Objective of the initiative:
An attempt to reduce the role of the middleman in some portions of the handicraft industry such as handloom and appliqué work along with an attempt to provide proper identity to such craftsmen.
Action Plan: The members of “IofC-Orissa” who took this initiative had an earlier brainstorming session regarding how to achieve their goal in this respect. So according to the schedule the 11 membered crew left Bhubaneswar on 01/01/06 at sharp 7.00 A.M. to their destination place Pipili (the centre of all kind of appliqué work in the whole state). The crew arrived there with all their accessories like video camera, still camera at 8:30 AM.
Execution of the Initiative: Just after all the arrangement were made properly, the crew started executing the program by first interacting with an appliqué worker (the data of such workers were previously acquired by visiting the handicraft market “Ekamra Hath” situated in Bhubaneswar and discussing the objectives of the mission with various persons over there).According to him, “no doubt these days the market for such product has got good acceptance but what we earn from these business is not enough to make it as our full time profession. We are engaged in appliqué work but we don’t wish to see our offspring also doing the same job of a craftsman. We are financially challenged but if the government supports us then things will change completely. We are making lampshades (for example) whose market price is in-between Rs.100 to Rs.150 depending on the model and amount of raw material used, but what are we paid???Not even one quarter of the price…” The crew had even received complaint against the bank situated in Pipili. According to one appliqué worker, “we have to stand in a queue for two long hours to en-cash a cheque and now you can think of how much time will it take for just getting a loan granted?
The situation in Pipili is still bad. There the crew collected data, shot video as well as still photos in order to make a documentary on the entire concern.
Crew: Surya,Spandan, Ellina, Varnita, Soumya, Sajid, Ashis, C’etna, Subhendu, Satyajeet.
Technical Specifications:
• Sony Handy Cam (model no: Hi8), Shooting mode: Two nos. of Sony Hi8 film with 16:9 aspect ratio.
• Two nos. of Kodak Croma Still camera with Kodak 400 film.
• Camera operator: Surya and Subhendu, Edition: Surya and Subhendu.
• Final CD conversion at Gayatri Photo Studio, Burla, Sambalpur-17.
