SRINAGAR, SEPTEMBER 22, KDC: In a bid to revive the crafts of Glazed Pottery and Copperware in Kashmir, the Union Ministry of Textiles has sanctioned two training programmes under the Guru Shishya Hastshilp component of the flagship National Handicrafts Development Programme (NHDP).
An amount of ₹14.90 lakh has been sanctioned in favour of Craft Development Institute (CDI) Srinagar for conducting the twin trainings.
In a press release issued today, a spokesman of the Handicrafts and Handloom Department, Kashmir, stated that the office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) acceded to the department’s proposal for customised training to revive the fading crafts. “Each programme will be of a duration of two months wherein skill of 30 artisans each would be upgraded under the guidance of master craftsmen,” he added.
Glazed pottery was once used for household vessels, decorative tiles, kangris and ceremonial items. Over recent decades, it has been overshadowed by cheaper plastic, aluminium and machine-made ware, leaving only a small number of remaining artisans.
On the other hand, Copperware, or Kandkaari, which is amongst Kashmir’s oldest metal crafts and closely associated with Shehr-e-Khaas, has come under intense pressure from cheap imitations and shrinking artisan base.
The spokesman stated that ₹7.45 lakh each have been sanctioned by the Textiles Ministry for training in Glazed Pottery in clusters of Baramulla district and Copperware in district Srinagar. “The trainings have been designed in such a way that it takes care of wage compensation of artisans, honorarium of master craftsmen, space rent and training related equipment as well as compensation of raw material,” he added.
The programmes follow the traditional Guru–Shishya model of skill transfer, under which experienced master artisans mentor a new cohort of practitioners in techniques that have been passed down over generations but are now at the risk of being lost. “These courses are intended not only to upgrade existing skills but also to rebuild a working pipeline of trained hands in the two crafts,” the spokesman added.(KDC)
