Dear Members, The 9th issue of “DNote Xpress” is here. In this issue “Revival of Crafts through CSR” • Fiinovation & CII help Bridge the Gap • Dastkar – Safeguarding Heritage • Revival of Crafts through CSR • Indian Craft Villages • Fiinobservation of International Days Find out what's new on the 9th edition of our newsletter Fiinovation | www.fiinovation.co.in

1. Issue: #9| December 2014
www.fiinova on.co.in
Fiinovation & CII help Bridge the Gap
Dastkar - Safeguarding Heritage
Revival of Crafts through CSR
Indian Craft Villages
Fiinobservation of International Days
IN THE ISSUE
T H R O U G H C S R
REVIVAL OF C FTS

2. Fiinovation & CII help Bridge the Gap
01
New Delhi: Fiinovation & the Confederation of
Indian Industries (CII) came together for a
conference titled 'Bridging the Gap: Building
Ecosystem for Inclusive Value Creation' on 27th
November, 2014. The day long workshop was
invigorating and informative which was attended by
the doyens of the industry.
The Welcome Address by Mr Shreekant Somany
Deputy Chairman, CII Northern Region & Chairman
Somany Ceramics Ltd raised the poignant issue of
inclusive growth which takes centre stage in the
context of India, and accommodates a large section
of population which is under 35 years. The session explained the relevance of the conference title and also about the role of
inclusive policies leading to dividends.
Mr S Chakraborty, CEO Innovative Financial Advisors Pvt Ltd raised pertinent points during the Context Setting Session where
he spoke of the need of using inclusive growth as a weapon to bridge the gap which gives a sense of an uphill task, with energy
requirements increasing. He advocated for implementable government structures which facilitate inclusivity. He also spoke of a
balance between prosperity and profit by drawing analogy from the family structure. He submitted by recommending
industries to function as families, and ensure community ownership to create an impact.
The Special Address by Milind Kamble, Chairman DICCI raised the matter of affirmative action, the historical and the current
analysis. The detailed session highlighted the need to take forward affirmative action where the industry needs to play a key role
if one speaks of inclusivity. This includes vendors from minority groups which shall ensure horizontal growth as a
recommendation.
Mr Kartik Bharat Ram Chairman, Regional Committee on Affirmative Action & Deputy Managing Director, SRF LTD gave the
concluding remarks and shared the need for a cohesive society and examples of some companies practising affirmative action.
The conference was a success as it raised pertinent issues of the current day and was attended by an array of stakeholders. The
quality of discussion was high and holistic.
There are over 7 million artisans in rural India engaged in
crafts, the backbone of non-farm rural economy of the
country.
India is a large developing country with handicrafts being
the second largest employer after agriculture.
The Indian Handicraft Industry is a $100 billion industry
worldwide making it 1.2% of the entire world handicraft
market.
Flipkart and NIFT have tied up to boost the handicraft
sector by integrating the local 40000 weavers and
artisans of Varanasi for end consumers.
The Govt. of India has proposed to set up a Hastkala
Academy for the preser vation, revival, and
documentation of the handloom/handicraft sector in PPP
mode in Delhi allocating Rs 30 Crore for it.
Food for Thought ...
“Development of any country's handicra s rests primarily on the
women” ‐
‐Kamaladevi Cha opadhyay
Social Reformer
“Aworkofartistheuniqueresultofauniquetemperament.”
‐Oscar Wilde
Writer
“Indigenous handicra & handlooms cherished aspect of Indian
life;reflectsna on'sdiversity&infinitecrea vity.”
‐Pranab Mukherjee
President, India
“We must increase handicra s exports from Rs 17,000 crore to Rs
33,000croreinthenextthreeyears.”
–K Sambasiva Rao
Poli cian
“Corporate houses and PSUs can spend some of their CSR fund to
adopt handloom and handicra s clusters and increase the viability
ofthesector"
‐S S Gupta,
Development Commissioner (Handicra s)
Hear the Influencers Speak ...
Panel at the Fiino-CII Conference

