SWOT Analysis

Strengths-

 Their unique craft, which has a mass acceptance and is worn by people as
an ethnic fashion statement.
 Utilization of naturally made vegetable tanned leather.
 Consumption of natural raw materials for leather processes reduces the
cost of production.
 No chemicals used in the tanning process makes it eco friendly
 The entire family is directly employed in the making of the jootis with the
men in the family taking care of the technical aspects (developing the
basic frame of the jooti) and the women taking care of the dye work,
embroidery & cut work. Hence the work is well divided.
 RUDA’s techno social intervention helped a great deal in commercializing
the craft.

Weaknesses-

 Capital investment is comparatively low.

 The infrastructure for jutti making is not well organized. Unsuitable &
unhygienic conditions for lather processes.
 The vegetable tanned leather is hard & hence cause shoe bites.
 The jooti making is a time consuming activity.
 Lack of design sensibilities & techniques.
 Absence of formal training in terms of product development & design
processes.
 Declining & uncertain demand.
 Inadequate marketing strategy.

Threats-

 Lack of secondary education. In bereft of information knowledge &

technological developments.
 Growing commercialization is overlapping the traditional jooti.
 With new & improved technological initiatives the demand is
declining.
 Craft being ignored like many other Indian crafts.
 Lesser youth sensitization towards the craft of jutti making.

Opportunities

 Constant effort to introduce newer designs.

 Changes in investments with better capital
 Training at personal level
 Participation in fairs at the national & global level

SUGGESTIONS
1. A systematic & well-organized environment for leather manufacturing-
This will ensure a well kept hygienic working place proportionately
affecting the efficiency. Their area for the processes is very loosely built
with no proper distinctions. A pucca wall around the same is going to
define each & every section with proper demarcations for better results.

2. Introducing basic machinery at the manufacturing level is going to help in

the production of more number of skins. Hence helping them compete
with the local factories.

3. Minor functional changes in terms of softness & the quality of the hard
vegetable tanned leather as it would ensure comfort on the feet.

4. Periodical Design interventions- The reason that the demand of Jutti is on

a decline is the lack of design innovation Craftsmen have been making
similar kind of Juttis over the years. A design intervention is going to help
bridge the gap Combining the technical skills & design sensibilities. A
team of designers working on the look of Jutti is going to help increase the
sales.

5. Sensitizing young designers toward the craft- Awareness regarding the

craft is essential at this level. A lot of people are ignorant about this
craft .An initiative like cluster helps young designers to go interact with
the craftsmen at the most primary levels helping them understand the
intricacies of the craft.

6. Instilling awareness regarding the Trade fairs & establishments, which

would help them establishing a trademark or a brand.

7. Periodic government interventions ensuring the well being of the

craftsmen and making sure that their craft reaches the cities.

8. Improved market strategy- Whatever market strategy they have is a

RUDA initiative, and there is no personal effort involved. A new & well-
designed marketing strategy will help benefit in increasing the consumer
market.

PREFACE
This document is a combined effort pertaining to the cluster initiative
undertaken by NATIONAL INSTITUE of FASHION TECNOLOGY, Delhi as a part of
our Leather design, fifth semester curriculum. This document is our
interpretation of the 12-day cluster training in Manpur Macheri in order to
understand the intricacies of the craft of MOJARI.

In this document we’ve dealt with the art of Mojari making, understanding its
raw materials & market consumption. As a part of our training we’ve also
emphasized on the origin of the craft, its development from raw to finish, assets,
magnitude, limitations & opportunities. We’ve supported our document with
visuals of all processes & the products.

Rural non-farm development agency (RUDA) is currently working in tandem

with the craftsmen of the village to ensure the commercial viability of the craft.

Our experience in the village with the craftsmen has been truly exceptional. We
thank NIFT for giving us this opportunity of a lifetime.
Acknowledgement
This document could not have been completed without the help of Ms Neeti
Banga who not only served as our supervisor but also encouraged throughout
the period of completion of the assignment. We thank our faculty for providing
us the opportunity of a very fulfilling and knowledgeable experience. It was most
interesting and educating.

We would like to thank Malu Ram Benewal, our craft cluster head & his family.
They patiently guided us through the training and documentation process. We
thank them for all their valuable guidance.

We would like to appreciate each other i.e. our group members, for all the co-
operation needed for any group work.

We would also like to thank our NIFT for taking the cluster initiative because it
helped us in understanding the craft in depth.
Retrospective
Manpur Macheri is one of the lesser-known places in & around Jaipur. Probably
because it is a little less explored in terms of tourism as compared to that of the
other better-known villages of Rajasthan. We had never heard of the place
before nor could we find adequate secondary information before leaving. It was
obvious that we were going to a very silent, discrete & a tranquil place. It was
confirmed the day we reached. What was highly unique was the fact that it was a
hands on primary interaction. We were in a village among the craftsmen, living
their craft. We as a group considered this as an experience of a lifetime (at the
stake of sounding cliché) because one could never tell when would we be able
enough to experience something like this again.

Malu Ram Benewal, our craft cluster head is a simple man with an extremely
humble persona. He held his own during our entire cluster period, despite of all
his brilliant work & exemplary achievements. The ease at which he interacted
with each one of us, explained us the processes, shared with us his interesting
anecdotes over the years, was phenomenal. The respect and passion he has for
his craft was immense so much so that the majority of the family is devoted to
the same. During one of our sessions, he spoke about how so many families in the
village had abstained from making Mojris, many women were no longer involved
in embroidery, mainly because there were lesser & slower returns. Many of them
had taken to the Indira Gandhi roz gar yojna wherein they were employed
directly by the government.

