Tribal Textiles of Odisha Tribal Textiles of Odisha Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute, Odisha TRIBAL TEXTILES OF ODISHA An Empirical Study in Eight Tribal Districts of Odisha Prepared by SCHEDULE CASTES & SCHEDULE TRIBES RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE, GOVERNTMENT OF ODISHA (2016) ii Study Team Principal Guide Prof (Dr) A.B. Ota, IAS, Commissioner-cum-Director, SCSTRTI, Govt. of Odisha, Bhubaneswar Nodal Officer & Research Coordinator Shri A. K Gomango, Dy. Director, SCSTRTI, Govt. of Odisha, Bhubaneswar Smt. Arati Malla, Dy, Director, SCSTRTI, Govt. of Odisha, Bhubaneswar Research Team Shri OmkarNathTripathi, Principal Investigator Shri Ranjan Kumar Sahu, Field Supervisor Shri Santosh Kumar Meher, Researcher Shri Ramsankar Das, Researcher Shri Ranjan Kumar Mallik, Researcher Shri Dutikrushna Nayak, Researcher P. Benumadha Subudhi, Researcher Shri. Debashree Mohapatra, Researcher Ms.Priyanka Moharana, Researcher Smt. SaritaTripathy, Data Processing Ms. Sasmita Malla, Data Processing Coordination Mr. Prafulla Kumar Behera iii Acknowledgement The study titled “Tribal Textiles of Odisha” in the state has been undertaken by Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute, Bhubaneswar. For conducting this study we have received help and cooperation from a number of individuals and institutions. At the outset, we are very much grateful to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) Government of India as well as the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes Development Department, Government of Odisha for assisting us financially for undertaking this study which is most important to assess the present status of tribal textiles of state. We are highly grateful to Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes Development Department, Government of Odisha for sanctioning funds for undertaking this study. We are thankful to the research experts of SCSTRTI namely Shri Sarat Chandra Mohanty, OSD(R), Shri Trilochan Sahoo, OSD, Shri. A.K Gomango, Dy. Director, Smt. Arati Mall, Dy. Director, Smt. Sipra Routray, Asst. Director (R), Miss. Kalpana Patanaik, Asst. Director (R) and Smt. Sanghamitra Das, Asst. Director (R) for extending their valuable guidance for this study and detailed feedback in improving our research design, tools, data collection process as well as the preliminary draft of the report and its revision and finalization. Our sincere thanks are due to the Special Officers of the Micro Projects and Project Administrators of ITDAs of all concerned districts and members of cooperative society and other stakeholders for their cooperation and support during the time of fieldwork. Without the active support and co-operation rendered by all the above functionaries, it would not have been possible to undertake the field work for this study. We are thankful to the Research Team Members who took pain for data collection in the field, data processing and data analysis and preparing the research report. We extend thanks to Smt. Sarita Tripathy Data Processing and Ms. Sasmita Malla, Data Entry Operators for computer typing the report. Last but not the least; we are thankful to KARTABYA for providing the technical support and professional consultancy throughout this research study. Prof (Dr) A.B. Ota, IAS, Commissioner-cum-Director SCSTRTI, Bhubaneswar iv Preface The transition in economy and impact of liberalization, privatization and globalization has indeed impacted the tribal households’ economy. It has not only changed the tribal development paradigm but it has also broken the social fabric of tribal community. As such the weavers among the tribal communities are now-a-days rarely seen. Out of the total eight tribal communities investigated, the study has revealed that only four of them such as “Bonda, Gadaba, Kandha and Kulis”are weavers and the remaining four like “Santal, LanjiaSaora, Gond and Juangs are classified as non-weavers. Our markets do not recognize the true value of tribal textiles. Even in socio-economic and cultural context, most of the tribal textiles has been less appreciated. If this value is recognized and people are willing to pay a higher price for tribal textiles, this would translate into higher wages for weavers and act as a boost to most of the rural-based livelihood opportunities associated with these activities. If the weavers are not given enough work, it kills the art of textiles and livelihood of the weavers. There are agencies like TRIFED promoted by the State Government for promotion of marketing of tribal textiles, placing tribal textiles at the center of the quest for profitability and growth. Besides, various cooperative models have been tried out in the state but most of them have failed due to poor profit margin. The dwindling natural resource base (raw material availability) further limits the scope of making tribal textiles a supportive occupation for livelihoods of tribal. Branding, positioning and pricing of tribal textiles do not support the competitive textile world. Yet, it seems essential to enable all weavers to become stakeholders and beneficiaries of the larger wealth creation process through sale of tribal textiles. Intellectual property rights for tribal textiles are other issues which researchers have grappled with throughout the investigations. It would require that each of the tribal textiles is to be documented and some of the designs and colour are decoded in order to bring it to a proposition of achieving intellectual property rights. It will certainly open up new avenues for competitive business. The study on tribal textiles has cited a greater importance on tribal textiles preparation as weavers found themselves valued, respected, a part of something bigger than their own immediate interest, and therefore the nature of their contribution changes. The study draws positive ambience for further promotion of tribal textiles. The greatest motivation come from the weavers, who have been willing to take up the work on a commercial scale, small idea given by them to the mainstream retail to give relevance to tribal textiles. There are several very successful stories in the textile space. Taking these to the next level it necessitates investment and resources which recognize the value of textile and the socioeconomic returns it generates for weavers. This is the perspective that this study bring to the fore-front. The report is organized in to 5 Chapters. Besides, the report contains the executive summary, references and Annexure including a set of tools, lists of tables and figures. The Chapter-I gives study background, review of literature, research methodology and analytical framework. The Chapter-II presents profile of study tribes and their sample households. While the Chapter-III maps tribal textiles in Odisha, Chapter-IV discusses on the marketing and livelihood issues relating to tribal textiles. Finally, Chapter- V suggests way forward and recommendations. It is expected that the study would be helpful for the administrators and key field functionaries at government level for conservation of tribal textiles of Odisha. Commissioner-cum-Director SCSTRTI, Bhubaneswar v Table of Content Acknowledgement .................................................................................................................................................................... ii Preface ...................................................................................................................................................................................... v Table of Content ..................................................................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................................................... ix Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................................. x Chapter I: ................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction and Background ................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 TRIBAL TEXTILES OF ODISHA ........................................................................................................................................... 3 1.2 TRIBAL TEXTILE AS LIVELIHOOD OPTION .......................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE : .................................................................................................................................................. 6 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.5 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................................................................. 11 1.6 STUDY METHODS