Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Rural Technology Action Group (RuTAG) is helping in the establishment of a Common Facility Centre to help the potters in Tamil Nadu village in producing pottery that meets the present demand of consumers such as microwavable cooking utensils. This initiative by IIT Madras will help the potters to sustain in the market and their products will have higher market value.
Many families of traditional potters are destitute and live below the poverty line. Modern machinery is added alongside increased skill and product training to improve not just the productivity but also the pay of the artisans in order to raise their earnings, said IIT Madras in a statement.
Talking about the initiatives, Prof Abhijit P Deshpande, Professor-in-Charge, RuTAG-IIT Madras, said, “Technology development within an institute has to be followed up with a multi-stakeholder initiative. In this respect, RuTAG has coordinated with CGCRI, CSD, IOCL, government agencies, and local artisans to bring forth the benefits in a shared setup.”
“For follow-up technology activity, we always strive to identify the needs of artisans in terms of technological solutions. Once identified, these needs can be conveyed to faculty/students to carry out further technology development,” he added.
On August 11, the Common Facility Centre was inaugurated in the presence of various stakeholders including Tiruvallur District Collector Dr Alby John Varghese, IOCL Executive Director SS Sawant, RuTAG-IIT Madras Professor In-Charge Prof Abhijit Deshpande, Tamil Nadu State Rural Livelihood Mission (TNSRLM) Project Officer P Malliga, Centre for Social Development) Director (Kanyakumari) Dr Bagavatheeswaran and Perumudivakkam Panchayat President Balalakshmi Venkatesan.
The Common Facility Centre is expected to produce following outcomes:
Encourages the adoption of similar projects in other pottery clusters throughout the state.
Increased income by three to four times for potters
The market value of integrated pottery technology products is four times that of traditional pottery goods.
These products have a huge market possibility and are of high export quality.
Provides trainees with business opportunities through hands-on training and mentoring through training manuals.