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| What about marketing Jammu handicrafts? | | | ET Special Correspondent
Jammu | Sep 21
The Chairperson All India Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Mrs. Kumud Joshi who was in Srinagar early this week, in connection with launch of nationwide SFURTI scheme from Srinagar, together with the state Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced setting up of two marketing plazas in Jammu and Kashmir to provide marketing facilities to rural handicrafts and products produce by the rural artisans. The Kashmir handicrafts are quite popular not only all over the country, but also abroad and in the wake of terrorism bringing tourism to Kashmir at stand still, hitting hard the economy of the locals, it were the Kashmir handicrafts, which sustained the economy to some extent, with the same finding market in various parts of the country. In this respect the emphasis by the centre and the state government to provide fillip to the Kashmiri handicrafts and providing marketing facilities for the same can be quite appreciated.
But what about the handicrafts and the products produced by rural artisans in various parts of Jammu region, where traditional trades are dying down with the passage of time and callous attitude of the government to check their extinction at the hands of imported substitutes. The pashmina and semi pashmina shawls produced by the artisans in Basohli in Kathua district of Jammu are of a highly fine quality. But due to the lack of any assistance by the government for their marketing in the country, not to speak of export abroad, the industry is facing crisis. Roughly even today there are about 50 units producing fine quality of Pashmina shawls and the latest craze among the young girls, scrowls (half the size of normal shawl). These are produced with handlooms setup in the homes of the artisans, who have acquired high skill, coming down to them from their forefathers. Although these can have good market and provide livelihood to a large section of people in the area but there are no avenues of their marketing at competitive rates.
Similar is the case with rough but very warm Ram Nagar blankets, which can hardly compete the rush of fine, but lacking in warmth, synthetic blankets imported into Indian markets as well as in Jammu and Kashmir from China and Hong Kong. Whereas a Ram Nagar made rough but highly warm blanket costs not less than 800 to 1000 rupees, the synthetic Chinese blanket is available at Rs 500 per piece in Jammu market, pushing the local products out of market.
Whereas both pashmina shawls of Basohli and blankets of Ram Nagar are manufactured from wool acquired from the local sheep, the population of which too is on decline, the imported blankets and shawls manufactured in Amritsar from synthetic material, cost much less and find a ready market in the country as well as in our state. Lack of marketing facilities and required assistance from the government to sustain this local industry is causing great strain on the rural artisans.
Muzaffar Hussain, from Basohli, who goes to various parts of the country for marketing Basohli pashmina and semi pashmina shawls expressed anguish over the declining fortunes of his trade. He told this correspondent that although he has put up his shawls in the handicraft exhibitions held in Jammu as well as at Katra, his sale was almost nil. Despite these fine shawls having craze with the women folk of well to do families in India and also abroad, particularly among the wealthy Indians there, but for want of marketing facilities and proper guidance and assistance from the government, the economic lot of the manufacturers as well as local traders is dismal.
One can hope and expect that the Chief Minister as well as the central Khadi and Village Industries Commission will take notice and come forward to save this rural handicraft from going to dogs.
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