Love that Sambalpuri sari from Odisha, that Maheshwari sari from Madhya Pradesh or that Kantha kurta from West Bengal? Want that piece of Dokra jewellery or necklaces created by the Bhil and Bhilala tribes of Gujarat; or you want to get your hands on Longpi pottery, Warli or Gond paintings?
All those who love to own pieces of Indian tribal art and craft but don’t have the time to visit a state emporium worry not.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) has joined hands with e-commerce portal Amazon Global to sell these products. You can now get these products at your doorstep just at the click of a mouse.
A Memorandum of Understanding between TRIFED and Amazon Global was signed at the India Habitat Centre on Friday at an event that included a fashion show in which models sashayed down the ramp donning tribal handlooms. The fashion show was followed by a skit on Ruma Devi, president of the Gramin Vikas Evam Chetna Sansthan (GVCS), Rajasthan. Recipient of the Nari Shakti Samman by the President of India, Ruma Devi set up GVCS to empower women artisans through Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
“We launched our website two years ago to aid socio-economic welfare of over 700 Indian tribes by removing the middlemen who were making all the profit for the hard work put in by these artisans,” says TRIFED Managing Director Pravir Krishna.
“There has been a four-fold increase in our sale in the last two years. In the beginning, we had just 1.5 lakh artisans associated with us. Today, we have over 13 lakh,” shares Krishna, adding that their collaboration with Amazon Global aims at creating awareness about Indian traditional arts and crafts and promoting these across the world.
Through Amazon, over 5,000 products of tribal Indian art will now be available in over 190 countries. Launched under TRIFED’s ‘Go Tribal’ campaign, the products have been classified under two categories viz the ‘Tribes of India Heritage Collection’ that sells handcrafted textiles like ikat, silk and pashmina; tribal jewellery like dhokra and banjara, gifts and pottery items and ‘Tribes of India Natural Collection’ which includes diverse coffees from Telangana, soaps from Uttarakhand, spices from Karnataka among others.
Apart from Amazon, these products are also available on Tribes India website (tribesindia.com). “Our Heritage Collection is over 1,000 years old and much in demand. The world is rising to the benefits of our coarse grains (ragi, bajra, etc.) and calling these superfoods. And we are now making these products available to them,” he remarks.
Renuka Singh Saruta, Union Minister of State Tribal Affairs, says, “Online market has no geographical boundaries! Through this initiative, we want to promote the tribal communities of India and their art while helping them to go global and providing them opportunities to attain a sustainable livelihood. Today’s youth is embracing native fashion and lifestyle more than ever, and it’s important to reach out to them.”