New Delhi, Jan. 15: The famed artisans and weavers of Arunachal Pradesh are fast losing their silken touch as the “lopsided” policy of the state government is pushing the handicrafts and handloom industry to the brink of a shutdown. Several projects are under way in the state for the development of these two sectors. But they are “suffering” from some deficiency or the other and not producing the “desired impact”, sources in the Union textiles ministry said.
According to state textile minister T.G. Rimpoche, “The state is not yet ready for commercial production of handicrafts as the schemes have been launched without taking some basic factors into consideration”.
The ongoing projects have made an impact only in certain areas like Itanagar and Ziro.
“The idea should be to go step by step, taking ground realities into consideration. This could also mean that a scheme that is successful in Assam or Tripura may not be so in our state because of the different set of circumstances,” the minister said.
Since upgradation of artisans’ skills is one of the basic requirements, there ought to be projects specifically aimed to achieve the objective, he added.
There are seven schemes for handicraft in the northeastern states, including export promotion, training of artisans, financial assistance to state enterprises, marketing support and services.
One more scheme, that focuses on strengthening the infrastructure, is pending with the Planning Commission.
Despite the existence of all these schemes, there was no participation by Arunachal in the trade fair here. The exhibition held last year at the India Habitat Centre also evoked lukewarm response from the state.
Highly-placed sources in the Union ministry of textiles conceded that results were not forthcoming because of the “shortsighted” approach of earlier schemes.
“We have realised our folly and changed our approach in the Tenth Plan. Since all earlier projects were functioning without co-ordination, there was bound to be unbalanced results. The focus now is on integration and connectivity,” a source said.
In the Tenth Plan approach, there is a quality shift in terms of institutional capacity-building for better implementation of schemes, creating a brand image, promoting e-commerce and adopting a comprehensive artisan-centric attitude.
Rimpoche, however, said new schemes can be successful only if the state’s connectivity is improved and roads constructed connecting all the major towns.
Under the new scheme, four sites have been identified in the state at Itanagar, Ziro, Tawang and Naharlagun that will be developed as artisans’ clusters. These clusters will comprise self-help groups functioning as co-operative societies with the objective to turn them into “centres of excellence”.