I am indeed delighted to inaugurate the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Handicrafts Resurgence in India. It is also a proud moment for me to honour 10 selected eminent craftspersons as "Shilp Gurus", whose exemplary conviction and dedication has put the handicrafts sector on the path of resurgence. In the vision for developed India, rural development is one of the important requirements. And, handicrafts play a major role for rural development because India has the core competence in handicrafts in her villages in the mountains, deserts and coastal regions.

As you all know, I come from Rameswaram island. I remember, it was in 1940s, the palm leaf baskets were made in many houses for their earning. This activity was supposed to be an additional unstructured small-scale business. Each day, a trader used to pay and collect all the finished products from these craftspeople. Even in Pulicat, near Chennai, craftswork is predominantly done. Also, during my young days at Rameswaram, I have seen, many houses were involved in sea shells craftswork. They used to get these shells from the sea, clean it with acid and do etching. These come out in beautiful shapes and wonderful art work. The craftswork and handicrafts, what I have seen in Ramanathapuram district and many other parts of our country should be nurtured with value addition.

During the last two year I have visited 15 States and Union Territories and I found, every State has a unique craftsmanship, but the income is not proportionate to the effort and time of each craftsman in making the handicrafts products. Time has come to view that craftsmanship is made part of the economy through mission mode operation. During my recent visits to five North Eastern States, I observed one in every fourteen of the population depends on handicrafts. These products can be clothing, hardware, tools or even headgear for various applications for their daily use. They not only speak of the culture and beauty, but also reveal that the people depend on handicrafts for their earning. It is therefore, all the more important to solve problems associated with marketing handicrafts products with value addition through craftsman-friendly technologies integrating multiple departments in a mission mode. This will facilitate exploiting export market from the present Rs 6000 Crores to 60000 Crores per year in the next 5 years.

Knowledge powered rural complex

The work of craftspeople and artisans is the result of creativity. This creativity comes from traditional knowledge. The crafts products from this traditional knowledge are of constant attack from urban industrial and multinational products (e.g. palm leaf, coir and rubber products versus plastic products). The traditional knowledge is in isolation in rural environment. This traditional knowledge has to be integrated with technology with value addition and pro-active co-operative societies to empower craftspeople and artisans, making avenues for direct marketing/selling. Instead of craftspeople coming to urban marketing centres, the reverse phenomena have to take place. How is it possible? Knowledge powered village complex has to be generated in numbers in every State. That means, 20-30 villages linked through a circular road (10x6 kms) with highways connectivity and electronically connected and also continuous functional transport system. In the periphery, there can be schools, primary health centres, craftspeople working & training centres, silos for storage of products and markets for promoting products of craftspeople and cottage industries. This knowledge powered village complex will also have markets attracting urban business. The Regional Design and Technical Development Centres located in the cities need to move to rural areas. Mobile technology feeders for craftsmanship, support of design tools like CAD and Virtual Reality will further add value to the products to attract international market.

I have read, "Inner Recesses Outer Spaces" by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, "Visvakarma's Children" by Jaya Jaitley and "Indian Sculpture and Iconography" by Dr Ganapati Sthapathi. There may be many more books by the creators of art. When I read all these books, a thought came to my mind. These creators of arts must have a mission to spread their knowledge to thousands of artists as a profession and business opportunity.

Conclusion

I appreciate the initiative of Ministry of Textiles to honour the craftspersons as Shilp Gurus. It is a great opportunity for me to see such creators of arts. I am sure the initiatives taken by the Ministry of Textiles to empower craftspersons through inputs on design and technology and partnership with the NGOs and entrepreneurs will ensure sustainable development in this sector leading to a good share in the Indian economy. I greet the eminent Shilp Gurus who have been honoured today with the confidence that they will transmit their skill to many artists so that excellence continues to be the hallmark of our crafts.

Jai Hind!

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