West Bengal has chalked up an ambitious plan which will benefit five lakh artisans over the next five years after the successful rollout of 10 Rural Craft Hubs (RCH).
The RCH project was initiated in 2013 in collaboration with Unesco.
"We have been successfully completing the project signed between UNESCO and state's MSME department for setting up 10 RCHs in nine districts of the state and empowering 3,000 artisans in the programme.
"Now, government has decided to double the contribution to Rs 20 crore to cover 15,000 craft artisans and in five years, we plan to cover 5 lakh (0.5 million) craftsmen under new Rural Crafts and Cultural Hub," state MSME Secretary Rajiva Sinha said.
He was speaking at the concluding session of the international consultation on RCH project, in which 12 experts from different countries visited the hubs and recommended various aspects to improve the project, which aims to not only empower the artisans financially, but also ensure their social well-being.
He said the existing 10 hubs will be subsumed under the new project and more hubs will come up.
Unesco Section Chief Moe Chiba said West Bengal is the first state in the country where a department not connected to culture had invested in capacity building and preserving cultural heritage.
The state's MSME department has implemented the project at a cost of Rs 10 crore.
The project covered 'Sitalpati' weavers in Coochbehar, mask makers at Dakhin Dinajpur, 'Kantha' embroiderers at Birbhum, 'Dokra' makers at Bankura Bardhaman, 'Madurkathi' at Purba Medinipur, terracotta artisans at Bankura, wooden doll makers of Bardhaman and clay doll makers of Nadia.
Experts said these hubs have potential to turn into cultural tourism attractions.
