Promoting the Indigenous Crafts to Support the Rural Economy

Abstract

Millions of individuals in India rely on their expertise in traditional crafts to provide for their families. The traditional crafts industry employs a significant portion of India's informal workforce (about 330 million people). It is also important to note the UNESCO/(1997) ITC's definition of handicrafts as follows: 'Artisanal goods are those made by artisans, either fully by hand, or with the assistance of basic tools or even by mechanical methods, as long even as direct manual input of the artist remains the most major component of the completed product. The completed goods are unique because of their specific characteristics, which might be practical, aesthetically pleasing, inventive, culturally rooted, ornamental, useful, traditional, spiritually symbolic, or socially meaningful.