Promoting Sustainable Livelihood among Tribal Community through Traditional Handicrafts in Wayanad District, Kerala, India

Tribes constitute approximately 10% of the total Indian population. They are found in most parts of the country and are generally economically deprived. Traditional handicrafts of the tribes of India are generally prepared out of resources available in their immediate ecology, where they inhabit. Traditional knowledge applied in the entire process of preparation of most of the handicrafts, as per the needs of these people, is inherited from their forefathers (Jayanta Sarkar 2007).This paper explores to look up the handicrafts culture among the tribal artisans. The study explains the tribal culture and the role handicrafts in promoting sustainable livelihood among the tribal artisans. The main objectives of the study is (1) To assess the livelihood options for the tribal handicrafts at Wayanad (2) To study the existing status of handicrafts in markets (3) To study the source of raw materials and the extent of sustainability of handicrafts based on these resources (4) To assess the support provided by the local NGO’s/Govt program/Financial institutions to the artisans. The investigator clearly exhibited objective wise findings in the paper with facts. Nevertheless to say that, there are some factors which affect the decrease of the handicrafts such as scarcity of raw materials; some products did not get market demand, less wages. The study helps to understand that the difficulty to the individual artisans because they did not get support from other. The paper concludes with the strong support both in terms of Govt and NGOS’s in policy level and progrqamme level is needed to address the right concerns of the tribal population and promote sustainable livelihood for their development.