Setting up an Artisans Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) is one of a slew of proposals that have come up to ensure the welfare of the traditional artisans in the country and the preservation of their heritage.

The call for an ASEZ was made at a two-day national meet of various artisan welfare organisations, which concluded here on Sunday.

The proposed ASEZ should be an integrated complex having facilities for production, consultancy, marketing, research and development and training of artisans. The recommendation was made to the Union Government by a panel consisting of representatives from 15 States.

The panel also proposed that the Craft Village at Iringal near here be upgraded to ASEZ.

Crafts University

Another proposal was to establish a world class Crafts University to conduct regular training programmes and undertake research in the areas of traditional science, technology, craft design, heritage studies and management of cultural property. The meet also demanded integrating the functioning of all design institutes in the country with the proposed university.

The meet drew attention to the recommendation made in 2005 by an Inter Ministerial Group of the Union Government and the Planning Commission to work on the concept of Rural Functional Industrial Estate (RFIE). The proposed estates work in the private sector as incubators for developing enterprise that are accessible to the stakeholders through countrywide electronic kiosks. The other recommendations included creation of a technology bank and launching of a technology mission.

national commission mooted

The meet urged the Union Government to take decision on these recommendations without further delay. Also, the Government should constitute a ‘national commission on traditional artisans' with due representation for experts in artisan studies to understand the issues confronting the sector and come up with solutions.

Yet another pending proposal is setting up ‘artisan labour banks'. The objectives of the banks include registration of labour; basic and skill-related training; remunerative employment through contracts; acquisition of tools, equipment, accessories and machinery for own use or leasing; and advancing loans to clients in the form of labour against future repayment (as wages).

The meet felt that the Union Labour Ministry may constitute an expert committee to study the labour banks proposal in detail, hold country-wide consultations with artisans organisations, industry and business bodies, experts on labour issues and manpower planning. The committee then may draft a Bill for introduction in Parliament.

The need to facilitate a method of bridging technology of traditional craftsmen and modern technicians without distorting the originality of the former was also taken up for detailed discussion at the meet.

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