Until a couple of years ago, an amber-coloured, sticky, sweet liquid—nolen gur or date palm jaggery—integral to Bengali cuisine, was very much a seasonal treat. The sap, collected from date palm and stored traditionally in earthen pitchers, would last only through the fleeting winter—until, that is, a clever packaging innovation extended its shelf life to all year round.
With a little help from the Indian Institute of Packaging, the West Bengal Khadi & Village Industries Board (WBKVIB) came up with the idea of marketing the jaggery in a contemporary toothpaste-style tube, and sure enough, nolen gur has since been flying off the shelves. It wasn’t easy: “Our challenge here was to make it available to a wider cross-section and to get around its highly seasonal nature while preserving its taste,” the Khadi board CEO, Mrityunjoy Bandyopadhayay, tells me.
Rescue measure
The nolen gur story is just one part of a project spearheaded by the board to innovate, recast and rescue crafts and traditions of West Bengal, while also empowering women and marginalised communities in some of the State’s most backward districts. Some 30 traditional farmers who were engaged in the nolen gur trade in Bhajangram village in Nadia district are now part of a self-group group, and a patent has also been applied for.
The terracotta Bankura horse may be its most famous icon, but Bengal’s inventory of arts and traditions is long, and the board wants to make sure that they don’t get relegated to a dark corner in a museum. “We hope to create employment opportunities for rural crafts people too, while improving packaging, processing and marketing,” says the chairman of the board, Gouri Shankar Dutta. Partnering with the board in this venture are academic institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology.
Muslin fabric, sabai grass bags and room décor items, sital pati (woven mats), dokra (metalwork sculptures), wooden dolls and masks—these and many more crafts, traditions and techniques are part of the board’s ambitious project.
Another craft getting some attention is the sal leaf crafted plates, bowls and curtains. Sal leaves are found abundantly in forests in at least five districts of West Bengal—including in former Maoist areas. Nearly 36,000 tribal women of these areas have benefited from the project, which has enabled them to bypass exploitative middle-men and money-lenders. With the introduction of a new pressing and sewing machine, which has helped improve the shape and durability, these biodegradable plates are now in high demand.
Hike in income
“Each worker would make 100 plates a day, but now she produces 600 plates, and income has increased,” says Bandyopadhayay. “We are now trying to get more innovative with the products—wall hangings and room curtains, for instance, are already being made with sal leaves, as also from sabai grass, a weed found in the area.”
The creation of livelihoods in these drought-prone districts, where economic opportunities are sparse, is no mean achievement.
The State MSME department also has a UNESCO tie-up to create 10 rural craft hubs in nine districts. An IIT alumnus, Amitava Bhattacharya, founder of banglanatak.com, also stepped in last year to help the State reskill artisans and create marketing avenues. “Village fairs, overseas visitors, demonstration classes, conducted tours—the culture hubs of West Bengal are now humming with activity,” says Bhattacharya.
