War for water

(Published on March 27, 2013: http://www.madhyamam.com/en/node/10452)

Kerala is a small state on the south-western tip of India.  The land is endowed with abundant water resources. There are 44 rivers in the State. These water bodies are the wonderful gifts of nature to the God’s Own Country, a slogan is being used for its unparalleled beauty. Most of the people depend on wells for drinking water. The water is part of the day-to-day life. But, the State is now reeling under a severe water crisis with fast-depleting ground water and drying water bodies.

In an exclusive interview to Madhyamam English, Indian environmental activist and anti-globalization author Vandana Shiva talks about the root cause of the current water crisis in Kerala, impact of globalization, government policies in environmental protection and the solution for it. Excerpts from her talk,

The UN has declared 2013 as the United Nations International Year of Water. What do you think about the significance of the theme?

UN themes are meant for Governments and citizen’s to focus on the issue. Movements will give meaning to this year’s theme.

There are 44 rivers in Kerala. In contrast to it, the State has been declared as a drought-affected area after successive monsoon failures during the current year.  What do you think the root cause of the current water crisis? 

The root cause of the water crisis in water rich Kerala is deforestation in the catchment, land grab, and sand grab from the river beds.

You said: “When we think of wars in our times, our minds turn to Iraq and Afghanistan. But the bigger war is the ongoing war against the Earth. This war has its roots in an economy which fails to respect ecological and ethical limits.” Tell us more about this war.

The war against the Earth is everywhere – in Kudankulam, in Jaitapur, in the area being grabbed by POSCO, in the tribal areas where coal, iron ore and bauxite are being mined, in the atmosphere where pollution is destabilising climate patterns, in my beautiful Uttarakhand where the madness of building is killing the Ganga and her tributaries, in the cotton belt where BT cotton has destroyed native biodiversity and killed farmers through trapping them in debt…..and one can go on and on

Plachimada in Kerala is today synonymous with the struggle for water. “Big corporate companies are transforming the planet into a supermarket in which everything is for sale.” Can you explain this?

Globalisation is justified for growth. For this, nature’s gifts and people’s commons are transformed into commodities…seed, food and water. Everything is a marketable commodity, everything is for sale. That is why the High Court ruling that water in Plachimada is a commons and belongs to the community is so significant.

What do you think about the government policies in environmental protection?

The only policy Government is making is to undermine environmental policies. The proposal to have no laws for big investments, or the attempt to introduce the Biotechnology Authority Act of India (BRAI) is examples of this deregulation.

There have been disputes between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar dam issue.  What do you think about the politics of water in India? Is it good or bad?

The politics of water is creating water wars when we should be creating water peace. And there are only two ways to reduce water conflicts-reduce water use, and strengthen people’s participation in water use decisions.

Hydro electric power plants are the major source of electricity generation in Kerala. So, the power sector in now in crisis due to the depletion of water level in dams. You know very well about the environment of Kerala. How do you see this? What do you think about the alternative power sources in Kerala?

There are alternative natural resources in Kerala. The State can explore the natural resources like biogas, solar and winds for the power generation.

Can you briefly introduce us about the Navadanya, its aims and achievements?

I started Navdanya 26 years ago to resist Patents on Seed and GMOs by saving our seeds, and defending our seed sovereignty (Bija Swaraj). We have set up more than 110 community Seed Banks, helped hundreds of thousands of farmers to shift to chemical free, ecological agriculture. Navdanya also defends Jal Swaraj, Bhu Swaraj, Anna Swaraj, Van Swaraj. Our philosophy is based on Earth Democracy.

Can you give a brief explanation of eco feminism and its relevance in today’s world?

Eco-feminism is based on the recognition that capitalist patriarchy has unleashed violence against nature and women, and that the liberation of women is intimately linked to the liberation of all life on Earth.

Are you hopeful as you look towards the future? Can you suggest the ways to go out from this environmental crisis in Kerala? What can the common people do to protect the environment?

If I looked to the future passively, I would be despondent and hopeless. But every day I work to cultivate hope. We have to be the change we want to see. We have to create alternatives and we have to resist destruction, both as our right, and as our ecological duty.

