long neglect during the British Raj, some survived due to the patronage of kings, wealthy craft lovers, and various socio-cultural practices. Kerala's Kathakali mask painting, Orissa's classical Patta Chitra and palmleaf carvings, Bengal's famous handloom traditions, Bihar's Madhubani paintings, Chikankari work of Lucknow and miniature moghul paintings have survived due to the dedicated efforts of a handful of senior artisans. But they always face a threat.

Even today traders and middlemen compel artisans to sell their products at throwaway prices. These products are then sold in global craft bazars at high cost. In many States, artisans are forced to sell magnificent metal crafts on weight basis later to be sold piece by piece for huge profits.

Though the scale of production has increased due to global demand, the benefit does not percolate to the majority of the artisans. Also such production processes curb the creativity of artists; they cannot give of their best if they are treated as factory workers. Classical handicrafts need high levels of concentration, creative skills and mental ability. Little wonder, that today, few artisans have the skill to reproduce the classic artistic lines, curves and shapes. National Award Winner Nasim Bano of Lucknow uses more than 65 kinds of stitches to create the intricate chikankari art on cloth. Such chikankari work survives among two-three artisans in UP.

Skill, the USP of artists

Similarly, the Oriya patta painter Binod Maharana, another National Award Winner of Bhubaneswar, can create figures that express human emotionswith amazing accuracy. A few artisans in Orissa can equal Binod's work. Such business jargons as product diversification, market dynamics and economy of scale will not help the handicraft tradition to survive. Actually the USP of the handicraft sector is the age-old skill.

Handicraft skill is a national treasure, which no other nation can steal or copy. To keep the classical traditions alive it is essential to give a modest pension to genuine master craftsmen.

Protecting handicraft

Protecting traditional skills is a guarantee to a sustainable growth of handicrafts that have a market world-wide. The global market for handicrafts has been estimated at more than $235 billion. There is a huge market for Indian handicrafts. According to the All India Census of Handicraft, India has more than 48.2 lakh artisans whose creations can sell in global craft bazars. Though India's share in global handicraft export is less than 2 per cent, with available potential it can reach 4 per cent export target. But a sustainable export growth depends on the survival of genuine artistry among the artisan community.

(The author is a Pune-based freelance writer.)