Handicrafts constitute an important segment of the decentralized/unorganized sector of our economy. Started as a part time activity in rural areas, it has now transformed into a flourishing economic activity due to significant market demand over the year.
Handicrafts have big potential as they hold key for sustaining not only the existing set of millions of artisans spread over length and breadth of the country, but also to increasingly large number of new entrants in the crafts activity. Presently, handicrafts are contributing substantially in employment generation, and export.
The handicrafts sector has suffered from basic problems of being in the unorganized sector with additional constraints like lack of education, capital, poor exposure to new technologies, absence of market intelligence and poor institutional framework.
These problems have been further aggravated due to lack of proper care on the welfare of the artisans. In order to address the welfare needs in terms of health & dwelling insurance, this scheme is expected to benefit the handicraft artisans immensely.