Cottage and Rural Industries in Madhya Pradesh and government efforts :

The craftsmen of Madhya Pradesh produce a rich variety of skillfully worked products. The weaves range from fine cottons and silks (both mulberry and tussar) to coarse and basic weaves. The crafts range from stone engraving, jewellery, terracotta and woodwork to bell-metal and textile printing. Products from simple bamboo items to teak and bamboo furniture, tribal motifs in metal to highly artistic brass statues, hand block-printed cotton materials to the elegant weaves of the Chanderi and Maheshwar silk sarees extol the skill of its artisans. The Handicraft & Handloom Development Corporation supports this wide range of handicrafts through capacity-building, intervention and comprehensive marketing strategy.

The Cottage and Rural Industries sector is the very bedrock of industrial development. It is this sector which contributes significantly to the industrialisation of far flung rural areas. The development of this sector is necessary for diversifying economic activity in rural areas, reducing pressure on land, and for effectively the challenge of unemployment and underemployment.

Government Initiatives :

1. Action Groups  be formed at the block, district and divisional levels. These Action Groups comprising officials and non-officials, will include eminent public persons, as well as, representatives of entrepreneurs and panchayats. These groups will be in touch with each other, pool their information, disseminate it among entrepreneurs and recommend measures for facilitating and strengthening rural industrialisation. The Working Group at the divisional level will also be in touch with the State Government and agencies of the Government of India, as well as voluntary organisations on matters like new technologies, linkages, export possibilities and opportunities for cottage and rural industrial units. The divisional level action Groups will be in close and continuous touch with Action Group at the district and block levels and will from time to time review the work being done by them.

2. Four thousand individuals will be trained every year for the next three years in the khadi & village industries sector, handlooms, handicrafts and leather crafts. They will be provided with necessary tools and instruments to help them gain employment.

3. It will be the government's endeavour to provide one lakh eighty thousand individuals with direct employment in village industries.

4. A project based approach encouraged with a view to systematise rural industrialisation. Towards this end efforts will be made to implement the district rural industries project of NABARD in a phased manner. Efforts will be made to implement the project in tribal districts.Efforts will be made to provide a viable linkage of the Cottage & Rural Industries sector with sources of raw materials, marketing outlets and financial institutions.

5. The Madhya Pradesh Laghu Udyog Nigam will explore the marketing possibilities for products of Cottage and Rural industries.The Store Purchase Rules will be amended and selected items will be reserved for the Cottage and Rural industries sector.

6. It will be ensured that Government purchase of all types of fabrics are made from the Madhya Pradesh Khadi & Gramodyog Board, the Madhya Pradesh Handloom Cooperative Society and the Madhya Pradesh State Textile Corporation. Entrepreneurs in the Cottage and Rural industries sector will be encouraged to form marketing co-operatives.

7. Government will formulate special schemes for encouraging production and marketing activities by entrepreneurs belonging to Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes and Other Backward Classes.Special attention will be paid to develop the silk industry. In order to give viable concrete shape to the approach of soil to silk, all possible facilities will be provided for every aspect like mulberry plantation, rearing of silk worms and reeling of cocoons. The area under the mulberry development programme will be increased.

8. The employment potential of silk industry will be tapped to provide more employment opportunities for the people. The silk centre established in the State will be utilised in the form of technical service centres, extension centres and seed production centres. Village panchayats will be actively involved in the development of silk industry. Production of cocoons in the private sector will be given priority. For this subsidies and loans will be given to cultivators. Till such time as proper arrangements are not in place for purchase of cocoons in the private sector cocoons will be purchased from cultivators at a support price. An inter-departmental committee will be set up to determine the support price. This committee will include not only official members but also representatives of cocoons producers.

9. The private sector will be encouraged to set up reeling units. Women in rural areas will be trained, under the Sericulture Directorate reeling Scheme, for hand reeling, reeling through charkhas and cottage basins. An inter-departmental committee will be set up to determine the price of cocoons for reeling units. The results of research carried out by the Central Silk Board will be examined in the research centres at Indore and Bastar. International cooperation will be sought for the all round development of the silk industry.

10. The technology of khadi & village industries will be upgraded to increase their viability. The traditional technology of cottage industries will be modernised. The Madhya Pradesh Khadi & Village Industries Board will make available raw material to village industries and also make arrangements for the marketing of their produce. An effort will be made to establish one thousand eight hundred units every year through the Madhya Pradesh Khadi & Village Industries Board.

11.Government will pay close attention to the development of the Handloom Sector Yarn will be made available to weavers at a fair price and the programme for modernising handlooms will be expanded. Weavers will be provided with Sahe Capital Subsidy through cooperative societies. General Insurance Scheme, Savings Schemes and Health Schemes for weavers will be expanded.

12. In accordance with the policy of the Government of India, five thousand handloom weavers engaged in the production of Janata garments will be provided training for skills upgradation by the end of the Eighth Five Year Plan, so that they are able to produce high quality handloom fabrics.

13.  Those handloom weavers' cooperative societies which have exhausted their credit limits and are unable to provide employment opportunities to their members will be rehabilitated so that, they become viable once again and provide employment opportunities to their members.

14. Yarn depots will be set up in areas with a concentration of weavers so that, yarn is available at a fair price to handloom weavers throughout the year.

15. Dyeing and printing facilities will be developed in the State for handloom fabrics, so that more employment opportunities are generated for those engaged in these sectors. Government, handloom training centres in the State will be developed in the form of development and research centres. The level of training will be upgraded.

16. The work of modernising old handlooms will continue. Efforts will be made to technologically upgrade traditional units.The Madhya Pradesh Handicrafts Development Corporation will organise intensive training programmes for village artisans. The Corporation will assist artisans in buying modern tools and establishing modern workshops. The Corporation will ensure regular supply of raw material and expansion of marketing facilities for their produce.

17. The Madhya Pradesh Handicrafts Development Corporation will be the nodal agency for handicrafts development, Every craftsperson will be given a pass book in which will be entered details of grant, loan, training and tools which have been given.

18. With a view to developing the Carpet Industry, private entrepreneurs will be encouraged to set up wool and dyeing plants. Craft persons will be encouraged to upgrade their skills, adopt new technique and develop new designs so that they can produce utility and art handicrafts in keeping with market demands.

There is tremendous potential in the State for the development of leather crafts in rural areas. The export potential of leather produce can open new vistas of development for rural areas. A training centre will be established to train rural leather workers in order to help them increase the marketability of their produce. The Madhya Pradesh Leather Development Corporation will strengthen collection centres and marketing arrangements and establish a network of modern tanneries.he situation in the powerloom industry in Burhanpur, Jabalpur and other towns will be reviewed and a time bound action plan will be drawn up for the developmetn of this sector. Cultivators hitherto required permission of the Forest Department to cut bamboo planted in their fields or courtyards. This restriction has now been removed. Cultivators can now cut bamboo planted in their fields or courtyards without the permission of the Forest Department . In those 23 districts, where there is natural growth of bamboo, the permission for transportation of the produce will now be given by the gram panchayat. In the other 22 districts, the permission will be given by rangers. This will greatly encourage bamboo based crafts.