By Aditya Desai

Nairita Ghosh Shashank Jalani Shruthi Krishnan Vaishali Kasture

Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (PG), Pune

‘India is my country.’ Each time a citizen of India utters this statement it should be with a great amount of pride and joy. Because we come from a land rich in culture and heritage that seeps out from every corner of the country. And this culture and heritage is what makes India the crown jewel in the crown called the world. Be it the walnut wood craft of Kashmir or the leather handicrafts from Kanpur or the Madhubani paintings of Orissa and Bihar or the various elegant dance forms such as Yakshagna from Andhra Pradesh, Tamasha from Maharashtra, Jayantiya from Maghalaya; each handicraft is unique with a piece of tradition and history woven into its creation giving an end product that holds in it a piece of the heart of India itself. But today in the race towards development, technology and the want to become the next super-power, it is this art and its encompassing history the Maharajas of India once so proudly showcased, has taken a hit. With development and mass manufacturing coming into play these art forms and handicrafts are slowly fading into darkness. And as India walks down the path to financial and social growth, it is for us to question at what cost are we willing to move forward. Should the culture imbibed in the rich amalgamation of arts and crafts pay the price of development or should we, as pioneers of this great country, do all it takes to keep the heritage of India alive?

•According to data available in 2005, the unorganised sector accounted for 395 million persons or 86 per cent of the work force. •Most of these workers (253 million) were engaged in agriculture and who are mainly self-employed. Together with the 29 million in unorganised employment in the formal sector, there were 422.6 million persons in the unorganised economy (sector plus employment) who comprise 92.4 per cent of the work force. •The labour sector of the Indian economy consists of roughly 487 million workers, the second largest after China. Of these over 94 percent work in unincorporated, unorganised enterprises ranging from pushcart vendors to home-based diamond and gem polishing operations to local small-scale informal artisans.

There are a hundred problems plaguing India, 14 of which have

been articulated. We, the members of Team Impromptu

believe that everyone should live a life doing what they are

passionate about. Because it is only passion that spews skills.

What is lacking today is the presence of equal opportunities

for people to showcase and make use of their skills positively. And this is the problem that we as a

team have addressed with special focus on the glass handicrafts

industry in Firozabad

The path followed by us

Problem Identification

Primary Research

Root Cause Analysis

Solution

Secondary Research

Cons Pros

Future Project

•Known for the intricate glass bangles and bead work special to Firozabad, this town has always been known as the ‘Glass Capital’ of India. Today Firozabad, the glass city of India, has 75% of its population involved in glass industry directly or indirectly. Firozabad accounts for 70% of the total glass produced by the small scale sector in India generating employment to more than 2 lakh informal sector workers. •While the large-scale glass manufacturing industry is well set-up here, Firozabad is more well known for the glass handicrafts it produces. Since 1989, Firozabad has produced artistic glassware in different colours and shades used in chandeliers and other items such as glass art ware, glass hardware and glass domestic ware. About 400 glass industries are registered in Firozabad, making different types of glass products. Half of the production of these units is exported. •Firozabad is more importantly known as the ‘Bead Capital’ of the world. Known for the unique colours and patterns specific to beads made here, beads are exported the world over. However, in the past couple of years the demand for glass artworks and beads from Firozabad has been dropping at a steady and alarming rate. •To protect the art form from dying out, the Government of India has established the Centre for the Development of Glass Industry (CDGI) in 1992 in collaboration with UNDP, UNIDO & Govt of UP at Firozabad. CDGI focuses on providing Developmental and Technological Support services to the small scale industries and also runs short term ISO Certified training programs that are approved by the Ministry of MSME, Government of India. •However, outside Firozabad CDGI or its work is hardly known whereas the demand for customised and unique glass artefacts is high across the world. This lack of awareness about the work done by the Government through CDGI is resulting in the art not getting its due credit and recognition •The lack of awareness and therefore the declining interest in the glass craft is decelerating the growth curve of the Glass Artefacts Industry.

•The major glass producing countries in the world are Germany, USA, UK, China and Japan. The major importing countries are USA, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and Australia. The main consuming regions are Europe, China and North America, that together account for 74 per cent of global demand for glass. •The total glass industry was worth INR 180 billion in 2010. The global glass industry generates about $75 billion in annual revenue. The Indian glass industry is pegged at $2.7 billion. Glass consumption growth is expected in construction (9%), automotive (19%), consumer goods (10%-12%) and pharmaceuticals (12%-15%) sectors. The per capita glass consumption in India for container glass is 1.2 kg, compared with 8-9 kg in developed countries and 30-35 kg in the US. •The industry is growing at around 8% per annum. Consumption per capita of glass in India is only about 0.8 kg compared to 3.5 kg in China, 5.2 kg in Thailand, 12 kg in Malaysia and 2.5 kg in Indonesia.

One of the advantage that the glass industry in India enjoys is that the cost of labor is relatively lower than its western counterparts, making it competitive in the international arena.

