EXPAND
MARKETING FACILITY FOR RURAL ARTISANS : VICE
PRESIDENT
SARAS
2002 INAUGURATED
The Vice President
Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has urged the Government to expand
the marketing opportunities for rural products in order to support
rural artisans and craftsmen. This will ensure sustainable livelihood
for rural producers who are facing adverse climatic conditions.
Inaugurating SARAS 2002 Pavilion set up by the Ministry of Rural
Development and Council for Advancement of Peoples Action and
Rural Technologies (CAPART) at the India International Trade Fair
here today, he said, by encouraging rural art and crafts we can
combat poverty and unemployment. Underlining the importance of
packaging, Shri Shekhawat said that Government should provide
special training on packaging to rural artisans. He pointed out
that a detail survey should be carried out to find out problems
related to raw materials for rural craftsmen. He said that modalities
have to be worked out to purchase rural products by the Government.
There should be funds available with the Government for this purpose,
he added.
Minister for Rural
Development Shri Shanta Kumar said SARAS is an outstanding and
unique effort of the Ministry and CAPART to provide a platform
for developing marketing linkages for rural producers who are
below poverty line. He said SARAS has been envisaged with the
idea of enhancing rural entrepreneurship by providing the rural
families an outlet for marketing and sale of their products at
national and international level. Shri Shanta Kumar informed the
objective is to encourage non-farming sector in rural areas by
producing value goods to be sold in the urban areas. This will
alleviate the standard of living and prevent migration to bigger
cities. The Minister pointed out that marketing is a biggest issue
before artisans and SARAS has projected the capacity and caliber
of rural people to produce goods and artifacts for sale in urban
and international market.
Minister of State
for Rural Development Shri Subhash Maharia said that India is
a reservoir of talents. CAPART is the nodal agency of Ministry
of Rural Development that works with various ogranisations, NGOs
and individuals to improve rural infrastructure. Highlighting
the initiatives taken by CAPART, Shri Maharia said that in the
last few years, the Council has supported almost 10,000 voluntary
organizations with a funding of Rs.580 crore and assisted over
20,000 rural projects in various sectors such as rural technology,
rural arts and crafts, watershed development etc.
Shri Annasaheb M.K.Patil,
Minister of State for Rural Development, Shri R.P. Rudi, Minister
of State for Commerce, Shri M. Shankar, Secretary, Rural Development
were also present at the occasion.
More than 1500 rural
artisans are participating in SARAS 2002 in IITF with over 450
stalls. The participants include self help groups, NGOs, individual
swarozgaris and master craftsmen. Alongside the exhibition, various
workshops and seminars are also being organized for the participating
artisans on topics such as product development, cluster approach
and entrepreneurship development, packaging and quality control
and export promotion of SARAS products.
