The Indian Arts and Crafts journey so far has been enriching. It has been enriching for the country as a whole, for the arts & crafts community and for all of us as consumers of these traditional products. India’s experience, which was the first experience of evolving such an important and far-reaching programme, provided an example to many countries who emerged from colonialism into sovereign and independent countries to evolve their own programme. India was their resource and it shared its experience with them.
However, after more than fifty years of its evolution, Indian arts and crafts industry needs some soul-searching. Where are we headed? We need to examine the institutional structures and ask if this is the best method of functioning? What is the role of the government today and what should they be really doing? How valid are the overall structures and the divisions that had been made of the sector in 1954 in today’s context? Are not they superfluous expenditures which continue to be incurred by the government? How effective are the different marketing corporations and associations? Is their turnover less than one per cent of the total handled by the private sector? Should the government continue to handle these institutions or should there be an attempt made to hand it over either to the crafts associations or to the voluntary sector? For that matter, what is the role of the Crafts Council of India and other voluntary organizations? Do they provide a platform for the crafts persons? Are they performing their role of being the protectors and motivators for the sector? Are they functioning as the voice of the crafts persons?
Going forward from here needs answering these questions and finding proper solutions. The whole institutional paraphernalia related to arts and crafts industry in India needs streamlining, with incentives introduced to encourage this small and medium sector industry. This industry provides vocation and livelihood security to many marginalized sections of people in the Indian social set-up, which must be the prime object while adopting any policy and institutional changes in the country.
However, after more than fifty years of its evolution, Indian arts and crafts industry needs some soul-searching. Where are we headed? We need to examine the institutional structures and ask if this is the best method of functioning? What is the role of the government today and what should they be really doing? How valid are the overall structures and the divisions that had been made of the sector in 1954 in today’s context? Are not they superfluous expenditures which continue to be incurred by the government? How effective are the different marketing corporations and associations? Is their turnover less than one per cent of the total handled by the private sector? Should the government continue to handle these institutions or should there be an attempt made to hand it over either to the crafts associations or to the voluntary sector? For that matter, what is the role of the Crafts Council of India and other voluntary organizations? Do they provide a platform for the crafts persons? Are they performing their role of being the protectors and motivators for the sector? Are they functioning as the voice of the crafts persons?
Going forward from here needs answering these questions and finding proper solutions. The whole institutional paraphernalia related to arts and crafts industry in India needs streamlining, with incentives introduced to encourage this small and medium sector industry. This industry provides vocation and livelihood security to many marginalized sections of people in the Indian social set-up, which must be the prime object while adopting any policy and institutional changes in the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment