Malkha saree lovers please note that the red sarees that have recently come into stock have some colour banding. Some of us love this, some don't.

The Malkha catalogue

Here's the link to the current Malkha catalogue:
http://malkha.in/MalkhaCatalogue.pdf

Neglecting the artisan sector

Laila Tyabji in her article in the Indian Express on July 9* points out the discrepancies between Narender Modi's pro-crafts, pro artisan utterances, and the measly allotments for the sector in the new Budget. Nothing new, its a continuation of the UPA policies.
sorry got the date wrong, it appeared July16

Malkha is at the stage where the systems are beginning to be inadequate to service customers as quickly as we would like. This needs immediate action and we're working on it!

Malkha in Italy

An exhibition 'Gandhi e i tessitori della pace' was organized in Pisa, Italy, by Professors Roberto Barbuti and Marilina Betrò of the University of Pisa and Professor Simonetta Casci of the University of Pavia, at the Calci Museum in Pisa during the month of May this year.

Khadi and Malkha were available for sale and we heard recently that Malkha sold out in two hours!

strangling the handloom

Following the example of the earlier government, the new one seems bent on destroying the livelihoods of millions by starving the handloom industry of funds. Budget allocations for the last years have progressively declined! Why do our rulers not recognize the value of this industry, unique in the world, an eco-friendly, low-energy textile production system in which India leads the world? 

Artisan activity as part of 'Rural Development'

A meeting is to be held at the Ministry of Rural Development tomorrow, to look at the draft guidelines prepared by the Ministry to assist handweavers and other craftspersons under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission. Its a welcome step in a way, because  it means that artisans and weavers may possibly get some government support from a Ministry other than Textiles under which artisans and weavers have only a semi-visible existence. Also because it is an official recognition that artisan activity forms a major part of rural manufacture, and has tremendous scope for export.

At first reading the guidelines appear to be quite cumbersome and therefore daunting. It is not quite clear who exactly they are meant for. Is the government outsourcing the implementation to NGOs? Or are artisan groups themselves to form Self Help Groups and apply for the funding from the Ministry?

We presume that once they're finalized the guidelines will be available on the Ministry's website for all to comment on, including artisans themselves, who do not seem to have been consulted yet.