Unity Malls: A Game Changer Concept
Unity Malls will prove a place for the cultural industry where it will enable the artisans and their art to formalize, grow and become competitive in national and global space.
Sajjad Bazaz
A few days back, the J&K government announced implementation of the Unity Mall project under the Government of India initiative. The project was rolled out by appointing nodal officers to oversee the construction of two Unity Malls in Kashmir and Jammu divisions respectively.
Actually, the concept of Unity Malls was announced by the union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her last budget before the 2024 general elections. She had announced that all states will be encouraged to construct a Unity Mall either in their state capitals or major tourism and economic centres.
Even as the Finance Minister didn’t elaborate on the broad contours of these Malls, she said that the main purpose behind setting up the Unity Malls will be to promote ODOPs (one district, one product) and the products having the GI (Geographical Indication) tag. As per the concept, these malls will also be used to sell handicraft products of other regions.
The concept of Unity Malls, though in its budding stage, is a huge transformative step to explore the potential of local economies with direct benefits percolating down to the grassroots level workers, be it artisans, producers of agriculture products or local food items. It is going to be a one-stop market place for consumers to shop varied products under one roof.
Look and Feel of Unity Malls
The designing of the Unity Malls across the country, as envisaged in its concept, would be uniform as far as consistency and common branding is concerned. Every Unity Mall, irrespective of its geographical location will have common signage with States encouraged to consider multilingual signage to celebrate countrys linguistic diversity. The designing plan also envisages prominent display of the ODOP logo along with the Make in India logo, aligning with the promotion and branding of these respective initiatives.
The visitors would feel a sensory journey into the heart of each state and union territory under one roof, as these malls would go beyond the transactional aspect of shopping. The visitors would feel an interactive and educational experience through the state-of-the-art branding.
Precisely, Unity Mall wont be just as a retail space but it will serve as a symbol of cultural vibrancy and economic potential. As it ushers in a new era of retail, the mall summarizes the essence of unity in diversity, bringing together the talents, craftsmanship and traditions of different geographies of the country.
Unity Mall in Jammu and Kashmir
In the context of Jammu and Kashmir, construction of Unity Malls, one each at Kashmir and Jammu, will have a revolutionary impact on the local economies of the region as it will provide a single platform to artisans, agriculturists and other local product manufacturers and producers to market their products/produce at one place. It will encourage cross selling of products produced in different districts of the Jammu & Kashmir and also products of other states.
Impact of Unity Malls in the context of our cultural industry, the handicrafts sector, issuing to be a game changer. Before analyzing the initiative, its imperative to understand the concept of ODOPs (one district, one product), a Central government’s initiative rolled out in 2018 to help all districts in the country reach their full potential, foster economic and socio-cultural growth, and create employment opportunities, especially in rural areas.
On one hand, the concept is going to foster balanced regional development across all districts of the country. On the other hand, it will bring economic fortunes across sectors. It envisions accomplishing this by scaling manufacturing, supporting local businesses, finding potential foreign customers, and so on.
The ODOP concept is a shot in the arm of Jammu & Kashmir’s economy as 21 local products from 20 districts of the Union Territory (UT) have been clubbed under this initiative for export promotion.
The ODOP in the Unity Malls is an appropriate platform to help to explore the potential of the J&K crafts, agriculture, and food products and can prove a solid step forward to dominate the national as well as global market if provided with the opportunity for systemic growth and recognition. In other words, the Unity Malls with ODOP at its centerstage will provide the right support and business environment to the local economies at the district level. Once the Malls are set up, the scheme will go a long way to preserve, develop and expand the promotion of local crafts and traditional arts which form the region’s rich heritage.
Even as tourism is considered the backbone of the state’s economy and key zone of employment in Jammu & Kashmir, the handicrafts sector is the spinal cord of this backbone. This economically powerful cultural industry is said to be an umbrella to over 6 lakh people who directly carve out living out of their skillful craftsmanship.
Our craftsmen have been hailed for making our handicrafts a prized possession worldwide. Their skillful craftsmanship has captured the hearts of millions across the globe. But there are innumerable stunning shades of life in our artisan community. Their own hearts have been bleeding. Their craftsmanship has failed them to prosper, as growing miseries have been taxing them. They have not grown to a size (standard of living) which could have motivated them to entirely bank on their skill to carve out their livelihood.
Reason is lack of financial resources as well as a dingy working environment. The flow of money from the formal system has not been smooth for them. In the name of financial support, the influential hijack the craft of these artisans for peanuts. In olden days, exporters and middlemen used to fleece the artisans by giving them small loans and in exchange taking their crafts at a very marginal price. They used to sell these pieces of art to the outside world at lucrative prices. Thus there was a yearning gap between the people who used to produce it and those who used to sell it.
Today this situation has not changed much. Artisans continue to be in a dilemma for lack of proper financial resources. What artisans today need besides hassle free financing, is social protection. Examples galore where craftsmen because of the conditions in which they were working fell victim to some diseases like tuberculosis etc. For being underpaid, they couldn’t bear the expenditure to fight out these diseases. Precisely, our artisan community is today an endangered community.
There was always a dire need to help the artisan community to professionalize their production in terms of management, sales and branding. We also need to prioritize technological intervention, be it in design and branding or physical infrastructure, in the sector. This could have generated not only interest among artisans but can also improve efficiency.
Given the plight of our cultural industry and the artisan/craftsmen associated with it, the Unity Mall initiative will prove a game changer as far as the economic fortunes of the stakeholders at the grassroots level are concerned.
Unity Malls will prove a place for the cultural industry where it will enable the artisans and their art to formalize, grow and become competitive in national and global space. It will drive better integration with organized markets, boosting the artisans with economic fortune. Besides, the quality of traditional products will be increased as per international standards and the skills of the traditional artisans will also get enhanced . Once local products under the mix of ODOP and Unity Mall get in demand, it will lessen the migration of local artisans for employment. One more advantage is that the initiative will help to preserve and promote the region’s cultural diversity nationally as well as globally. However, it’s the peoples’ support to the initiative which will help to achieve the objectives envisaged under the initiative.
Conclusion
Unity Mall is going to be a grand platform for handicraft and other local sectors of economy beyond merely being a retail space centre. it will prove an embodiment of unity, providing primary stakeholders of local economic sectors such as artisans etc. with an unparalleled opportunity to showcase their craftsmanship/skill on a national stage and double their income.