3. Dastkar
02
Dastkar is a private not-for-profit NGO established
in 1981, working to support traditional Indian
craftspeople, many of them women and village
based, with the objective of helping craftspeople
regain their place in the economic mainstream, in a
country where the craft sector is second only to
agriculture in providing employment.
Artisans at Dastkar Bangalore Nature Bazaar
“Staying in Indian metros and abroad, it is easy for any
artisan or designer to question the substandard quality
of artwork being produced by the rural craftsmen. While
we are all lost in admiring the glorious artwork of the
historical era, we certainly miss out on the fundamental
point that today's craftsmen in rural areas do not even
have the means to earn a livelihood, forget the apt
environment for working.” Laila Tyabji, Chairperson and
an active & regular voice in numerous craft, design and
development forums at national and international
governmental level.
Apart from revolutionizing the crafts industry, Laila is
well known for her bohemian outlook, outspokenness
and most of all, for her inimitable style, which has made
her a famous proponent of the sari.
What They Do ?
In order to bring together craftspeople, producer groups, environmental organisations, social activists & cultural
performers with urban consumers, students and international buyers, Dastkar works on:
 Advocating with governmental, non-governmental & foreign agencies;
 As a consultant, evaluator & resource provider to craftgroups
 As an organiser of direct retail marketing platforms in its popular Bazaars and Exhibitions bringing together
craftspeople, producer groups, environmental organisations, social activists & cultural performers with urban
consumers, students and international buyers.
 Assisting craftspeople through support service activities such as capacity building workshops, skills training,
collaborative design innovation and product development.
Today Dastkar works with an ever growing family of more than 350 craftgroups and small producers, directly and
indirectly affecting the lives of approximately 43,000 artisans from across 22 States of India.
Dastkar is a brand name for quality craft from genuine producers and the main focus remains the Indian urban
retail market and customer.
‐ Rahul Jain
S A F E G U A R D I N G H E R I T A G E
Laila Tyabji

4. 03
Revival of Crafts Through CSR
Handicrafts in India can be traced back to 5000 years and has been representative of
dignity, creativity, culture and skills of the local population. India's rich cultural diversity
and heritage has been providing a unique and huge resource for developing craft
products. Despite significant growth in the Handicrafts sector, it still remains
unorganized with 23 million unorganized craftsmen.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the nation to link the handicraft industry with
technology. He also believes that we should look at tourism and handicrafts as two
different sectors rather while we should market and promote tourism and handicrafts
together. On the context of promotion he said, “I understand that the time has come to
take our products to the global market”. Even at the domestic circuit the industry is not
promoted as such despite having diversified products from different parts of the
country. One major factor is that the products are highly priced in the cities, which are
beyond the reach of the people, belonging to the middle and lower middle class. The
artisans lack awareness about new technology hence they are unable to modernize the
sector.
Keeping in line with the constraints and challenges faced by this sector, the potential
that remains is still crucial and can be employed for enhancing the country's export.
However, the road ahead is not easy and assistance from not only government but the
corporate sector is essential. The need of the hour is to bring all the artisans and
craftsmen under a common brand. Establishment of a special purpose vehicle bringing
on all stakeholders including corporates will help in technical expertise, resource
management and value chain management of the products. The corporations through
their CSR expenditure should work towards development of infrastructure and
common facilities, bringing in new technology and providing adequate skills to the
artisans and craftsmen in the rural and semi-urban areas.
Corporations must utilize their market reach to help establish organized platform for
product sale. There is a rise in demand of Indian handicrafts in North America and
European markets. It can be a win-win situation for both corporations and artisans
where the artisans work on development of products and the corporate houses focus
on product marketing. However, a point to note is that the corporations should also
keep in mind that tourism and handicrafts should go hand in hand and developing
handicraft hubs near tourist destinations will be a game changer. CSR of the E-
commerce industry can adopt craft villages as part of their CSR policy. Internet can help
reach products to far corners of the globe.
In the end, one can conclude that the time has come to revive India's heritage and
culture and what better than the handicraft industry. The people would agree that the
handicrafts from India are among the best pieces of art. Let's not ignore heritage…Let's
not ignore crafts.
‐ Rahul Choudhury

