Focus of the marketing and sales of handicrafts and handlooms if kept on reducing the role of middle men would surely bring back smiles on the gloomy faces of Valley artisans and also restore the pristine glory of Kashmir art. The handicrafts and handlooms is not just a local trade but an attraction for foreign tourists during peak summer months in Kashmir Valley. What matters the most is the fact that restoration of the pristine glory of local handicrafts and handlooms won’t just promote local art but it will also lead to economic empowerment of local artisans. Since the main motive of any trade is to raise the profit margin, the main concern of artisans of Kashmir is the marketing of the local product without the involvement of middlemen both within and outside Jammu & Kashmir. Keeping in view the fact that handicrafts and handlooms are part of the rural economy in Kashmir Valley, the Government had last year arranged an online platform for showcasing the handloom and handicrafts items of Kashmir valley with a broader motive of furthering the causes of bigger profitability for local artisans, craftsmen, weavers and other workers. So far so good but still possibilities for popularising the Kashmir’s handicraft and handloom products in domestic and international markets need to explored without the involvement of middlemen . The more the government showcases the Kashmir’s handicraft and handloom products in both the domestic and as well as international market the more surge in sales would bring more profitability to local artisans, craftsmen, weavers and other workers connected with Kashmir’s handicrafts and handloom sectors. The bigger grievance of Kashmir’s local artisan is that middlemen reduce the profit margins and henceforth exploit the gullible artisans for the purposes of raising their own profit margins. By all standards of understandabilities the government only can reduce the role of middlemen in marketing and sales of Kashmir’s handicraft and handloom products. So for fully empowering the artisans, craftsmen, weavers and other workers of Kashmir Valley it is imperative for the government to reduce the role of middlemen for the purposes of raising the margins of the artisans.
Though successive popular regimes of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state had also announced several measures to reduce the role of middlemen in the sales of handicraft and handloom products in domestic and international market but their role in sales went on increasing instead of going down year after year. So by all probabilities Government intervention in reducing the role of middlemen in sales of Kashmir’s handicraft and handloom product will not only secure the future of artisans but it will generate more interests in the trade of handicrafts and handlooms among the artisans in Kashmir valley.
Though successive popular regimes of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state had also announced several measures to reduce the role of middlemen in the sales of handicraft and handloom products in domestic and international market but their role in sales went on increasing instead of going down year after year. So by all probabilities Government intervention in reducing the role of middlemen in sales of Kashmir’s handicraft and handloom product will not only secure the future of artisans but it will generate more interests in the trade of handicrafts and handlooms among the artisans in Kashmir valley.
