Skill development is the buzzword in India as Union Government has invested a lot of resources in it, and when it comes to skilled artisans and that too in remote areas, the issue become more critical.
Thanks to the efforts of Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), Mana, the last Indian village from the border of India and Tibet/China in the Himalayas, is one of the best examples to show how skill development has worked in a remote area.
Here’s it’s important to note that Mana village has been designated as a ‘Tourism Village’ by the Uttarakhand Government. Just 3 km away from the town of Badrinath, Mana, at an altitude of 12,000 ft., remains one of best tourist attractions near Badrinath.
EPCH has undertaken skill, design development, infrastructure creation, marketing linkages thus providing both backward and forward linkages to the artisans of this village.
Total 40 artisans of the village got trained; however, there were many challenges such as the high altitude of the village, lack of skill and design input, decentralised distribution of inhabitants and the unwillingness of the new generation to take forward their traditional crafts owing to urbanisation.
Keeping this in view, EPCH-empanelled designer and two master-craft persons from Barmer have been deputed in the village for a period of 5 months to train the artisans of Mana and new product development.
Notably, these activities were carried out in association with SVHM (Swami Vivekanand Health Mission) and with support from the office of Development Commissioner Handicrafts, (Ministry of Textiles).
The products produced in Mana lacked new designs and product adaptation leading to lesser selling opportunities and also migration of artisans from the native place. The items traditionally produced here included raw wool products like Pankhi Shawl, Khes, woollens, etc.
Speaking about the initiatives, Rakesh Kumar, Director General, EPCH, believes “These initiatives will help to bring back the population migrated to cities and increase the local sales as well as exports of handicrafts being produced in this village.”
To promote the production of this village and to give international exposure to the local artisans, EPCH during the last edition of IHGF-Delhi Fair Autumn had taken initiative to bring the artisans to participate in the fair. And for the same, a team of designers including master craft persons from Barmer and Jaipur were deputed well before the show to Mana village so that new products as per International trends can be developed into high fashion items such as garments and accessories to showcase during the fair.
Recognising the efforts, Trivendra Singh Rawat, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand felicitated the team of EPCH for its initiatives in the village.
