Problems and Challenges Faced by Handicraft Artisans

Handicrafts have a great potential to provide employment opportunities to millions of artisans spread over length and breadth of the country, as most of the artisans have inherent art to be converted in to occupation. Women of Gujarat are very prosperous in the art of ‘Needle and Thread’. Generally they are used to do such work for their domestic use. But now a days, such products are demanded everywhere. They require professional touch as per the requirement of demand of the market. Government tries to uplift the art and artisans through various programmes and policies. Despite of various government and non government efforts, the reality is not satisfactory. The handicraft artisans suffer a lot due to being unorganized, lack of education, low capital, poor exposure to new technologies, absence of market intelligence and a poor institutional framework. Key Words: Problems, Challenges, Artisans, Handicraft Policy