Uttar Pradesh’s traditional art and handiwork are set to get a major boost with famous designers joining hands with the state government to launch a major promotional drive under the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme.
Professional fashion designers such as Rina Dhaka, Ritu Berry, Manish Malhotra and JJ Balaya will not only give art-based knowledge to the artisans of Uttar Pradesh but also provide them with attractive packaging, branding and marketing of their products.
The ODOP scheme encourages Uttar Pradesh’s indigenous and specialised products and crafts.
Rina Dhaka, renowned as ‘The Gaultier of the East’, met Additional Chief Secretary (MSME and Export Promotion) Navneet Sehgal and made a similar proposal on her behalf.
“The tie-up with the fashion designers will not only fortify the ‘backward linkage’ with the traditional industries but also strengthen the ‘forward linkage’ value chain as well as going forward,” Sehgal said.
The traditional industries and crafts of UP lined up for promotion in the first phase include ethnic fabrics and textiles such as chikan and khadi, home décor, perfumes, carpets, leather products, and handicrafts.
Rina, an awardee of the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award and the Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award, said, “Fashion is an aspiration. From creating products related to lifestyle, comfort and craft to the fact that it is all indigenously produced, there is a genuine need to help the artisan and we are looking for buyers.”
Under the ODOP scheme, traditional products include textile products of Ambedkar Nagar, Mau, Etawah and Barabanki, textile printing of Budaun, Kasganj, Shahjahanpur, Chandauli and Bareilly, zari zardozi of Unnao, carpets of Bhadohi, Sonbhadra and Mirzapur, and ready-made garments of Gautam Buddha Nagar.
“There are many garments and handloom products of Hardoi, woollen carpets of Jaunpur, banana fibre of Kushinagar, zari silk sarees of Lalitpur, chikankari and zari zardozi of Lucknow and silk sarees of Varanasi which, with little effort, can dominate the global fashion world,” Rina said.
She said the ODOP scheme would not only augment the income of the artisans but also improve their socio-economic and living standards
Rina met the craftsmen of zari-zardozi in Unnao on Tuesday to get information about their working style, machines, technology and market.
Sehgal said that work was going on at different levels to provide craftsmen with necessary training in terms of modernity.
“They will also get guidance from renowned designers of the fashion industry, who will not only give a new identity to the art of UP but will also help the craftsmen get a new market,” he said.