Jharkhand artists are expert hands at handicrafts – Mr Kumar

20 Jul '09

5 min read

Listing out the different handicrafts he said, “They are mainly, craft items carved out of wood, stone carvings, which have depiction of stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, exquisite metal works, bamboo works - making of small baskets, show items, etc. out of bamboo, Paitkar paintings and tribal ornaments and the exquisite craftsmanship of the artists of Jharkhand can be judged by the state's delicately carved wooden as well as bamboo products. However, it is lamentable that the government of Jharkhand has so far failed in promoting and marketing these exclusive products, which may have resulted in a slow death for the handicrafts of Jharkhand, in the foreseeable future”.

Then we asked Mr Kumar to reveal the export potential of handicrafts from Jharkhand to which he replied by saying, “Jharcraft has been successful in reaching national level by successfully managing its outlets at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and in Ranchi itself. Moreover handloom and handicraft items found in our outlets are finding high demand in international markets”.

In fact Jharcraft is the only organization across the world to get an “Organic Certification” from one of the reputed US based international agency 'One Cert' and Jharcraft handlooms also carry the silk mark. Jharcraft has signed an MOU with The 'Handloom Handicraft Export Corporation of India' and an export house 'Morarka' for marketing its products in overseas markets and now it is moving ahead to initiate a tie-up with 'Wal-Mart', the biggest retailer in the world”.

To conclude the interview we asked him to tell us about the different schemes available for craftsmen in Jharkhand, to which he replied by saying, “There are many schemes available for craftsmen of Jharkhand like”;

•Jharcraft provides marketing platform to the artisans and weavers for the products produced by them.
•Providing financial assistance to the artisans.
•Providing raw materials and yarn support to the artisans and local weavers in order to support their production..
•Providing design assistance to the artisans through the design unit which consists of designers from the institutions like NID & NIFT.
•Providing online payment facilities to the artisans.
•Providing professional training to the artisans and time to time evaluation of its effectiveness on the basis of which they are stepped towards production.
•Implementation of various government schemes for the benefit of the artisans.
•Jharcraft provides health insurance facilities to the artisans. More than 5000 people are benefited under this scheme.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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