Dangaria Kandha, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) of Rayagada district, is gifted with tie and dye skill. Their shawl known as “Kapda Gunda”, which is hand woven with yarn having natural colours, is very famous.
During a recent awareness workshop organised by the office of Development Commissioner(handicrafts) under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Textiles, outgoing Collector Pramod Kumar Behera as chief guest deliberated the need to conserve the tie and dye skill of the Dangaria tribe.He emphasised on conducting researches on their products. Deputy Director Shailaja from the Union Ministry complemented the Collector by saying that R&D for these kind of creative products is necessary to sustain their aesthetic value. “My Ministry is committed to take this process forward," she said.
Scribe Badal Kumar Tah suggested to hire the services of professional designers from Industrial Design Centre, IIT, Mumbai and NID-Ahmedabad and requested the district administration to provide logistics.Participating as a guests of honour, General Manager, Regional Industries Centre, Rayagada, Bikash Chandra Baina clarified some bottlenecks faced by the entrepreneurs in e-marketing and their simple solutions.
He assured to synthesise the efforts of the Textile Ministry with available schemes. Project Manager of Odisha PVTG Empowerment and Livelihoods Improvement Programme (OPELIP) at Dangaria Kandha Development Agency (DKDA), Chatikana, Bissam Cuttack, Sudarshan Padhi explained the steps taken for improvement of the handicrafts of Dangaria Kandhas, especially the technical training of women from the community. He stressed upon the training of trainers for producing more weavers and craftspersons. As a token of recognition to the traditional craftspersons, 66 ID cards from Ministry of Textiles were distributed amongDangaria tribals from Khambesu village and Dhokra artisans from Gotiguda village. Sewing machines were also distributed.