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Coded route to trace authentic Assamese gamosa

Updated - December 04, 2023 12:01 pm IST

AlgoBharat teams up with a handloom startup to create a blockchain process to establish the authenticity of Assamese handwoven apparel, especially the gamosa

Traditional Assamese Gamosa | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR

While shopping for crafts and handloom, we often wonder whether we are paying for authentic craft? ‘One can be sure of genuine stuff when it is purchased directly from craftsmen. However that is not always possible. If only you could scan a  QR code for genuine products. AlgoBharat, in association with Birina.net, is doing exactly that; it is creating a QR code linked to the story of the weaver who wove it, to establish its traceability and authenticity. 

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AlgoBharat —the Indian arm of Algorand, the world’s greenest blockchain platform — aims to bring the art and culture of the nation onto the global platform and thereby revolutionise the entrepreneurship of small-scale local businesses. 

The project of Birina.net, an Assam-based handloom startup, called the Gamosa Project, aims to cover the Gamosa and Assamese apparel weavers. They are building on the Algorand blockchain into their products as a proof of authenticity. Currently, the project covers five to six clusters of weavers — comprising seven to 10 female artisans/weavers each — across four districts in Assam.

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Nikhil Verma, the tech lead of AlgoBharat explains the process, “With blockchain, we help democratise the access to markets and capital for India’s over 1.4 billion population by aiding in the development of sustainable Web3 solutions and driving real-world utility in India. When a weaver/craftsman creates a craft, all the information, right from the name of the craftsman, where it is created, etc is fed. The buyer can access this to know about the authenticity of the product. Block contains information that a buyer wants to know or learn about the product.”

Birina.net seeks to ensure authentic Assamese gamosas reach the market. Nikhil adds, “The Assamese gamosa , a handwoven traditional towel, is a unique product. One sees a lot of duplicate products in the market in the form of factory-manufactured gamosas that use synthetic thread, which affects the reputation of the original product. 

Explaining the process with Birina, Nikhil adds, “The initial idea was to help the weavers earn good compensation for their craft. E-commerce platforms were leveraged to attain this goal. To counter the duplicates and make the original products stand out, the Birina team has been working on blockchain tech. However, the tech used by the Birina team doesn’t fish out counterfeit products from the original directly. Rather it establishes the traceability for each apparel and gamosa to establish its authenticity. Each gamosa comes with a scannable QR code linking to the story of the weaver who wove it.”

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