An analysis of problems faced by handicraft sector in Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Rajasthan is called as land of various tradition and culture. Handicraft is a part of expressing particular culture. When talking about handicrafts it again categorised into hand-made, semi-hand made and machine made. On the economic front handicraft exports contributed Rs. 3,343 crore to the export basket of Rajasthan in financial year 2018, accounting for 9% of the State's exports. Total exports of handicrafts from the country was Rs. 29,347 crore in 2016, and Rajasthan was one of leading contributors with a share of 11.4%. Share of Rajasthan in India's handicraft exports has been traditionally high. From times immemorial handicrafts have been an integral part of Jodhpur city’s culture and tradition..The objective of this research paper is to analyse the comprehensive problems faced by the artisans of Jodhpur at the on the ground there are many challenges like weak infrastructure, limited access to raw material, broken supply chains, poor marketing and an absence of consensus on what constitutes ‘handicraft’. Moreover the, artisans walk a tightrope between preserving traditional skills and innovating for the contemporary marketplace. The present study focuses on the problems being faced by the small scale handicraft industry and gives some suggestions for improvement. The secondary sources for collecting the data mainly observation method and various online journals, articles were used.