As part of the research, following the workshop with producers, ASHA Handicrafts interviewed eight producer groups in different parts of India. The questionnaire, reproduced below, focused on issues of connectivity, local access to the Internet/email, and expenditure by producers on communications and photography.
1 Name of group
2 Number of employees (may be a range, according to season)
3 How many employees are men? How many employees are women?
4 What products do they make? What products do ASHA Handicrafts buy from them? How much do they buy each year (in last 12 months, or last financial year): as number of pieces; as rupees value.
5 Do they have reliable power supplies? (If unreliable: how many power cuts do they have a day; how many hours a day is power not available?)
6 Do they have their own telephone? (or access to someone else’s telephone?)
How much do they spend on telephone calls each month/each year - for local calls? long-distance calls? international calls?
7 Do they have their own fax? (or access to someone else’s fax?)
How much do they spend on fax calls each month/each year - for local calls? long-distance calls? international calls?
8 Do they have their own mobile telephone? (or access to someone else’s mobile telephone?)
How much do they spend on mobile telephone calls each month/each year - for local calls? long-distance calls? international calls?
9 How much do they spend on postage/courier costs each month/year?
10 How much do they spend on photography (eg to send photos of samples to ASHA)
11 Does the manager have their own television (or access to someone else’s television)?
12 Do they have a Personal Computer (PC), or access to one? (If so, how old is the computer? Is it Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or Windows 98?)
13 Is there someone in the group who is regarded as a ‘computer person’ or ‘expert’ - someone who understands computers, or is familiar with them? (This may be a younger person who has had some basic computer training or experience)
14 Is there an Internet cafe/restaurant or telecentre (providing access to the Internet and email) nearby that the group could use to send/receive emails? What do they charge for this (cost per hour; cost per 15 minutes)
15 Have they already heard about the Internet and email? If so how?
16 Do they think using email could bring them any benefits? Do they think that having access to the Internet would be helpful in any way? If so, what do they think would be helpful?
17 Other comments
Report on
visit to producers
Sarai Tarin ( Inn of Tarin)
This is a
small town near Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. In spite of being about 40 Km away from
Moradabad it does not have much infrastructure developed. Sarai Tarin is a
well-known centre for bone/horn inlay craft.
For over
100 years this was known for decorative combs made with horn. These were
cherished by the many royal families as well as rich traders and the landed
gentry. After Independence, the royal families did not have much money left as
their kingdoms merged into the union of India. As the artisans lost their
patronage, their financial situation became bleak.
About
twenty five years ago some artisans began to experiment with using bone instead
of horn to make a range of products.
The gamble paid off and today they have a bone processing unit in each
by lane of Sarai Tarin.
Place :
Sarai Tarin (Moradabad)
Response to
questions by Sana Handicrafts
01.
Name
of the Producer Mohd. Yunus
02.
No of
Artisans regular 10 During peak season 20
03.
Gender
ration 10 Men 15 men 5 women who do packing
04.
Type
of items made Metal Iron candle stand, mobile
Aluminium picture frames.
Horn Items:- box brass inlaid, candle stand,
photo frames, incense holder.
Bone items :- box brass inlaid , photo frame
Number
of items sold to Asha10,752 pieces
Valued at Rs.5,29,948.00 ($12,325.00)
05. Power supply is not regular some times there is an eight hour cut some
time power is off for most of the day.
They use generator for 8hrs to power
10 machines. Running cost is Rs 20/- per hour.
Cost of generator along with foundation for it is Rs 20,000/- annual
maintenance is Rs.2000/-
06.
He has
own telephone that he uses for local calls. For STD(long distance) he uses a
local booth with conference facility. So he does not have to go out and stand
in queue. The booth operator dials the number and connects him. They are already using new appropriate new
technology to meet their needs.
07.
Cost
of receiving a fax at the STD booth is Rs.20 /- per page. For sending a fax is Rs.
60/- per page. This is very excessive. Yunus
spends on an average Rs.500/- per month
for faxes receiving and sending.
08.
He
does not have a mobile No applicable
09.
Courier
charges for sending documents per month is about Rs.1000/- this includes
sending photographs at the beginning of product cycle.
10. Number of samples 179 spread over 50 photographs cost of
photography Rs 400.00 for two sets of
prints.
11. He has a 14” black and white T.V
12. He does not have access to a computer
13. He plans to educate his daughter in
computer science.
14. There is no email facility in Sarai Tarin
there is just one computer education institute in Sarai Tarin
15. There is no email facility He heard
of email for the first time last month when a courier parcel he had sent to us
was charged double. And his courier company checked with their Mumbai counterpart
via email.
