Kutch Part 1

Note: This is a collaborative blog by Anvitha Tammisetti and Joseph Edmundson who visited Kutch together.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the American India Foundation and the Banyan Impact Fellowship, the Fellowship Midpoint conference was held in Gujarat, the first state where Fellows were deployed. Following the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake, former US President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee came together to organize relief efforts, primarily in the Kutch District. To honor this legacy, a number of us current Fellows traveled to Kutch following the conference to bear witness to 25 years of progress. 

In between enjoying the beautiful architecture of Bhuj and the stunning nature of the Rann of Kutch, our group intentionally dedicated time to remember not only the redevelopment of the region, but also Kutch’s cultural resilience. We visited the Smritvan Earthquake Memorial and Museum where the memorial park is spread over 470 acres on Bhujiyo Hill overlooking Bhuj. During our visit, we learned of various conventional development efforts including the Bidada Sarvodaya Trust medical camp (now a hospital), infrastructure redevelopment such as owner-driven rehabilitation where owners were provided funds to rebuild their own homes, or the Adolescent Girls Learning Center (AGLC) education policy . However, one aspect that particularly struck us was the region’s effort to preserve and promote art as an economic development initiative.

In this two-part blog, we will first discuss Gujarat’s efforts at promoting art in Kutch as well as the entrepreneurial spirit we witnessed. The second iteration will explore the art itself as a physical and natural expression of the region; in particular, does this process commodify art, and how is the environment itself culture?

Part 1: Government Policy & Entrepreneurship 

Geographical Indication (GIs) Tags

GI’s are official certifications granted by the Indian government to guarantee that labeled products originated in the claimed territory, region, or locality with a given quality, reputation, or characteristic that is “essentially attributable to its geographic origin.” In other words, products with GI tags are guaranteed authentic. These tags are a global initiative of the World Trade Organization (WTO) defined by the WTO’s “Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights” (TRIPS) and ratified by India’s GI Act, 1999. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GI tags boost rural development, empower local communities, create local employment, preserve traditional knowledge and cultural expressions, and conserve biodiversity. As mass manufacturing has flooded markets, these GI tags ensure that local craftspeople can successfully advocate for their work and earn appropriate commissions. 

Today, India is home to 605 GI-tagged products, 342 of which are handicraft, 197 agricultural, 18 manufactured, 45 food, and 3 natural products. The Kutch district alone boasts seven distinct GI tags, an impressive feat given there are over 800 districts in India. In order of issuance, Kutch’s GI tags include:

1. Kutch Embroidery (2008-09): usually made of cotton fabric and thread, this handicraft is most famous for sewing in tiny mirrors, or abhlas, surrounded by standard stitch patterns.
2. Kachchh Shawls (2011-12): with the rapid development of machine-made textiles, this GI tag protects the livelihoods of over 1200 weavers across 210 villages in Kutch. Kachchh shawls are iconic for their colorful weaving but single-color motifs. 
3. Kachchhi Kharek (2023-24): an indigenous yellow/red date cultivated in the arid soil found in Kutch. While dates are eaten worldwide, this variety is unique as it is the only economically-cultivated date that is regularly eaten fresh before coming soft and dark. 
4. Kutch Rogan Craft (2023-24): after heating castor oil until it becomes a thick, malleable paste, natural plant-based dyes are mixed in to create a material that can be laid with a stylus called a tulika similar to the consistency of a hot glue gun. 
5. Kutch Bandhani (2023-24): a tie-dye technique using hand-tied knots that resist dye to create dotted patterns. This specific style involves numerous hand-tied tiny dots that create a unique dot-pattern used on various articles of clothing.
6. Gujarat Suf Embroidery (2023-24): a specific embroidery technique building designs from tiny triangular units called “suf.” Common motifs include stars, grids, and stepped patterns. 
7. Kutch Ajrakh (2023-24): Kutch’s newest GI tag, akrakh is a hand-block printing method using natural dyes with iconic geometric patterns with a lengthy and tedious washing, dying, and drying process.

Entrepreneurship and Government Promotion 

GI tags provide artists with the support needed to establish themselves as an artist and sustain themselves. Kutch Rogan Art is sustained by a family, Abdul Gafur Khatri, in Nirona located in the Kutch district of Gujarat. As per the official website run by the family. A direct way the government supports Rogan Art is through commissioning their work to give as gifts during an international meeting. This provides not just the artist but also the art a chance to be discovered by the international community. Traditionally the art was utilized on everyday clothes but with the increase of machines to create textiles Rogan Art lost its customers and therefore production of the art was at a halt. It was in 1985 that the Khatri family decided to take up Rogan Art again but make it more elegant that the work took off. In 2014, Narendra Modi (Prime Minister of India) commissioned and gifted two art pieces to the then President of the United States of America Barack Obama. They were the “Tree of Life” (pictured below) the new design by Abdulgafur and brother Sumar Khatri. The Khatri family has not only been able to sustain themselves with their art but also train local women on the craft. This has a two-fold benefit where it creates employment for women in the village and expands the number of people that can produce the art. Rogan Art is now known worldwide with tourists from many countries, in fact they keep track by having each person that comes through write down their name, where they are from, and any contact details to keep track.

While GI tags are a direct support from the government, a large part of Kutch’s craft success is from the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of the community itself. One such example is Khavda Pottery which does not have a GI tag. It is an 8,000 year old craft that utilizes Rann ki mitti, the clay of Rann which comes from the lake mud. 

Abdul Ibrahim Kumbar is the current artist who makes Khavda Pottery in Khavda, Gujarat. His small store was not located at the front of town nor was it on recognizable paths with a Google Maps Address. It took an inquiry of people we encountered on the streets (mostly men) to finally find said store. The store itself is a refurbished room within their home with Khavda pottery on display. At large Abdul and his family sell pots for the local population which were the pottery we were first shown. However, the family quickly realized that we were tourists so they took us to see the ornamental pottery.

The home is a typical-style house with cows grazing under a shed, a one-level Kutcha (house constructed of local materials such as mud, bamboo, wood, etc so that they can be fixed when a natural calamity strikes) where several small Kutchas are located next to each other. When asked about the history of this art, Sara Ben (Abdul’s mother) told her story in Hindi (note: some aspects of the story may be cut due to it being lost in translation). She explained that she got married at a young age and her husband used to make Khavda art, a dying art form by the time (which was decades ago). After further research online we find that Saraben had been doing pottery since she was 13 years old and continued this work after marriage as well. After his passing she took over the pottery-making and subsequent selling. She recounted when the President of India visited to appreciate their art; following the visit, she was invited to display their art in New Delhi. However in transport the pots broke because transportation was limited in that era where a bullock cart was used to transport the pots. She arrived in Delhi with these broken pots unable to display them for the President of India. She was given compensation for the travel and pots and was encouraged to continue her art.  During the visit we were shown several government officials that visited Saraben’s store and applauded her work. In 2001-02 she was awarded the Devi Ahilya National Award by the Government of Madhya Pradesh for her work in hand-painted pots. Khavda pottery was preserved because of this family’s individual efforts where they continued to sell despite the increase of other products such as plastic. With the support of government recognition in the form of awards, noting the year 2001 when the Earthquake occurred, the family was able to continue running. 

To compare the both kinds of art we visited, government support can make a mountain of a difference. This is in the form of a government tag and direct encouragement of the art. Development need not just come in the form of science or technology but also in the form of preserving India’s culture.