INDIA is good at creating caste systems: from age-old prejudices of birth, community, and gender coexisting with newly coined ones born out of education, wealth, power and privilege. While old prejudices lose their rigid hold, new ones keep emerging-urban/rural, English speaking/vernacular speaking, literate/illiterate, down to the colour of one's skin. Additionally, parental ambition and prejudice downgrade the educational advantages of liberal arts versus science and technology. One serious consequence is positioning highly skilled traditional craftspeople on the lowest rung of the professional ladder.
It's Stockholm airport in Sweden, and Shanta, 23 years old and the youngest ever craftsperson to win the Master Craftsperson Award for her tribal embroidery, stands on top of an escalator for the first time in her life. She has flown in a plane, exhibited a major new work at one of Europe's premier art museums, danced with international artists, lectured at Sweden's Boras Design School, becoming the first Lambani to travel abroad. "Isn't there a World Cup for Embroidery" she asks. "I'm going to win it!" Why not? Embroidery should be given due recognition-as a creative art as well as a competitive career opportunity.
Elsewhere, Chandra Bhushan and Irfan Khatri are two young men with totally different skill sets and backgrounds, coming from different communities and areas of India. One is a Brahmin folk artist from Bihar, the other, a Muslim block printer from Kutch. But they share common, important links-they are both craftspeople, and have both received the prestigious National Master Craftsperson Award in 2005.
More significantly, both Bhushan and Khatri, like Shanta, are successfully practicing craft as an 'economic' rather than a 'cultural' activity, at a time when many young craftspeople are leaving the sector in search of other more lucrative careers and stable employment.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 11, 2023-Ausgabe von Outlook.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 11, 2023-Ausgabe von Outlook.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
My Secular Mentor
A rare psychologist of Indian culture, Sudhir Kakar leaves behind seminal works that will have relevance for many generations
Battle of the Bahubalis
Gangsters in Bihar no longer enjoy the kind of dominance that they did in the 90s, but that has not kept them away from politics
Memories of Riots
Have frequent communal tensions changed the social fabric of Bihar?
Didi's Achilles Heel
Mamata Banerjee stays the course but her party, plagued by corruption charges, spins out of control
Memory Metamorphosis
What happened on March 14, 2007 in Nandigram? People still ask this question as they take part in the dance of democracy
Minority Report
He has not lost the Dhubri seat in Assam since 2009. Now he is fighting for political survival as Bengali Muslims look to favour the Congress
THE POWER OF PURPOSE
Doing good is good business as it transcends bottom lines and impacts lives positively, yielding profits that go beyond numbers.
CURRENT FARMING METHODS ARE EXACERBATING CLIMATE CHANGE
Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) project is supporting transition of 850,000 farmers covering 377,801 hectares of land and operating in 3730 villages. \"Natural farming is in harmony with nature. It is a holistic land management practice that leverages the power of photosynthesis in plants\", says Mr. T Vijay Kumar, a retired IAS officer, who is the Executive Vice Chairman of Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, a non-profit organization set up by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2014. Since 2016, this platform has been utilized to integrate and promote APCNF activities, aimed at fostering the overall development and empowerment of farmers. Excerpts from an interview with Mr T Vijay Kumar:
IN PURSUIT OF SUSTAINABILITY
Harshavardhana Gourineni, Executive Director, Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Ltd, in an interview shares how through its products and operations the company is helping reduce carbon footprints and meet SDGs. Excerpts:
COOLING NO MORE A LUXURY, BUT A NECESSITY
With the rise in demand of air conditioners due to heat stress, sustainable air conditioning is the way forward to bring relief to people as well as manage emissions