BENGALURU: As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rises to present the budget in the Lok Sabha on February 1, all eyes will be on her. People across the country will be keen on knowing what the Narendra Modi government’s diagnosis of current economic slowdown would be, and more importantly, its prescription to deal with it. The government may announce several measures to put the economy back on track and ease the burden on the vast middle-class. However, a small group of highly committed individuals in Karnataka and other parts of the country is looking well beyond the budget, and are advocating what they describe as ‘sacred economy’ as a long term and sustainable way to address the sluggish economy as well as environmental degradation and social strife.
According to the proponents of the sacred economy, the concept refers to the hand-making sector plus small sectors with 60 per cent labour and 40 per cent automation. Farm, handloom that comes under textiles ministry, khadi and village industries, handicraft, small and medium industries are all part of it. For many, the whole idea may sound abstract, but eminent people involved in the campaign and those supporting it feel it is not only practical but also inevitable.
Noted theatre director and Gandhian activist Prasanna, who undertook ‘satyagraha’, including a seven-day fast, to make the civil society and the government understand the importance of sacred economy, says, “Gandhiji tried it, but because we were not faced with the terrible tragedy (of environmental degradation), its goals were never actually realised. Now, it has to either succeed or we perish.” According to him, it is similar to the Gandhian policy — Do not destroy the machines, but reduce their usage as much as possible.
Although the handmade sector constitutes a large part of the economy, it is neither understood nor respected by the national authorities, says former chairman of Crafts Council of India and former director of National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, Ashoke Chatterjee. “They have a very limited understanding of the handmade sector as India’s huge advantage, both in terms of domestic as well as international markets. The challenge we are facing is that unless the economics of the sector is understood, all the contributions that the crafts make are very easy to ignore. But it is economics which is ultimately responsible for the livelihood of many millions of Indians,” says Chatterjee.
Challenges
The biggest challenge is that there is no database for the handmade sector. The ministry of textiles estimates that about 11 million artisans, including weavers are involved in the sector, but the actual number is likely to be much higher as the ministry is concerned with only some crafts and not all of them. “We are working with the government to establish a reliable database for the sector. Just now, it doesn’t exist, “says Chatterjee.
In fact, Prasanna and other members of the Gram Seva Sangh which is spearheading the movement are demanding that a separate ministry be formed to oversee the development of all the sectors that come under the sacred economy. They are currently under the administrative purview of 12 ministries of the Union government. Many prominent persons, including fashion commentator and industry expert Prasad Bidapa, social activist Medha Patkar and environment activist, food sovereignty advocate and anti-globalisation author Vandana Shiva wrote to the Prime Minister extending their support to the sacred economy movement.
“Over 20 per cent of India’s population is directly involved in what they call sacred economy, which encompasses the traditional skills in crafts and textiles sector. From agriculture and the production of heritage art right up to the retail end, there is a need to recognise and rejuvenate every single one of them,” Bidapa says.
According to the fashion designer, the government needs to revamp the skill programming to include the vast number of artisans in the country. “The beautiful textile art of India in particular needs to be revamped to create products with an international appeal. (It is) not a difficult task at all. Using Indian textiles, crafts and skills to create global products that could be sold through international retail chains like Ikea is a concept that needs to be encouraged across all platforms,” he says, adding: “This could change the very nature of employment in India, encouraging the next generation of artisans to join their family businesses and achieve prosperity and taking the sacred economy to great heights.”
Given the need to focus on automation and use of latest technologies to be able to sustain global competition, it is certainly a huge challenge to strike a balance between the labour intensive handmade sector and modern technology-driven industries.However, the push for the handmade sector is not against technology. As Chatterjee says, it has always been a challenge and even Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi faced it almost a century ago, but the difference was that people had respect for artisans.
“... Technology has always been part of the crafts sector. Charaka itself is a machine. If technology can reduce drudgery, it would help in terms of value addition. And if it can make the working environment safer, there is nothing wrong in it. All the time the benchmark should be whether the value of the hand is being respected or not and if it is enhancing craftsmanship or diluting it?” he says.
Lack of attention to handicrafts
The lack of adequate attention to the handmade sector is what many consider a cause of concern. For example, the handicrafts sector, which is the most important component of the sacred economy that Prasanna and others are talking about directly addresses 11 of the 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) which are the internationally accepted benchmark for progress today.
The sector has the lowest carbon footprint, addresses climate change and 10 other sustainable development goals including “responsible production and responsible consumption”, which is almost like a charter for the handmade sector. And yet, the sector has not been given adequate importance.
“Nowhere does the civil society or the government grab this advantage; nowhere do we tell the world and our own users that this is the relevance of craft in the 21st century. Because it addresses global challenges of today, that is what we should be doing and the sacred economy is all about that,” says Chatterjee.
“It should be understood as a solution to the most important challenge the planet is facing today. But we are still going around with our old arguments and mantras that we pull out, which may be useful but for the new generation, they are not central. We have to get the Indian authorities to wake up to the fact that this is an engine of economic growth. And if you let the advantage slip, then you will lose an opportunity which will never come back,” he adds.
For now, Prasanna and others are not even looking at the February 1 budget as they are aware that it is going to be a long-drawn struggle before the government wakes up to the importance of the sacred economy.All that they are focusing on is to spread awareness among people and the authorities. “Sacred economy will do good to all without any political divisions. We don’t want political divisions in this matter as that will not take us anywhere. It is a much larger question of saving the civilisation itself,” he adds.
Sacred sectors
All sectors with a minimum of 60 per cent human labour and 60 per cent local raw materials and less than 40 per cent use of automation and less than 40 per cent imported raw materials. According to Gram Seva Sangha, if khadi is hundred per cent sacred, handloom is 80 per cent sacred and powerloom
60 per cent sacred.
Advantages
Creates jobs
Environment-friendly
Helps address climate change concerns
Creates a better social environment without strife
Reduces pressure on cities
Helps revive villages and reduces migration to urban areas
Some push
After members of Gram Seva Sangh and other prominent persons met him and discussed the need for the sacred economy, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Pratap Chandra Sarangi, wrote to the NITI Aayog to look into the demands. In his letter to NITI Aayog’s vice-chairman, the minister acknowledged that they flagged certain fundamental issues of the economic policies involving multiple sectors.
The handmade sector helps preserve traditional art forms which are facing existential threat due to competition from big firms. Traditional art forms are also a source of innovation and creativity and that is one of the reasons why China, Japan and several other counties are investing big in the sector.