The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has launched a cluster development programme for three traditional tribal crafts in Tamil Nadu and Odisha, seeking to move beyond conventional welfare interventions and build sustainable, market-linked livelihood opportunities for artisans.
The initiative, being implemented through the National Design Centre, covers Toda embroidery in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris, Dongria embroidery in Odisha’s Rayagada district and Kotpad cotton weaving in Nabarangpur. Each project has a one-year duration and is designed to address gaps ranging from production infrastructure and skills to product design, branding and market access.
The programme is expected to benefit 440 artisans across the three clusters—180 in Toda embroidery, 140 in Dongria embroidery and 120 in Kotpad weaving. The ministry plans to use the experience from these clusters as a model for replication in other tribal craft clusters.
Also Read: J&K Jal shakti minister advocates mandatory bunkers in border areas
Ranjana Chopra, the secretary of the MoTA, said that the initiative marks a shift towards treating traditional crafts not merely as cultural assets but as potential enterprise ecosystems and the intervention will cover the entire value chain, including infrastructure, capacity enhancement, product development, branding and market linkages, with the stated objective of generating sustained and dignified incomes while preserving traditional crafts.
“Under the programme, each cluster will get a training-cum-production facility and a business development centre. The centres will support production, storage, packaging, branding, marketing and order management. The Dongria and Kotpad clusters will receive facilities for stitching and weaving, while the Kotpad unit will also cover natural dyeing,” she said.
The focus will also be on creating products that can appeal to contemporary consumers. The Toda cluster is slated to develop 70-80 contemporary and premium products across utility and lifestyle, art and luxury textiles, and mementos, souvenirs and corporate gifting. The Dongria and Kotpad clusters are each to develop 40 new or upgraded products. “All three will receive contemporary, culturally rooted and eco-friendly packaging carrying their respective brand identities,” said Chopra.
Training is another major component. The Toda cluster will provide stitching training to 30 artisans and design training to 150. Dongria artisans will receive stitching, weaving and design training, while Kotpad will add natural-dyeing training to its skill-building programme.
The ministry also plans to create professional lookbooks, undertake product photography and document the cultural and production processes through audio-visual films, digital repositories and motif-and-design atlases.
Market access will be pursued through social media, websites, retail networks and business-to-business partnerships. The clusters will also be supported in developing distinctive brand identities and establishing direct links with potential buyers. Artisan cards and appropriate legal structures such as societies, producer companies or Van Dhan Vikas Kendras are envisaged to strengthen institutional sustainability.
The secretary also said that these three crafts bring distinct cultural traditions to the programme. “Toda embroidery, associated with the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group in the Nilgiris, received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2013. Kotpad handloom was Odisha’s first GI-registered product, while Dongria Kondh embroidery reflects the cultural traditions of the community inhabiting the Niyamgiri Hills. The larger objective is to ensure that the commercialisation of tribal crafts strengthens rather than erodes the cultural knowledge and identities embedded in them,” she added.