5. 04
Cholamandal Artists Village Injambakkam Chennai Tamil Nadu
A commune of artists who live and work together, displaying their works across the world, the
Cholamandal Artist's village was established in 1966 by KCS Paniker. With the distinction of being one
of the few rare artists' commune to have not just survived but thrived successfully, today the simple
rustic community has come a long way.
Andretta Kangra Himachal Pradesh
At a distance of 13 km from the town, it was home to the famous artist, Sardar Shobha
Singh and playwriter Norah Richards. There are amazing paintings in their private
houses which are worth seeing. A famous center for pottery and crafts at Andretta and
the craft society was started in 1983. It is a production studio which makes attractive
earthen slipware, besides also providing a three month courses for aspiring potters.
Bhujodi Kutch Gujarat
A small town just 8 km southeast of Bhuj, Bhujodi is a major textile
center of Kutch, with the vast majority of the 1200 inhabitants
involved in textile handicraft production. About a kilometer from
Bhujodi is the Ashapura Crafts Park, set up by a corporate non-profit
wing to help artisans display, sell their work and organize dance and
music events on weekends. Shrujan is a local non-profit set up 40
years ago to allow women to market their work better and earn a
better living from it. The Shrujan campus is an interesting place to
visit, with embroidery exhibits, a production center and excellent
examples of local architecture with environmental awareness in
mind.
A few Craft Villages in India…
Raghurajpur Puri Odisha
The village has a community of artisans who product different varieties of handicrafts items such as Patta Paintings, Palm leaf
engravings, Stone carvings, Paper made toys and masks, Wood carvings, Wooden toys, Cow-dung toys and Tasser Paintings
etc. Perhaps nowhere else in India there is such a congregation of so many art works at one place.

6. The world has done enormously well to curb HIV/AIDS, yet
even today we do not have a permanent cure and prevention
strategy for the killer disease. India has also managed to
reduce the spread, due to its constant effective and sincere
prevention strategies through efficient national health
programmes like National AIDS Control Programme. The
advent of Anti Retro Viral Therapy (ART), in 2003, has also
proven to be a boon for the people living with HIV/AIDS as it
has considerably reduced the morbidity and mortality related
to the disease. According to the department of AIDS control,
India demonstrated an overall reduction of 57% in the annual
new HIV infections from the year 2000 to 2011. It was also
reported that antiretroviral therapy and its scale up has
estimated to have saved over 1.5 lakhs lives till 2011 and in
high prevalence states the estimated AIDS related deaths
have decreased by 42% from 2007-2011.
Fiinovation understands an important cornerstone for
addressing the problem of HIV epidemic in India is to deliver
the message to the people that HIV/AIDS although not
completely curable, is most certainly preventable. With hope
of a better tomorrow, let us strive to bring some light to the
challenging lives of people living with HIV/AIDS.
The understanding of Human rights is fairly new, with religion
playing a crucial role in development of the notion that
human beings have inviolable rights. The first instance can be
sighted way back in the era of renaissance humanism in the
Early Modern period. The European Wars of Religion and the
Civil Wars of the 17th century gave this idea a new shape. The
American Revolution, French Revolution and the World Wars
led to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Human Rights Day is celebrated every year since 1950,
after the Assembly passed a resolution inviting all States and
interested organizations. The theme for this year is 'Human
Rights 365', encompassing the idea that every day is a Human
Rights Day. The day celebrates the fundamental intention in
the Universal Declaration that each one of us, across the
globe, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights,
that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us
together as a global community with the same ideals and
values. Innovative Financial Advisors Pvt. Ltd. advocates
human rights perspective across all development initiatives.
They believe through communication and technology we can
end discrimination and ensure dignity for all.
05
Fiinobservation of International Days
World AIDS Day
1 December
Human Rights Day
10 December
Tweets of The Month
goibibo-@GoibiboDotCom#Orrisa has more number of
tribes than any other state in
India.Local handicrafts
mainly come from thesetribes.
Narasimha Rao -
@NarasimhaRao10
Modi's rurban concept is the
game changer and balance act
to market
small,traditional,cultural
handicrafts and business while
being organized
Rahul Oza @ozacool_36
I ensure that I will give
Indian handicrafts a huge
thrust by using it efficiently
and not as gifting solutions.
#ICanAndIWill
The Kalagram -
@TheKalagram
Kalagram introduces
traditional crafts, artifacts,
handicrafts & hand-looms
from all over India under one
roof.
Narendra Modi -
@narendramodiNDA will ensure Odisha's
progress. We will harness
Odisha's rich potential in
sectors like tourism,handicrafts
Fiinovation, a research based organization, is an integrated solution enabler in the CSR and sustainability domain. It is focused towards enhancing quality across organizational value chain
through meaningful innovation thereby ensuring sustainability. It is Asia's first proposal research laboratory wherein research is focused primarily on four sectors, which include health,
education, livelihood and environment. The practices: CSR-CSO Partnership, CSR Policy Design & Development, Programme Management, Impact Assessment and Sustainability
Reporting help provide simple solutions to their partners.
Fiinovation
24/30, Ground Floor, Okhla Industrial Estate, Phase III
New Delhi - 110020
Phone: 011-42332200 | Fax : 011-42332205
website: www.fiinovation.co.in | Email: media@fiinovation.co.in
Who We Are