CRAFT
Surviving change
BHARAT DOGRA
|
While exports can provide an increased income, unless sufficient care is taken it can also lead to a devaluation of the skills of craftspersons.
|
Photo: Bharat Dogra
Rough transition: Artisans at work.
SHAKUR AHMED ANSARI has spent over 45 years of his life making wooden combs with fine carving. Recalling his good days, he says with a disarming toothless smile, "When I was married I made a special comb for my bride Iqbal Bano which lasted for 12 years."
Today this once-proud artisan is reduced to selling coal and firewood in a small shop. He has carefully preserved two old combs which he brings out with some difficulty to show us.
Mahmood Hasan is a cabinetmaker master craftsman, widely respected for the quality of his products. Yet he is a badly disillusioned person. "After all my work, all my innovation and designs, I still face economic hardship," he says. His son Sarfaraz is even more bitter. "I've told my younger brother not to join the family work as this takes you nowhere," he says.
A chain of changes
Similar is the fate of many other artisans in the famous wood-carving centre of Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), which has been called the "wood city of India". As Sanjai Sharma, who helped set up the "Development Resource Centre" to help artisans and promote their products, says, "Even though exports helped to put Saharanpur on the world map for wood products, these also set in motion a chain of changes which worsened the condition of highly skilled craftsmen."
Export turnover from Saharanpur woodcrafts rose from Rs. 550 million in 1996-97 to Rs. 825 million in 1997-98, and further to Rs. 2,000 million in 2001-02. Why didn't the benefits reach skilled craftsmen?
Arshad Qureshi, Director of Tehreek, an NGO involved closely with this community, says, "In the old days, highly skilled master craftspersons, known as ustads, had a high social standing and took a lot of pride in the products fully identified with them. However export orders created a situation where the need to meet a big order for standardised products on time became more important. So a product was divided into a number of works which were sourced to different persons or units. It was no longer possible for an artisan to create a whole product. What is more, a certain amount of work had to be done within a day and it became difficult to give the same kind of care. When piece rate work became the norm, those who worked slowly to create better work sometimes earned less than those who worked quickly. In any case, mechanisation was introduced in more and more stages of work."
Devaluing skills
This led to a situation in which skills were devalued. Increasingly, the new generation got used to getting many parts of the work done by machines even though it is well known that the fine quality provided by skilled hands cannot be matched by machines. As Arshad says, "The craft was being gradually turned into an industry."
Sanjai Sharma adds, "On the one hand, machines were being introduced rapidly in many lines of work. However, as the work became more dependent on machines, electricity failures became very frequent and so the machines often could not run. When work had to be completed using generators run on costly diesel, this only meant that less money was available for artisans and workers. In the increasingly globalised world, where it is necessary to keep costs down to survive in the world market, the share of artisans and workers is getting reduced."
Mahmood Hasan says, "I know many skilled artisans who can't even afford two square meals a day." Arshad adds, "Some artisans have been forced to take up rickshaw-pulling or hawking, or else they've migrated. The next generation in the families of ustads is no longer keen to learn the family skills."
Creating opportunities
All this does not necessarily imply that exports are not good for artisans. It is clear, however, that exports need to be accompanied with efforts to protect highly skilled craftspersons and their invaluable skills. By using even five to 10 per cent of the total export earnings, centres for preserving skills and helping highly skilled craftspersons to continue their work in more helpful conditions can be created. In addition, opportunities can be widened by extending craft training to women.
Arshad Qureshi says, "Several women are keen to learn wood craft. Several master craftsmen will be only too willing to train them. Women can be trained particularly to make small, innovative toys which can be made easily in a workshop instead of being given out to many places."
With an eye on promoting small-scale work which can be done without electricity, Tehreek has already started bringing back tools and implements which were being forgotten in the midst of new trends for industrialisation and globalisation. Helped by a UNDP grant, they have even taken these tools to a village Bhagowala so that even distant villagers can learn this craft to supplement their income. "It will be a dream come true if we can create an enabling environment for several master craftsmen to pass on their skills to the next generation's new learners, including villagers and women."
Preserving skills
This mostly applies to other handicrafts as well. In 2000-01, India's turnover from handicrafts amounted to Rs. 163 billion, out of which Rs. 93 billion was from exports. About six million persons (57 lakhs) are employed directly in handicrafts. All this is targeted to expand further as per the government's plans, but it will be of crucial importance to keep the welfare of artisans and the preservation of their skills at the centre of plans for handicraft development.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Magazine
