Tripartite MoU to help Scheduled Caste artisans signed

A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on 20 February 2017 to help scheduled caste (SC) artisans in New Delhi.

The MoU signed among the National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles.

The MoU was signed in the presence of the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot and the Union Minister of Textiles ZubinIrani.

Senior officers of both the ministries, DC (Handicrafts) and NSFDC were also present on the occasion.

Features of the tripartite MoU

• The basic objective of the MoU is to help scheduled caste artisans and their families by promoting production and marketing of high value handicrafts products.

• The MoU strives to develop handicrafts, cane and bamboo, artificial jewellery, textiles (hand printed as well as hand embroidery), dolls and toys, stone carving and footwear sectors.

• All the MoU signing parties shall popularize the schemes of DC (Handicrafts) amongst the SC artisans through awareness programmes and advertisements in electronic as well as print media in artisan concentrated areas.

• The MoU signing parties will collaborate for capacity building, including skill upgradation and economic development of SC artisans and their families for achieving the desired outcome.

• Exhibitions and fairs shall be organized for providing marketing assistance to SC artisans for enhancing their earnings.

• Relevant skill development programmes will be organised for upgradation of skills of the Scheduled Caste Artisans in clusters and also for sharing knowledge and experience.

• These efforts will provide marketing linkage to SC artisans and entrepreneurs in the country.

Status of handicrafts sector in India

• Handicrafts sector is the second largest economic activity after agriculture.

• There are around 12 lakh scheduled castes artisans in the country.

• Most of the scheduled caste artisans are pursuing various handicrafts such as cane and bamboo in Assam, textiles (hand printed) in Gujarat and Punjab, metal wares in Uttar Pradesh, dolls and toys in Karnataka, theatre costumes and puppets in Andhra Pradesh.