Place Sarai
Tarin (Moradabad)
Response to
questions by Gulam Abbas Mohd. Ayaz
01.
Name
of producer : Gulam Abbas Mohd. Ayaz.
02.
Number of artisans: Regular 5 peak time 20 +2
father and son
03.
Gender
ratio: Regular 5 men peak time 16 men and 4 women
04.
Types
of products :- Horn :- Necklaces,
bangles, box, earrings , beads , hair clips, spoon /fork .
Bone: Necklace , bangles, box, earrings, beads
hair clip
Brass:- Candle stand, mobile , bangles
Wood:- Box spoon/ fork , bangle, paper clip.
Number of
items supplied to Asha Handicrafts Association during 2000/01
13,929 pieces valued at Rs.5,27,249.00
($12,262.00)
05.
Power
supply is not regular. Generator runs for 4 hrs each day. Cost of running
generator is Rs. 50/- per day for 3 litres of
Diesel. Cost of generator purchased 5-6
years ago was Rs. 10,000/- annual maintenance is Rs.2,500/-
06. He has
his own telephone and spends about Rs.3,300/- for local calls. Cost of STD
(long distance) calls and faxes comes
to Rs.1000/- per year
07. He does not have a fax machine but
to receive a fax he pays Rs.. 10/- per page and for sending a fax he is charged
Rs. 40/- per page. Obviously he has a better deal than Sana handicrafts but
they both will not use the same operator due to competitiveness.
08.
He
does not own a mobile phone Cost of
operating mobile not applicable
09.
Courier
charges incurred are Rs. 200 per month
10. He developed 214 new samples. Spent
Rs.3500 for two sets of photographs and Rs.300 for courier
11. He owns a small black and white T.V
12. He does not have an access to a computer
13. He plans to train his daughter in computer application. She is
presently studying in B.A first year.
14. He does not have any access to email and there are no cyber cafes in
Sarai Tarin
15. He learned about email when I talked to him.
Place : Agra
Response to questionnaire
01. name of the producer R.C. Marble
02. Number of artisans regular 20 peak time 26
03. Gender ratio Regular 18 men 2 women peak time 23 men 3 women
04. Type of products made Gorara stone box, candle holder, soap dish, incense holder, oil burner , penholder, pen card holder, flower vase, pot pouri, game , bowls ash tray, under cut animal, carved animal , semi precious stone inlay, painted wall plaque, coaster set chess set pen box.
Number of items sold to Asha Handicrafts Association during 2000/01
16,417 pieces valued at Rs. 5,97.134.00 ($ 13,887.00)
05. Power supply is not regular there are two or three power cuts daily.
06. He has his own telephone the charge is Rs.8623/- for the last year.
07. He does not have own fax pays Rs.10/- per page for receiving fax and Rs.75 /- per page for sending fax. Last year he spent about Rs.1000/- for fax.
08. He has no mobile. Cost of operating mobile Not applicable
09. Courier cost is Rs. 1800/- for the last year
10. He took about 20-25 photographs of his new samples it cost him Rs.8/- per copy and Rs.400/- for two sets.
11. His brother has a colour T.V
12. He has access to computer with his friend’s son who owns cyber café
13. Yes his children are learning computer applications in school
14. He has access to email at the cyber café cost is Rs.25 per hour
15. He had heard of email but did not think of its profitability or application to until now.
Place : Agra
Response to questionnaire
01. Name of the producer Designer Handicrafts
02. Number of looms 15 so number of weavers from five to fifteen
03. Gender Ratio all men
04. Types of products made Cotton, Chenille, Woollen Dhuries, bath mats, Dhurrie bags, place mats, runners.
Number of items supplied to Asha Handicrafts Association during 2000/01
905 pieces valued at Rs.1,35,630.00 ($3,154.00)
05. Power supply not regular daily power cut of 2-3 hours specially during summer.
06. Has own telephone it is a family phone and annual cost is Rs.12,000.00 for local and long distance phone calls.
07. He does not have his own fax but a care of fax for receiving and sending cost him Rs.1050.00 for the year 2000/01
08. He does not have a mobile phone cost of maintaining mobile Not applicable
09. Courier charges for the last year were Rs.2860/-
10. Number of new samples developed were 12 so cost of photographs was Rs.60.00
11. He has own colour T.V.
12. He has access to a computer with windows 98 and CD drive.
13. His brother is studying computer application
14. He has a cyber café next door owned by his brother. Charges are Rs.25/- per hour.
15. He has email id
16. He thinks use of email will help in terms of correspondence and promotion. He did make a contact with a buyer via Internet but so far no business has resulted.