The biggest lesson we learnt on this cluster was to have an open mind. It is very
easy to get disillusioned when one goes to such a vulnerable environment,
specially after witnessing such a widely accepted craft. And that is what Malu
Ram ji ensured. He did not have any sob story to tell when we asked about the
limitations he had to face as a craftsman. And that’s where RUDA stepped in as
he spoke at length about RUDA.

RUDA (Rural Non Farm Development Agency) was established in

November 1995, by the Government of Rajasthan as an
independent agency to promote the Rural Non-Farm Sector (RNFS)
in the State. RUDA follows a sub-sectoral, integrated and cluster
based approach for promoting rural micro enterprises for rural
artisans. RUDA's  Mission is to promote sustainable rural
livelihoods in the rural non farm sector.
Sanjay Joshi, an alumni of FDDI & one of the members of the RUDA team , visited
us in of the sessions and threw light on the entire evolution on the MOJRI. Back
in 19 RUDA in a collaboration with UNDP(united nations development
projects) had come up with a TECHNO-SOCIAL intervention in the district of
Jaipur, Jodhpur, Pali, Nagore & Jalore in order to elevate the craft and make it
commercially viable. More than 3500 houses were covered under this
intervention. It was a 5-year intervention funded by UNDP. It was an
intervention to uplift the craft & and the craftsmen. As joshi relates how , that
time the biggest disadvantage was the fact that despite large livestock there
wasn’t any leather processing being done. The government wasn’t doing
anything about it, so they had to intervene. Joshi told us about how they had to
analyse the disadvantages of the desi jooti and convert those into deliverables. In
an order to increase its selling quality there were some functional changes they
had to look after.

Earlier only Desi Jootis were made but gradually after the intervention of RUDA
& training in Pragati Maidan they diversified. The work started in Udaipuria, a
village 19 kilometers away from Manpur. The biggest disadvantage in the DESI
Mojari was that it had no right left distinction whereas biologically the shape of a
human right foot is different from that of the left. They were uncomfortable due
to that and caused sores on the feet. And that is how sizing was introduced in
2000 eliminating the concept of hand measurement. The craftsmen were
provided with Desi Pharmas in place of their traditional wooden ones. As Joshi
reminisces,” It was very challenging at first as a lot of craftsmen were illiterate
and they could never tell the right farma from the left. So much so that at times,
they made Mojris of the same foot. Then we had to mark them in order to enable
understanding.” The thick leather (because of its vegetable tan quality ) was
skived, the back stitch quality was improved, investing on using one layer
instead of the many hence increasing efficiency and reducing cost. Also, rubber
sheets were used in the heel.

Hence craftsmen started incorporating these changes and after a sizeable

production, an exhibition was held in Pragati Maidan. They were paid wages for
making products. People started showing interest. Suchitra Mahapatra, a student
from NID, designed a whole range of juttis using jute denim & blue pottery beads
in leather. The name of this range was ASSEMBLY. The demand increased
overnight. It was huge success. Design detail was given the maximum priority &
standard sizing was extremely significant in the demand increase. RUDA also
brought in an order from Germany & as a part of the initiative sent a craftsman to
Germany for training.

What is the reason then, this initiative did not sustain? And why was there a
gradual decline in the demand? was our immediate question.

Joshi blames it on the lack of innovation. He explained, for anything to sustain

there has to be a continuous evolution. He said that the craftsmen made designs
only from the SM catalogue repeatedly and there were no designs interventions.
After a while the demand automatically declined, as there was nothing new being
offered to the market. Also there was a lack of patience. For any craft to grow &
sustain there has to be there is a lot of hard work & patience involved. The men
wanted quick & the right money. As it is there are no new design innovations
people are not ready to pay the right amount on the Jooti.

Currently RUDA in collaboration with GDS (UK) is in middle of its five year
intervention in Udaipuria village as it has a lot of potential in terms of its craft.

Malu Ram ji had a number of stories to tell about his craft, about his life, about
the village but there was something he spoke about with great pride. Malu Ram
ji belongs to the Chamar community, a class which is largely employed in the
making of leather. And unlike the metros, class & caste is still a matter of great
importance in the rural India. Even the drivers were a little wary of the fact that
we were going to meet Malu ji everyday. On enquiring further we got to know
they were Rajputs hence emphasizing on how deep rooted the entire isuue was.
One day, after showing us the leather making procedure, Malu ji sat down with
us for an engaging conversation. Malu ji is a supporter of Congress, for reasons
justified. On being question why he said,” Earlier I had only one pair of kurta
pajama, I was poverty stricken, I had no money to buy a new pair, I used to stink,
and nobody wanted to sit with me. The reason that I’m sitting with you here
today is because of Congress.” It was quite a shift from what we generally see or
read about in the media. Here was a craftsman who had great faith in his
government. On being questioned further he told us that Nobody today can
challenge his caste or make him feel inferior for it. Every man has a right to live
howsoever he wants to, with dignity and Congress ensured that. He told us that
the Water tank was installed somewhere in the 1960’s and electricity was
introduced somewhere around a decade before than that. He also mentioned
that they could go talk to the officials about anything that is disturbing. Malu Ji,
himself is an example of a responsible citizen who has taken a lot of initiative in
the past over innumerable issues and he has taken it on himself to report them.
That is what makes him a man of great credibility. There, in that little corner of
the village we saw India shining.