SAMBA: Deputy Commissioner Samba, Abhishek Sharma today inaugurated Skill Training programme for up-skilling of Calico printing artisans of District Samba under centrally sponsored scheme, Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP). The orientation program has been organized by the Department of Handicrafts Samba.
The participating artisans will undergo the skill up-gradation training for a period of three months by MG Design School Jammu led by Mansi Gupta.
The Deputy Commissioner interacted with the women and advised them to learn skills keenly to successfully revive the heritage art of block printing and earn sustainable livelihood for themselves & generate employment for others as well.
He emphasized on how this skill training program is unique and offers a new plethora of opportunities to calico artisans. “Along with this Samba’s Calico will become more popular, driving the required attention of the people towards it,” he added. He further told the artisans about how this can be a great chance to create a brand and leverage marketing support and lead a scalable livelihood for women.
The event also witnessed an exhibition showcasing the wide variety of block printed products and an awareness camp organised by the department of handicrafts where the participating artisans were made aware of the various departmental schemes and how these can be availed by artisans for their welfare and upliftment, besides employment generation.
Speaking on the occasion, Assistant Director Handicrafts Samba, Niharika informed the gathering about the importance of skill up-gradation training and how it will help the traditional artisans to meet the growing market demand.
Mansi Gupta, while addressing the artisans, explained the key elements of the training program, idea & need of the program followed by the expected outcomes from the project. The program focuses mainly on enhancing design thinking of artisans, improving quality of products along with diversification, she added.
Samba has traditionally been known as the Sheeton ka Shehar, city of sheets because of this heritage art of calico printing. This project is one of the major initiatives taken by the Handicraft department Samba along with MGNF Samba under the aegis of the Deputy Commissioner.
Attempts are being made by District Administration Samba and Directorate of handicrafts and handloom Jammu to revive this heritage art by bringing youngsters and traditional artisans together to contemporarise this craft through various government schemes and such training programs.
Also present on the occasion were Rajinder Singh ADDC Samba and Sanjhali Jain MGNF along with other staff members and supporting team of Handicraft Department.