By tradition, the handicraft trade is managed by experienced and organised group of people endowed with artistic and cultural bend. But Nabam Tuking and Nabam Nigla, young artisans from Papum Pare District of Arunachal Pradesh, are hoping to break the custom. They are trained to carry forward the handicrafts in a bid to revive the one of the Arunachal Pradesh’s most traditional crafts from extinction.

Since their childhood, Nigla & Tuking are trained in the art of making bamboo and cane-based baskets and Byopa- (A traditional head gears of the Nyishis community of Arunachal Pradesh). These two handicrafts are the trademark of Nyishis artefact since ages.

The pair aim to revive the dying art of their culture and raise awareness of the craft in a hope to attract more youth. They aligned their objective with the Caritas India FARM programme to take advantage of their skill sets for the benefit of others in the community.

“Promotion and transfer of knowledge of traditional wisdoms have been part of the FARM programme and the Itanagar Diocese Empowerment Association (IDEA) the implementing partner is taking this forward,” says Ratan Deka, Coordinator, IDEA. With their hard work and success, today they are mobilizing and have encouraged other youths in their respective villages by training them to follow in their footsteps and choose local products.

“I grew up seeing usage of these baskets in my community, but of late people started moving away from their villages in search of livelihood now I can see a very few making or using the baskets,” said Nigla.

Nigla and Tuking would collect raw materials from the forests and use their skills to carve beautiful traditional baskets. It takes around 15 days of hard labour to complete a single basket and even more to carve out a Byopa. These baskets and byopa have a good demand in the market as well and young Nigla benefits by selling them in the market. Nigla earns around Rs. 3,000 per traditional basket and earns Rs 50,000 to Rs 80,000 per year by selling baskets.”

Byopa, a traditional headgear of Nyishi tribe, is considered as one of the most important cultural attire and is prepared by local artisans. It is prepared from locally available materials using handmade tools. The product has a high demand in the market due to its cultural practices,” says Tuking. Today Tuking earns Rs. 5,000 per headgear and earns 50,000 to 100,000 INR per year selling from headgear.

IDEA plans to expand these interventions in a micro enterprise business by linkage or networking with “NABARD” or MUDRA Scheme as they provide soft loans and other facilitation support for making traditional craft. Over the next year, these young entrepreneurs would be encouraged to expand their work to other villages and districts in order to increase profits.