Craft Clusters and Work in Rural India: An Exploration

With the farm sector continuing with unimpressive performance in terms of the growth of value of output, agricultural infrastructure and also sustained massive rise in the landless agricultural labourers, marginal and small farmers non-farm employment remains a potential source of local income and job generation. As an important source of non-farm livelihood option in villages and small towns in India artisans - drawing upon cultural heritage, traditional skills and entrepreneurship – have relied on local resources and, typically, served local demand. While the number of persons engaged in the huge variety of craft clusters (both handicrafts and handlooms) spread across the country is substantial there has been a systematic policy neglect of the problems faced by the crafts as well as the craftspersons. That state policies have hardly helped preserve and promote craft skills and business is justified by the fact that there is no reliable and comprehensive official statistics on the craft activities and that implies whatever schemes meant for artisans or their products would not be reaching most of the craftspersons. [GIDR Working paper No. 237].