Jaitly, Jaya
With the onset of the new economic order in the early nineties, I believed that a special thrust had to be given to the craft sector to enable it to face the challenges of the coming decade. Crafts had to be looked at through hard economic mindsets rather than remain a part of a romantic-looking poster. This article was published in The Indian and World Arts and Crafts Journal in January, 1993 and reprinted in A Podium on the Pavement, New Delhi: USBPD, 2004. There are some favourite catchwords of the nineties which signify people's concerns and indicate an increased awareness of a new set of world values. Some of these are 'eco-friendly', 'women's issues', 'holistic development', 'crafts', 'vegetarianism' and 'organic' materials for health. These are a part of the concerns of those seeking more peaceful alternatives for survival in a world which continues to be overtaken by profit and poverty-poverty not just of the economic variety, but a depletion of the moral fibre of ideologies and of humanitarian concerns. Unfortunately, however, the real agenda is drawn up by those who speak of 'global markets' and a 'New Economic Order'. In this context it is important for all of us who are in some way involved in the propagation of our indigenous arts and crafts to shed the image of ourselves as the beautiful people of the crafts movement and see the situation as it really is. If we are prepared to do that we may manage to equip ourselves with enough commitment to convert our concerns int... |