Poor Basket Makers fights to keep art alive - Early Times Newspaper Jammu Kashmir

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Poor Basket Makers fights to keep art alive

8/21/2018 11:45:58 PM

Arun Jasrotia

Early Times Report

Udhampur, Aug 21 : Once a flourishing cottage industry, basket making has lost its sheen. However, the basket makers are trying hard to keep the art alive.
To keep the traditional work alive, 15 to 20 families of Village Pinger in Tehsil Ramnagar of district Udhampur make baskets with bamboo to earn a livelihood. But to their dismay no help from government is forthcoming.
Many schemes were launched in handicraft department but it seems that these schemes have made no difference to basket makers. They live in miserable conditions due to lack of marketing.
The basket making involves buying bamboo and cutting and shving it. These strands are then placed criss-cross and weaved into a pattern.Thicker, flexible strands are used as the base, while thinner twigs are used to form the outer part. The bamboo strands should neither be wet nor very dry as they could break. Basket makers sure that they pick the tender strands because they are more flexible to bend and mould not an easier work they work hard but result is not in favour of them as they don't have any kind of help .
Vijay Kumar said that we are engaged in said work from last 15 years as our fore fathers started said work and we want to make our traditional work alive but we are still awaits for the help of government as well as department concerned . he added that if we get help from government than we able to make our traditional work running . he added we are engaged in making baskets (tokri) need help from government as we live in miserable condition not earn so much from said work but we want that we didn't shut our work as this is our traditional work if Government help them than they make more and more Baskets .
Kammi an Old age basket maker said now he is 62 year old and when he was a 12 year old kid he started work to make baskets.
He said that 15 to 20 families of our village engaged in said work but it's very hard to keep our traditional work alive.
He added that no one from government department came here to help them. We demanded that department come here in our village and give them some help so that we able to send our wards in school and make them educate them.

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