Place : Agra
Response to Questionnaire
01. Name of the producer Sharma Handloom
02. Number of artisans 30 weavers and 20 packers
03. Gender ratio 40 men and 10 women
04. Type of products made Cotton, Chenille, woollen, Jute dhuries
Number of items supplied to Asha Handicrafts Association during 2000/01
482 pieces valued at Rs.2,61,798.00 ( $6,088.00)
05. power supply is not regular. There is a three hour cut in supply every day.
06. He has three telephone lines which are shared with his brother’s s unit the cost of telephone is about Rs.10,000 per month including local and long distance.
07. His fax bill is about Rs.5000/- each month.
08. He has a mobile phone it costs about Rs.1000/- each month.
09. His courier costs are about Rs,3000/- each month this includes documents
10. He had developed 100 new designs and spent about Rs 5000/- for photography
11. He has his own colour T.V
12. He has own PC with Windows ME
13. He has an employee who is knowledgeable about computers.
14. He has known about email for the past four years. He has his own email id.
15. He has been able to contact 2-3 buyers via Internet
Comments
This is one of our older producers. His father used to supply to us now he
does. Over the years he has grown and expanded his business. He has a digital
camera and keeps a record of his designs on the computer.
How ever his opinion is that :-
· one can not completely eliminate photography.
· He needs photos to keep a master copy of design for reference of weavers.
· The buyers are able to process photographs faster as there is no down loading time.
· Computer print out is not always consistent or accurate.
· Computer disk might crash.
· CD might get corrupted or infected by virus
Place
Ajmer it is a former princely state in Rajasthan. Originally called Ajay Meru (Invincible Mountain) it was corrupted to Ajmer by the British. Ajmer is well known for its Mausoleum
of a Muslim saint .
As else where the region is rich in crafts. The group is a marketing arm of a NGO working for upliftment of the local artisans.
Response to Questionnaire
01.Name of the producer Ethnic India
02. Number of artisans for particle board regular 15 men peak time 30 men
Bone workers regular 6 men peak time 10men
Iron workers regular 30 artisans peak time 35 artisans
03. Gender ratio Iron workers include 5 women
04. Type of products Particle board:- letter rack , furniture, boxes, wall plaque, partition screen.
Bone items :- Book ends, boxes, candle holders, table lamps, animal figures.
Iron items :- Candle holders, CD racks, furniture, lanterns. Cages, frames, wine bottle
holders, fire place set, planters animal figures.
Number of items supplied to Asha Handicrafts Association during 2000/01
319 pieces valued at Rs.1,24,780.00 ( $2,901.00)
05. Power supply is not regular there is four hours of break down each day.
06. Does not own phone in the office but has access to one. He has a phone at his
residence . The cost of telephone is about Rs. 15,000.00 per year
07. He does not have own fax pays Rs.10 for incoming fax and Rs.30 for out going fax.
08. He has no mobile
09. His courier costs are Rs.4,500.00 per year
10. He makes 50- 60 samples each year cost of photography is Rs.3000/- per year.
11. He has his own colour T.V.
12. He presently does not have a computer but is planning to purchase one in July. It will be Pentium III
13. He does not have any expert but plans to teach himself.
14. Cyber cafes are plenty they charge Rs.30 per hour.
15. He has email id but checks it once a week.
16. He believes that application of computer would lead to better communication at lower cost..
Place : Jaipur
Jaipur is a premier city of Rajasthan. It is one of the oldest planned city still inhabited. There are many crafts practiced in Jaipur such as Gem cutting, block printing, ceramics, leather work, wood carving. Meena work
Response to questionnaire
01. Name of the group : - Agape International
02. Number of employees: 8 regular and 15 at peak time
03. Gender ratio: 6 regular men 2 regular women.
04. What products do they make? Block printed / screen printed home furnishing. Purchases by Asha Handicrafts Association in the last 12 months Rs.14,000,00/-
05. Do they have reliable power supplies: yes Not many unscheduled power cots.
06. Do they have their own telephone? Yes he owns a telephone. Cost of local calls Rs.1500 for two months. STD calls costs Rs.1500/- per month.
07. Do they have their own fax ? They have a care of fax and it costs about Rs.200/- per month.
08. Do they have their own mobile phone? Yes it costs about Rs.2000/- per month for STD. Mobile is registered in Mumbai so all calls made to and from Jaipur are considered STD
09. How much do they spend on Courier/ Postage? Post is not used at all courier charges are about Rs.500 to 600/- per month.