Problem Identification Secondary

Data Research

There are many issues plaguing the declining glass artworks business in Firozabad. Out of the many, some major issues occur due to the following limitations: •Low availability of uninterrupted power supply at lower rate •Lack of enhancing investment limits in Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises •Lack of good loan schemes for self employment for educated unemployed youths •Low presence of attractive interest subsidies for micro enterprises to attract more entrepreneurs to start new ventures •The biggest threat comes in the form of China, whose strategy of mass production of glass ware at relatively low costs is eating into the demand market for glass products from India. In China, the glass industry gets soda ash for making glass at very subsidized rates, but the actual subsidy is never declared. Since 2003, glass production in China has more than doubled. •Concurrently, production capacity in China has doubled since 2003 and increased more than three-fold since 2000. •In 2008, it contributed more than 31 percent of global glass production. China’s glass and glass-products industry received at least $30.3 billion in subsidies from 2004 to 2008, and China's flat glass sector received approximately $4.8 billion during that same period.

According to data and facts from an industry expert (name disclosed due to privacy issues), the following are a few issues pertaining to the glass industry in Firozabad: •95% of glass exports from India are from Firozabad •Child labor in the glass industry is rampant in Firozabad •Some major issues affecting the glass industry in Firozabad especially the artisans is the lack of sufficient micro-financing and entrepreneurial skills •Every work of glass art made by the artisans in Firozabad are unique in design, pattern and structure. Made by hand, no two pieces of glass artwork is exactly identical. Also, artisans are so skilled they are capable of producing customized glass artwork as per one’s instructions •The approximate cost of setting up an efficient glass furnace for producing glass artworks is 1 lakh •However, the development of technology and mass manufacturing in China has eaten into the demand market of glass produced in India •Morano, in Italy too has played a hand in taking a cut out of the slice of the demand for glass

Root Cause Analysis

Primary Research

Phase 1

• CDGI should implement glass work artisans in their existing facility. From giving them opportunities to hone their glasswork making skills to providing them entrepreneurial skills, CGDI should weave the artisans into their facility

• Creation of a glass museum by CGDI; host glassworks-making workshops

• Integration of fading dance forms with a choreographed glass show

Phase 2

• Creation of a brand that fuses dance and other arts- and handicrafts-making forms into a performance-based show that will be taken to a national and global stage

• Making use of media, especially social platforms and social media to promote this brand globally

Phase 3

• Adaption the above model for other dying art forms such as bamboo art of the North East; wooden handicrafts from Bastak, Madhya Pradesh and perfume making in Kannoj

Solution

Creativity At Its Best – Phase 1

Creativity At Its Best – Phase 2

Creativity At Its Best – Phase 3

•Steps involved – setting up of the necessary infrastructure at CDGI (museum/portable furnaces/glass blowers etc); logistics

(electricity, water, transportation); event production (stage set-up, banners, branding etc); Artist procurement & training;

Human resource Support to orchestrate the event, ticketing of the shows, promotional activities for the show, sponsorships &

branding partnerships and procuring permissions from the respective government bodies

•Associating with different artists at different locations &

integrating them into brand ‘Asmita’

•Costs Involved: artist cost, production cost, promotional cost, transportation & logistics cost

•Revenue sources: ticketing of shows, sale of artefacts,

workshop fee, revenue from the digital medium (own YouTube channel) & sponsorships

•The profits made through this exercise can be ploughed back

as well as used to make the artisans self-reliant and also enhance their standard of living

The Implementation

•Growth of tourism –

national & international •Employment

opportunities – both permanent & temporary

for artisans & other informal sector workers •Development of ancillary industries like packaging &

transportation, •Promotion of art forms from different parts of

India

•Logistical hurdles

(orchestration of event, hospitality etc ) •Legal issues like

permissions & patent/copyright issues •Competition from the

formal sector (big players) operating in this industry

•Financial issues

• Success of this model will bring the informal sector workers into the formal sector

• One of the biggest boost from this exercise is that there will be financial

inclusion of these informal sector workers and hence will open up opportunities for them to be self-reliant (eg. Glass entrepreneurs)

• Through this the exports will increase significantly and this in turn would

help in currency appreciation and therefore more income for the informal sector

• These training institutes can help in enhancing the skills set of the

artisans and also impart the necessary business knowledge to become self reliant

• There will be overall development of the informal sector workers

through better incomes, better standard of living, increased literacy and community development

The Path to Sustainability for the Informal Sector

References

•http://www.msmediagra.gov.in/writereaddata/GLASS%20BANGLES.pdf •http://dcmsme.gov.in/dips/Firozabad.pdf •http://www.india-exports.com/handicraft.html •http://bookstore.teriin.org/docs/books/Firozabad%20glass%20industry%20cluster.pdf •http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/import/43162_FINAL_EVAL_REPORT_20000930_DPIND90010.pdf •http://epch.in/ChinaStudy/Report.pdf •http://ireda.gov.in/writereaddata/IREDA-InvestorManual.pdf •http://cdgiindia.com/gallery.htm •http://www.cmog.org/video/studio-demonstration-davide-fuin •http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_es/t_es_goyal_glass_frameset.htm •http://www.indiaheritage.org/creative/creative_woodcraft.htm •http://newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/article1280619.ece •http://www.electroglass.com/GAS_Paper.pdf •www.google.com •www.wikipedia.com