“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now that time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of today’s midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” These thoughtful words, spoken by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947, introduced the world to the free nation of India. This year India celebrated its 70th Independence Day. And it was a momentous month for Sasha and SSA as well. We all got together for our Annual producer Group meeting.
Annual Producer Group Meeting
This year Sasha Annual Producer Group Meeting was held at Bolpur, near Santiniketan. Our Producer Group leaders – Susoma Purokait, Khuku Khanra & Dambaru Dhar Behera lighted the ceremonial lamp. Ms. Sujata Goswami presented a brief presentation on Sasha last year business review and future prospects for PGs. Along with this, Roshni Mukherjee presented the annual activity of SSA. This year we had eminent international designers Jogi Panghaal & Naga Nandini Dasgupta, both very close associates of Sasha for the meeting. Apart for the customary business and producer group feedback sessions, a special workshop was organized on the theme-“Skills, Designs & Markets”, co-facilitated by Jogi and Nandini. This was much appreciated as everyone got involved. The selection of board members for Sasha Association for Craft Producer was also completed. Ms. Bharati Ray, Mr. Samaresh Pal, Mr. Abani Paik, Ms. Sagarica Das, Mr. Arun Khatua & Mr. Dilip Das are the producer representatives on the board of SACP.
Retail Management workshop
SSA organized a Retail Management workshop in Delhi under the SOIR –IM project with the objective to improve the understanding of the grassroots producers on the changing scenario of handicraft retail and the various opportunities that it presents. Mrs. Manjari Nirula, Kamala, Mr. Roshan & Mr Sourav, GoCoop, Ms. Laila Tyabji, Dastkar, Mrs. Sumita Ghose, Rangsutra and Mrs. Meera Goradiya, Jaypore accepted our invitation to join as resource persons. Participants came from various parts of the country including Bihar, Ladakh, Varanasi, Jaipur and Tibetan refugee settlements in Uttarakhand. This workshop was well appreciated by the participants.
Business skill development programme
The second phase of Business skill development programme with migrant women SHGs in West Delhi was organized by SSA this month. A group of one hundred and forty-seven women participated for inputs on enterprise orientation and market readiness for the community women.
OIMO festival
The OIMO festival is an annual 10-day cultural event and crafts fair that takes place in Kyrgyzstan, the heart of Central Asia, with representatives from 6 countries. Sasha participated in the exhibition this year in collaboration with AIACA, under the banner of Craftmark. These activities included participating in the OIMO craft exhibition and later extending this to exposure visits to artisan villages to share traditional knowledge of craft skill and practices. Rita Naskar represented Sasha in the event.
Urban Attires
On 16th August Sasha store inaugurated an exhibition with ‘Urban Attires’ for women and children. A fashionable collection of blouses, kurtis, shirts and bottoms in plains and prints in handwoven fabric in cottons and muls were available. Also, new designs in jewellery and fun crafts for the children were in the stock! The exhibition continued till 30th August.
We also celebrated #IWEARHANDLOOM FRIDAY this month, to strengthen our mission to support and develop the Handloom sector.
Stay tuned for more interesting news from on and off the field. Tsutra and Parama will be back in September again!