Sandur Kushala Kala Kendra

Sandur is a peaceful area in the heart of an ancient valley, which Mahatama Gandhi described as anoasis when he visited it in the early 1930s’. Located in the Bellary district of Karnataka in South India. Not very long ago, the valley was full of panthers and many other species of wild life such as Sambar. Sandur is surrounded by small villages called thandas that are inhabited by Lambanis or Banjaras.

The Sandur Kushala Kala Kendra was initially sponsored and promoted by the Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores Ltd., Sandur (SIMORE). It is a registered non-profit society established in 1984. The Sandur Manganese and Iron Ore Company has working with the Lambani tribal women in and around Sandur, the Bellary District, North Karnataka for the past twenty years, part of the educational, social welfare and developmental activities of the company.  The objective was both income generation and revival of the indigenous crafts of the area.  The project report subsidised and small-scale due to the lack of systematic design marketing inputs. Spasmodic and uncoordinated initiatives in rural and urban marketing, without a clear idea of the appropriate or the potential customer, prevented the project from being economically viable.  When it began, SKKK was provided financial assistance by its parent concern The Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores Ltd., Sandur and now the same has been reduced to limited amounts.  Today, the society is self sufficient and meets its overheads with its own transactions.

In 1991, they approached Dastkar for help. Dastkar representatives visited the area to do a pilot study on the project. The findings of this study indicated that a lack of systematic design and marketing inputs, paying of daily wages to the artisans and spasmodic and un-coordinated initiatives in urban marketing prevented the project from becoming economically viable. Subsequently Dastkar interventions in this project were in the fields of design and product development, marketing and skill training. The Sandur Kushala Kala Kendra produces garments, soft furnishings and accessories with traditional lambani embroidery. There are also lacquered craftsmen. Within three years of the project, the number of women benefiting from the center had increased from 25-150 with an additional 50 under training, and their earnings had gone up from Rs. 10 a day to approximately Rs. 600 to Rs. 1000 a month. Today, there are 500 craftswomen and 30 craftsmen, earn on an average Rs. 1,500/- to Rs.2, 000/- per month which is inclusive of subsidized ration, Bonus, provident fund etc.

The Lambani embroidery is an amalgam of pattern darning, mirror work, cross stitch, and overlaid and quilting stitches with borders of “Kangura” patchwork applique, done on loosely woven dark blue or red handloom base fabric. A distinctive design range is its revival and use of local mud-resist handloom fabric, and the mirrors, shells and white ornamental trims that are a traditional part of Lambani as well as the Irikil sarees of Dharwad-Hubli and other local fabrics. Dastkar is always in favour of using indigenous raw materials that are easily available locally. So, the lambanis are encouraged to use the local material, but these are chemically as well as naturally dyed. In fact, after the introduction of vegetable dye, another range of colours and a new range of children garments and cushions was introduced.  The emphasis on quality control and production supervision has been stressed and several meetings have been held with the supervisors and the Lambani craftspeople. The most important work in the embroidery unit of the Kendra is quality control, systematised production supervision and organisation of production.

The Lambani women come to the Centre every morning and work there through the day.  They receive a daily wage that has increased over the years from an initial 5 rupees to the present 15 rupees, this is irrespective of their output per day; skill level; or the eventual selling price or saleability of the product.

Economic self sufficiency gave the women renewed self confidence in taking matters into their own hands – a young 18 year old Lambani girl was emboldened enough to leave her alcoholic, wife-beating husband on the strength of her earnings from the embroidery at the Kendra. Today, the Sandur Kushala Kala Kendra is an economically viable project. Their range of soft furnishings finds a market both within Indian and abroad.

All future development should be integrated into the Lambani’s own lifestyles and tradition they now need to be trained in cooperative self management and skills training.  Dependency on the Sandur Management and Kushal Kendra must be reduced by training workshops for crafts. One of the main advantages of craft as a means of income generation is that it does not need a fixed workplace or infrastructure, and working hours can be flexible worked into the daily lives and other household commitments of women.