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Industrialization and Artisans: Problems, Strategies and Prospects of Artisans in Himachal Pradesh, S.K. Sharma, Department of Sociology, HPU; Randhir Ranta and Vinod Rana, IIHS.

Since human beings have to depend upon some source for the management of their livelihood, they in Himachal Pradesh have been depending largely on agriculture and the government. Both the sectors have been the major source of employment to the people. But the increase in the rural population and the absence of occupational diversification and non-availability of the economic opportunities outside the primary sector of economy the problem of unemployment not only remained largely hidden but also increased over the years. Since this hill state has been having the tradition of manufacturing and weaving by the artisan groups in the private domain for the local consumption some effort to organize them can bring about considerable change in their life. The other important dimension in this case is that most of the activities of the artisans have remained in the rural areas and labour intensive, the employment generation policy perspective through the development of small scale artisan industry in the rural settings therefore would not be difficult to accomplish. The artisan industry appears to be a certain and definitive alternative but to make it effective also requires infra-structural development in the rural areas to become a base for further development. The infra-structural development needs include development of financial institutions for the mobilization as well as disbursement of capital, road and transport networks, markets and marketing facilities along with the development of agriculture and horticulture, and by stimulating the growth of household and small-scale handicrafts and cottage industries. The proposed strategy is practically viable as it is also neither new nor alien to hill people of Himachal Pradesh, a hill state in the western Himalayas, as certain castes and communities in different areas had been traditionally dependent on small-scale manufacturing, handicraft, handlooms and cottage industries in which they utilized the locally available raw materials and skills. The study aims at providing a systematic analysis on industrialization and artisans.  It evaluates the problems, strategies and prospects of artisans in Himachal Pradesh. It highlights significant socio-economic and policy implications in formulation of strategies in context of employment generation and promotion of art and culture. 

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