Skill, Labour, and Talent for MSMEs: The Modi government’s craft fair Hunar Haat, which enables micro-entrepreneurs involving artisans and craftsmen to showcase and sell their goods, has offered ‘employment and employment opportunities’ to more than 5.5 lakh artisans, craftsmen, and individuals connected with them in the previous about seven years, stated Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Sunday. “Target has been set to provide employment and employment opportunities to lakhs of more artisans, craftsmen through 75 Hunar Haats under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav,” the minister stated when sharing the programme facts for the 29th fair in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh from October 16 to 25.
Hunar Haat initiative was set up by the Minority Affairs Ministry as a element of the Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/ Crafts for Development (USTTAD) scheme that was launched on May 15, 2015, to focus on preserving the heritage of classic arts of minorities. Apart from the Vocal for Local theme, the upcoming fair would also showcase the theme of Best from Waste. Products made from made use of and discarded products in households such as plastic, paper, ply, wood, glass, ceramic, jute, cotton, wool, sugarcane pulp, paddy and wheat straw-stems, husk, and more will be obtainable at the haat, the minister stated.
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In May 2020, Naqvi had informed that the minority affairs ministry has began the method to register artisans and their indigenous goods on the public procurement portal Government e-Marketplace (GeM). “The step to take the “Hunar Haat” on on the net/digital platform and the GeM has received a tremendous response as the artisans and craftsmen are getting substantial scale on the net orders for their goods,” Naqvi stated in February this year in a statement by the ministry.
In September this year, the textiles ministry had informed that the initiative to enhance seller registration and onboarding of weavers and artisans launched by GeM in July last year saw 28,374 new artisans and 1,49,422 weavers onboarding the portal till August 30, 2021.
Artisans and weavers have been also been a important component of the seller base of e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart to provide more exposure and marketplace to classic handcrafted goods. For instance, Flipkart had curated a specific line of goods for artisans component of its Samarth programme for the Big Billion Days sale. Flipkart last month stated that the programme had grown 7x in sales considering the fact that last year and now impacts 9,50,000 livelihoods by supplying them with higher marketplace possibilities and hand-holding.