Lachhmani Mandika, aged 45 years, hails from the economically backward village of Jhingidi from Rayagada district of Odisha. His family has an ancient tradition of engaging themselves with Dokra casting works. Lachhamani was curious enough to understand the tricks of the trade and spent time with his father in learning the processes. However, with little or lack of design skill he was unable to create fine and catchy dokra items, thus making much lower returns out of his hard work. Resultantly he was facing hurdles to manage his family and covering the schooling expenses of his son.
With the support of NABARD, Mahashakti Foundation intervened in the village with the objective of upgrading the skill set of the artisans and make them efficient enough to craft eye-catching items, garnering higher sales value for the artisans. During the implementation of the project Lachhamani was a proactive learner and took part in every design & skill development trainings aimed at enhancing the craftmanship of the rural artisans. He gradually gained knowledge, practically applied them in the dokra casting works and was able to make a variety of stunning dokra items. Out of the project support, he received solar polish machine and blower, to reduce his burden of manual work and transform the activity to a much efficient and technology driven smart work.
Impact
With all the learnings, technical support, the confidence level of Lachhmani has gone up and he has become so adroit with the crafting skills that he was able to produce in the range 30 – 40 Kg of products in a month. Apart from that he has become an active and important member as well as shareholder of Kala Punaruthan Producer Company Limited, and he even supplies about 50% of his dokra items to the off-farm producer company. He currently earns about INR 15,000 per month, which has helped him in providing quality education to his son, who recently got a job offer from a company in Bangalore. His family members have been sharing the burden of his work and helping him with marketing at local haats and taking part in exhibitions. He has created a such a reputation of his own that, the Rayagada DIC has empaneled him as a “Master Craftsman” to train the local youths on new dokra design skills, with a monthly stipend amount.
