Kashmir’s craft economy meets e-commerce at GDC Baramulla Festival
Baramulla, Jul 24: The Government Degree College (GDC) Baramulla on Wednesday organised a day-long festival titled Legacy to Launchpad- cultural heritage meets e-business and entrepreneurship in Kashmir to explore the dynamic intersection of cultural heritage and modern digital enterprise.
Young entrepreneurs and innovators in their panel discussions shared their success stories and the way forward for the budding entrepreneurs for promoting local Arts and Crafts while using digital marketing.
The festival was organised by the Department of Management Studies of the college, which served as an opportunity for the young entrepreneurs and some school children to showcase their stalls of different varieties, ranging from eatables to photographic skills and clothing and calligraphy.
During the event, the young innovators shared the ideas of preserving traditional crafts, culture through the tools of e-commerce, which will create a sustainable livelihood for the youth.
In his address at the occasion, Principal GDC Baramulla Prof. Mohammad Shafi Lone highlighted the importance of blending cultural legacy with technology-driven entrepreneurship.
He said the youth must be guided to view Kashmir’s rich cultural heritage not as a legacy but as a launch pad for creativity and economically viable futures,” Prof Lone said.
The Day-long festival aimed to feature Kashmir as a showcase of its rich cultural and economic legacy and how the traditional arts, crafts and food of Kashmir can be revived with technological interventions.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, Vice Principal GDC Baramulla Prof. Tariq Ahmad Chalkoo said, from pottery to Pashmina shawls and saffron to other Crafts, there are many such things that have been a part of our history and culture.
“But we use the tag all over the world, like by giving the name of Kashmir Saffron, many countries are selling it. We have come to a point where we import brands from outside by exporting our skills,” he said.
He said the purpose of the day-long festival was to provide an opportunity to the youth-boys and girls to interact with those people who will give them technological compliance, technological competence, how to develop apps, how to enter the e-commerce world, and achieve success.
“We wanted to help the students bring them closer to the things that we have left behind, like the claypot or the pottery in our homes,” he said. Prof. Chalkoo said the stalls showcased pottery and artefacts which are a part of our culture.
“Unfortunately, only one percent of our artisans are visible in the digital world, and only five per cent of them use UPI or a payment gateway. So we thought that if we create a group here, which understands the problems of these artisans and integrates them with the digital market today,” he said.
He said the objective of the festival was to empower the artisans to sell their products online instead of using middlemen who pay them peanuts in return.
