Tribal art and craft as a source of livelihood: assessing the market linkages for traditional art and craft of scheduled tribes in Odisha

Student name: Mr Abhimanyu Prakash
Guide: Dr Swarup Dutta
Year of completion: 2021
Host Organisation: TRIFED- Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited, Ministry of Trial Affairs
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Smt. Mamta Sharma

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Abstract:

India houses a rich and some very unique traditional heritage of Tribal Art and Culture. Since the days of remote past, the diversified art & cultural forms generated by the tribal and rural people of India, have continued to evince their creative magnificence. However, with the passage of time and advent of globalization, we have witnessed the emergence of a synthetic homogeneous macro-culture in the urban locations of the country. This unintended invasion of the urban counterparts has led to declination of various indigenous practices and mainstreaming of the tribal lifestyle.

This paper discusses the livelihood opportunities available and being developed by the state and specially highlights the initiatives taken by TRIFED as the nodal agency of Ministry of Tribal Affairs in generating livelihood alternatives for tribal artisans through its well-established and structured marketing mechanism. This paper also highlights some of the key tribal art and craft forms of Odisha, one of the Indian states with highest tribal population, with main focus on their origin and the background associated with it like culture, traditions, beliefs etc.