NIZ-KACHULA, June 15 – There has been no real development in the field of terracotta in the rural areas. Even its popularity among the rural areas is declining day by day. The potter’s craft of terracotta is practised by two communities – Hira and Kumar since time immemorial for livelihood. There has been no development in the status of these two communities who have to work with little spirit without any up-to-date modern facilities. They have not got modern tools to develop their this old business. This tradition has been handed down from generation to generation without any break among these two communities of Assam. Speaking to The Assam Tribune, one Hari Chandra Das (50) of Nizkachula village under Goreswar block development office, 20 km away from Goreswar said, “terracotta has failed to develop as an up-to-date industry due to their poverty and also the laxity of the State government.”
They are economically too backward terracotta work has failed to earn income for maintaining their own families while it has failed also to earn international reputation for the State till date. The State is being deprived from a good amount of revenue which could have been earned by exporting this traditional craft of Assam, due to want of proper market except a few local markets. Terracotta is only sold in the local markets as it does not have any high demand in various national and international markets and consequently the artisans don’t earn much, according to Ganesh Das (educated unemployed youth) of Nizkachula village.
A whole range of terracotta products are made by the indigenous artisans like big kahi (dish), patcharau, bati, dhunarbati etc. The women of the said communities engage themselves in producing different products out of the ‘Hiramati’ raw materials and have been earning good money by selling these products as a medium of livelihood to remove the poverty alleviation which has dominated the handicraft scene of Assam since time immemorial.
The Kumars use the wheel to produce the potteries while Hiras do not use the wheel at all and all kinds of various sizes of potteries are handmade. Nowadays, the womenfolk of the Hira community are make the pots while their men help them in procuring and supply of the raw materials i.e. Hiramati and selling of the wares.
Both these two communities – Hira and Kumar have not received any training in this traditional industry. The government has not started any training facilities for these two communities to promote their skills with a view to provide adequate modern scope for their livelihood. Procuring the required raw materials – Hiramati is a tough task too and a highly expensive affair. They have to collect this raw materials from their own original village Dighilibeel (i.e Bongalagarh, six km away from Changsari Rly Chokigate). The carrying charge of the truck is Rs 2500 excluding labour charges of Rs 50 per head. However, they do not require to pay for the Hiramati as they collect it free of cost.
They have to carry this raw material from Maharipara to their Niz-Kachula village, nearly 8 km away by thela paying Rs 50 per thela resulting in the carrying charge of the rawmaterial becoming too high for comfort. On government subsidy has been received by the villagers as a help to run their business since long. The village of Niz-Kachula under Rangiya sub-division has 38 families. The villagers are underdeveloped on all sides. They don’t have sufficient agriculture land for farming. Each family has only two-three bighas of land which is insufficient to run their homes. On the otherhand, their traditional business – Terracotta has remained underdeveloped till date due to lack of proper developmental scheme in this regard. The State government has also failed to take initiatives to implement the scheme for development of the tradition.