A Policy Framework for the Creative Pattachitra Artisans at the Crossroad of Financial Scarcity and Changing Trends

Abstract

The present paper introduces the handicraft known as pattachitra art, which personifies Odisha’s culture and spiritual observances. Pattachitra is a renowned traditional painting of Raghurajpur village in Puri, Odisha (formerly Orissa), Eastern India. The study aims to examine the artisan’s financial accessibility and the problems of financial scarcity confronted by them and to understand various approaches made by them to sustain their painting under changing trends. The study is a mixed method approach that includes a personal interview, observations, and rapid rural appraisal. It also includes SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), and ABC analysis, which helped to prepare a policy framework. Lastly, the paper has documented pictorial facts to show the innovative approaches adapted for sustaining this traditional art.

Revival of the traditional handicraft enterprising community in Pakistan

“…The handicraft industry is one of the most critical sectors of national economies (Dana, 1999;Santamaría Aguirre and Lecuona L opez, 2017). The importance of this industry is accounted for sustainable economic development, alleviation of poverty, income and employment generation, as well as the preservation of cultural heritage (Anderson, 1982;Kanungo et al, 2020;Shafi, 2020). The local community enterprise development is one of the essential means for addressing pressing problems, including poverty (Davis and Ebbe, 1995;Peredo and Chrisman, 2006).…”

“…In Pakistan, handicraft workers mainly belong to economically vulnerable areas and often face a shortage of financial resources due to a large gap between their income and business needs (Kanungo et al, 2020;Makhdoom et al, 2016). These businesses are unable to obtain bank loans because they lack the necessary knowledge and skills in accounting practices, often do not record daily business transactions or poorly prepare accounting and financial documents and even cannot assure repayment (Anwar et al, 2019;Shafi, 2020;Shafi et al, 2020).…”

“…Usually, artisans prefer to get loans from intermediary agents, suppliers, wholesalers or moneylenders (Yang et al, 2018). Kanungo et al (2020) also maintain that most artisans prefer to borrow loans from relatives, friends and to some extent, local moneylenders or businesspersons. In some cases, the handicraft producers are paid only for their work.…”

“…At the same time, intermediary agents (such as wholesalers or suppliers) provide all the raw materials to artisans and receives the finished products. Additionally, due to distrust, corrupt practices, lack of understanding guidelines and anticipated issues with accessing the loans, many artisans do not intend to approach local banks for loans (Kanungo et al, 2020;Senz, 2020). Besides financial constraints, handicraft producers often possess low managerial and marketing skills that prevent them from selling their products more efficiently (Asngadi et al, 2020;Norasingh and Southammavong, 2017;Yang and Shafi, 2019).…”

“…Besides, low labor costs and highly skilled artisans involved in the production of crafts from generation to generation are also an asset for the country. The importance of this industry is accounted for sustainable economic development, alleviation of poverty, income and employment generation, as well as the preservation of cultural heritage (Anderson, 1982;Kanungo et al, 2020;Shafi, 2020). Particularly, the industry is the second-largest employment-generating sector in most developing countries, including Pakistan (Barber and Krivoshlykova, 2006;Grobar, 2019;Sohail, 2018).…”