10. How much do they spend on photography? About Rs.1000/- per year.
11. Does the manager have his own television? Yes
12. Do they have a Personal Computer? No
13. Is there some one in the group who is regarded as a computer person? No
14. Is there a Internet café that they could use to send or receive emails? Yes it costs about Rs.25/- an hour He spends about Rs.500/- a year at the cyber café
15. Have they heard of Internet or email ? Yes he has hi email id. He heard about it through Asha Handicrafts Association.
16. Do they think email could bring them benefits? Yes It is saving on courier and phone costs in part but not always.
Place Jaipur
Response to questionnaire
01. Name of the producer: Ashoka Arts.
02. Number of employees: 45 regular artisans 100 during peak times.
03. Gender ratio : All are men.
04. What products do they make? Sandal wood/ white wood ebony wood with bone/ brass inlay, Aluminium items, Lac products, papier mache , water colour paintings on paper/ marble or canvas, chess sets, painting on glass with gem stone powder.
What type of products do Asha Handicrafts Association purchase from them? White wood Aluminium, gem stone dust pictures, lac and papier mache.
05. Do they have a reliable power supply? Yes only in December and January when farmers need extra power is there a power cut even this is announced in the paper and is for a short time.
06. Do they have their own telephone? Yes they own a telephone. It costs them between Rs.36,000/- to 40,000/- per year @ Rs. 3000/- per month approximately 50% are for STD.
07. Do they have their own fax ? They have care of fax it costs Rs5/- plus STD charge. They pay Rs.10/- for incoming fax. Total costs of Fax was about Rs.500/- per month. before getting email id.
08. Do they have mobile? No
09. How much do they spend on postage /courier each month? Rs.1000/- per month mostly on courier.
10. How much do they spend on photography? He has purchased a camera for Rs.7000/- until then they spent about Rs.6000/- 7000/- per year. He does not initiate the process of taking photographs and sending them to his buyers as it would be most expensive.
11. Does the manager have his own Television set? Yes
12. Do they have a PC ? Yes he has recently purchased a PC with windows 98,Adobe, tally a scanner, a HP inkjet printer.
13. Is there someone in the group who is regarded as an expert? Yes Ashok Das the son.
14. Is there a cyber café nearby that they can access? Yes but there is no need of use it .The charges are Rs.25/- per hour.
15. Have they heard of email or Internet? Yes they have a email id.
16. Do they think using email would bring benefits to them? Yes. It would reduce cost of sending faxes and calling long distances as well as cost of sending couriers abroad. How ever it would not eliminate cost of taking photographs as they are needed to show to the artisans also for easy reference and portability.
Summary of data collected from ASHA Handicrafts producers by interview/questionnaire.
|
Name |
Sana |
Gulam Ayaz |
RC
Marble |
Designer H’crafts |
Sharma |
Ethnic
India |
Agape |
Ashoka |
|
Products |
Metal |
Horn Bone Brass Wood |
Stone |
Cotton Textiles |
Textiles |
Board Bone Iron |
Home Furnish-ings |
Wood Metal Paper |
|
Sales
to ASHA $
pa |
12,325 |
12,262 |
13,887 |
3,154 |
6,088 |
2,901 |
3,256 |
|
|
No.
workers |
10-20 |
7-20 |
20-26 |
5-15 |
50 |
51-75 |
8-15 |
45-100 |
|
Men |
10-15 |
7-16 |
18-23 |
|
40 |
46-70 |
6+ |
45-100 |
|
Women |
0-5 |
0-4 |
2-3 |
|
10 |
5 |
2+ |
|
|
Power Supply |
Cuts
daily. Has generator. |
Runs
gen. 4/hrs day |
2-3
cuts/ day |
Cuts
for 2-3
hrs/ day |
Cuts
for 3/hrs day |
Cuts
for 4/hrs day |
Sched. cuts |
Cuts
in Dec and Jan |
|
Tel
cost pa |
Own
tel for local calls |
3,300rs local |
8,623rs |
12,000rs |
120,000rs |
15,000rs |
2,250rsc |
38,000rs |
|
Fax
cost pa |
6,000rs |
1,000rs |
1,000rs |
1,050rs |
60,000rs |
|
2,400rs |
6,000rs |
|
Mobile
tel cost |
No |
No |
No |
No |
12,000rs |
No |
24,000rs |
No |
|
Post/ Courier cost
pa |
12,000rs |
2,400rs |
|
2,860rs |