An Exploratory Study on Utilization Pattern of Camel Leather and Problems Faced by the Artisans of Rajasthan
Loading...
Date
2019
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MPUT, UDAIPUR
Abstract
Rajasthan camel leather artisans are still limited by the use of traditional method i.e.
manually processed, manufactured and embellished. From the last four decades there
has been change in trend of camel leather products in terms of raw material used,
change in tools, machines, design and colour used.
The present study was undertaken to find out the utilization pattern of camel leather
and problems faced by the artisans. It was conducted in the Bikaner, Barmer,
Jaisalmer and Jodhpur districts of Rajasthan on the basis of concentration of camel
leather artisans in the region. From each districts three areas were selected
purposively which were dominated by camel leather workers. The sample of
respondents constituted of sixty taking, fifteen from each of the four identified
districts, including those who were involved in camel leather work directly or
indirectly. Personal interview and questionnaire techniques were used for getting
information from the respondents. The analysis of data was done using frequency and
percentage distribution.
The profile of respondents revealed that 66.67 per cent of the respondents in Barmer
followed by 47 per cent of the respondents in Jaisalmer and Jodhpur were in age
group of 45-60 years. Education qualification of the respondents was quite
unsatisfactory as majority were illiterate and lived in joint family setup with 5-8
family members. Camel leather work belonged to the reserve caste categories or
scheduled castes which includes Regar, Jingar, Khatri, Gujar and the minority
community i.e. Muslim. Different types of embellishment used by respondents are
applique, carving, crystals, embossing, punching and embroidery with cotton, golden
and silver zari threads.
108
The study depicts that after declaring camel as state animal the condition of camel
breeders of Rajasthan is becoming worse day by day as breeders are unable to sell the
natural products obtained from the camel housed and brought by them. The findings
also revealed different problems faced by the artisans which were: lack of market, raw
material supply, high cost of raw material, time constraint, lack of interest among
family members and finance. The root cause for unwillingness of artisans and family
members to pursue the family occupation is due to social status of worker’s that is
still not endorsed by the society with low price of products, increased use of chrome
tanned leather, buffalo leather, rexine, challenge to modify the products according to
modern tastes and low remuneration. This indicates that artisans should be given
proper incentives, trainings and facilities for promoting the utilization of camel hides.
Description
An Exploratory Study on Utilization Pattern of Camel Leather and Problems Faced by the Artisans of Rajasthan
Keywords
Citation
Acharya S. And Babel S.