WOMEN’S ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION IN JAPI (TRADITIONAL HEADGEAR) MAKING INDUSTRY: A CASE STUDY OF NALBARI DISTRICT, ASSAM
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Date
2017-07
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Publisher
AAU, Jorhat
Abstract
Women play an important role in different home based cottage industry
and other traditional art and crafts. In Assam, Japi making is a traditional household
industry (The telegraph, April 21, 2006). The rural people of Assam also had a long
tradition of doing various economic and productive activities out of which “Japi making
cluster” is noteworthy. Women are involved in Japi making industry for income
generation. The Japi making industry is one of the most important among the cottage
industries in Assam which has a glorious past from the time immemorial. The present
study was carried out to study the Women’s economic contribution in Japi (Traditional
Headgear) making industry: A case study of Nalbari District, Assam. The main
objectives of the study were: a) To study the demographic profile of the selected
households. b) To find out the extent of family members’ participation in household
Japi making industry. c) To determine the economic contribution of women in the
selected handicraft industry. d) To document case studies of successful entrepreneurs.A
purposive cum proportionate sampling design was adopted to carry out the study. Based
on highest concentration of Japi making households the Pub Nalbari Block was
considered for the study from which two villages viz., Mugkushi and Sutarkushi were
selected purposively. Total number of Japi making households in the selected villages
was found to be 400. By following proportionate random sampling technique a total of
120 households were selected for the study. For the purpose of collection of primary
data and other relevant information, a schedule was designed for the study and primary
data were collected from the respondents by interviewing them personally.
The findings of the study depicts that women give a considerable
contribution in Japi making industry. Rural women participate in a broad range of
activities in Japi making industry such as preparation of required materials, decoration,
stitching and pasting. The participation of women in Japi making industry is higher as
compared to male members. For large size Japi, the female labour recorded the higher
share (66.24%) of total man days as compared to medium size Japi (43.47%). It is
interesting to note that benefit cost ratio in Japi making was found to be 1.23 on an
average Japi making farm. It is worth mentioning that in the sample households over all
women’s economic contribution in Japi making was found to be 24.04 per cent. It is
envisaged that if the workstation is improved and training on new design can be
imparted among the women folk, Japi making can emerge as the most important
industry for increasing the contribution of women of annual income .Further it will help
Japi making industry to be more popular and flourished all over India. Skill
development training on Japi making with improved modern technologies/tools may be
popularized among youth across the state with could be taken up as a vocation to earn a
respectable livelihood or may be opted for setting up an enterprise.