Jobs and skills: What crafts can do for rural areas

AMID the chatter about creating more jobs, the opportunities in promoting traditional skills and crafts tend to be overlooked. This is unfortunate because bolstering them takes economic growth to rural areas, disincentivizes migration and perpetuates talent that goes from one generation to another.   

Creating employment in India is complicated. Not all the pieces in the jigsaw can come together at the same time. Education, training and investments can’t be perfectly calibrated. India has lacked a vision for what can be done for its employable people, both young and ageing. The consequences are now visible in the widespread joblessness and frustration that is all around us. It is no solution to pull people out of villages and give them menial jobs.

This magazine has repeatedly highlighted the plight of workers in industries like construction and automobile parts. We have also shown in innumerable stories the value that gets created by connecting farmers and craftspeople to finance, markets and enabling technologies.

The talent and entrepreneurship in villages should not be overlooked. Our cover story from West Bengal in this issue highlights one more example of the opportunities that exist. In this case a voluntary organization, AHEAD Initiatives, is helping script a revival of Tussar, the exquisite silk.

The NGO has created a brand, Oikko, which combines Tussar with innovative prints made with vegetable dyes, to give Tantipara a modern presence and help it compete in urban markets.    

For a long while the weavers of Tantipara have been in decline despite producing beautiful Tussar because of the way markets have changed. Now they are getting noticed again.

Read the Cover Story

Squabbles between the Centre and the states are nothing new. But have the recent frictions descended into animosities with long-term consequences for governance in the country? We spoke to Anil Swarup, the veteran bureaucrat who has vast experience in dealing with this relationship.

Municipal waste has become a huge problem across cities largely because systematic efforts haven’t been made over the years to find solutions. The answer lies in segregation, recycling and composting. But how should these be done on a scale big enough to make a difference? We bring you an example from Bengaluru where the municipality has successfully collaborated with waste-pickers in a number of wards.

We also have for you our regular columns and features and the first in a new series on food streets in the Living section.