India’s rich culture can boost manufacturing sector. If we can value it

Gopal Krishna Agarwal,

India’s cultural content in the field of art, music, dance, food, festivals, and architecture can catalyse countries' services and manufacturing sectors, particularly MSME and cottage industries.

 

India’s unemployment challenge is symptomatic of the failure to establish itself as a modern manufacturing nation. Consequently, there is a great deal of emphasis by the Modi government to promote manufacturing in India.

                          

There is a near consensus that, following the deindustrialisation during colonial rule, the manufacturing sector should have been a major area of policy emphasis in India in the post-Independence era. Instead, policy prioritised capital goods, leaving the consumer goods industry to its fate. The dalliance with socialist ideals in the later years crippled factor market mobility even more and exacerbated the problems faced by the manufacturing sector.

 

The global development literature on newly independent countries in the 20th century shows that no economy sustained annual growth of 7-8 per cent per annum without relying on exports. These exports consisted of low-value, mass-produced, and undifferentiated products that did not involve much human skill beyond operating basic tools and machinery. South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand were the pioneers of this model, and later China mastered it to perfection. This economic model delivered economic growth, jobs, and prosperity to these countries.

 

India is now trying hard to ride this. Exports are expected to address the unemployment problem and provide an additional engine of growth. The recent initiatives of the Modi Government have focused on factor market reforms, improvements in infrastructure, lower compliance and logistics costs, and a shift toward trust-based regulation to support the manufacturing sector.

 

Coupled with initiatives like the Production Linked Incentives (PLI) and Employment Linked Incentives (ELI), there is no doubt that manufacturing has become a major policy priority.  Next Gen GST 2.0 reforms and the notification of the long-pending labour codes underscore the government’s sense of urgency. India must focus on its manufacturing sector despite the ongoing de-globalisation trends and the abandonment of WTO mechanisms.

The era of handmade

The fickleness of global trade aside, India has another manufacturing subset to focus on. It historically excelled in handmade, intricate, high-value products involving exceptional skills. Such products were in great demand among affluent sections all over the world. Indian products made of cotton and silk, wood, metals and their alloys, enamel, ivory, etc., were status symbols, coveted for their uniqueness and snob value. The Roman aristocracy’s appetite for Indian luxury goods was so intense that Pliny the Elder, in the 1st century CE, lamented the steady drain of gold from Rome to India. 

In an era of mass commodification and machine-made goods, where human involvement is reducing with each passing day, human-made products will be most valued. They have stories to tell. With increasing domestic and global affluence, the demand for such products will increase exponentially. India has millions of artisans involved in making products that command awe and astonishment. Their fine craftsmanship is the result of a generational accumulation of knowledge and years of practice that culminate in mastery.

 

Regional centres of excellence, such as the Bidri work of Bidar (Karnataka), brassworks of Moradabad and woodcarvings of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Madhubani paintings of Bihar, iron craft of the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, and the numerous textile specialties spread across the country, are only a few of the specialties that we possess. Most of these products have some kind of market linkage, but it is far below their potential market. The practitioners of these crafts face issues related to certifications, promotional marketing, finance, packaging, and distribution, etc.

 

A vibrant traditional arts and crafts sector ensures that people find livelihood in their native place and are not compelled to migrate in search of jobs. The government has taken a number of steps to make this sector robust. The private sector must also pitch in with its expertise and corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.

 

The sustained campaign to get intellectual protection like the Geographical Indicator (GI) tag will ensure that the economic benefits flow to the original purveyors of the art form and not to some shrewd but marketing-savvy interloper. If we fail to make our handicrafts remunerative, we will lose such skills and the civilisational wealth associated with them forever. That would be an irreparable loss not only for India but for the entire humanity.

 

India’s cultural content in the field of art, music, dance, food, festivals, and architecture can catalyse countries’ services and manufacturing sectors, particularly MSME and cottage industries. Our focus on the cultural and creative economy will take development to the rural areas, helping with a bottom-up approach for economic growth. This will counter the concentration of wealth as an outcome of the current GDP-based growth model and its trickle-down approach.

 

Gopal Krishna Agarwal is the national Spokesperson of the BJP. He tweets @gopalkagarwal. Views are personal.