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Empowering rural folk

(Published on February 4, 2013: http://www.madhyamam.com/en/node/8783)

Radio is making a comeback! In an age of FM radio stations, the quote is a reality. But, it does not mean that the golden age of radio is back. In the earlier days, Akashavani or AM radios had played an instrumental role in creating awareness among rural people through its rural network coverage. It was like a blood relationship among them. There was a time when people used to wake up hearing the Akasavani stations.  

For anyone who doesn’t satisfy with the new age radios, anyone who remembers when a radio was something that gathered the people around, Young India in Konark has a unique idea – empowering rural people through community radio.

‘Radio Namaskar’ is the first community radio of Odisha set up by ‘Young India’, a civil society organization. The theme, ‘promoting the voice of voiceless’ itself resonates the role of this community radio in rural empowerment.  They wanted to do something which was ignored by the mainstream media and that is what they are doing now in rural Odisha.

Located in the historic Konark city in Odisha, the amenities at the radio station include a studio, administrative office and visitor’s room. In other terms, the less number of amenities do not constrain them in doing their mission of addressing the issues of rural people.

“We are now six employees including a Programme executive, assistant executive editor and three copy editors’, said Biswanath, an employee at the radio station.

The station went on air from February 2010. Most of the programmes are in Oriya and aired at 90.4 MHz in FM frequency. The main aim of Radio Namaskar is to promote communication link among the proposed villages to develop an environment that will ensure flow of information and access to all amenities.

The programmes of the radio have been divided into four sections including local governance, food security, women in front and youth for development. The impact of their efforts was visible within a few months of its launch. At a time, farmers were not aware about the MOPOKHARI scheme (NREGS), so that they did not apply for the scheme. ‘Radio Namaskar’ decided to do something to make the people aware of it. The community radio aired an announcement regarding MO POKHARI scheme in the first week of March 2010 as per the suggestion of BDO, Gop Block. Surprisingly, the block administration, soon after this, received 123 applications from the rural farmers of different GPs of Gop Block.  The block administration issued about 97 work orders following it.

“We provide a medium to give vent to the aspirations, concerns and communication needs of the local community that are otherwise overlooked by the mainstream media,” said N A Shah Ansari, President, Young India. They also intend to promote a group of trained and organized youths or women from target group who will sustain the momentum of this project.

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“My movie was treated untouchable”

(Published on December 17, 2012: http://www.madhyamam.com/en/node/7345)

Papilio Buddha is a feature film written and directed by Jayan K Cherian, an Indian poet filmmaker who lives in New York.

The film Pappilio Buddha is his debut feature film. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had earlier denied certification to the film. Finally, the FCAT (Film Certification Appellate Tribunal) grand a favorable verdict to the film, which is without any cuts but few beeps and blurs. The film has triggered yet another controversy after it was rejected a screening at the 17^th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).

In an exclusive interview with Madhyamam English, Jayan K Cherian talks about the film Papilio Buddha, the politics of film culture in Malayalam and more. Excerpts from his talk,

IFFK – 2012

I think by excluding Papillio Buddha from their line up, IFFK (International Film Festival of Kerala) lost an opportunity to showcase the life and struggle of the marginalised people of Kerala to an international audience. Since, they brag themselves in the international film community IFFK as the platform for the voice of the global south and the oppressed.

I do think there is an anti-Dalit attitude runs in Chalachitra Academy as in any other government agencies controlled by upper caste/upper class elites and also they could not tolerate any piece of art that unsettles their archaic sensibility.

Exclusion of Papilio Buddha is not an isolated case, last documentary festival they tacitly exclude Anand Patwardhans ‘Jai Bhim Comrade’, under technical reasons like the length of the film. In fact the curator who solicited the film knew the exact duration of the film. I strongly believe that anti-Dalit bias is one of the reasons behind the exclusion of Papilio Buddha from the IFFK line up.

Film festival jury

I don’t agree with the selection process for IFFK. Soliciting films that got recognized in other major festivals is very easy; an international festival establishes identity by its discoveries and its world premiers.  The process of selecting the pre-selection committee is problematic; the film minister selects one of his cronies as academy chairman and the Juries who are submissive to them. Naturally, they will be ended up with a group of opportunist and soothsayers without any artistic integrity. So there is no point of asking them what are their aesthetic criteria to select a film, first of all their qualification is nothing but unconditional loyalty to the ruling minister or chairman.

It is we all know that how talented young film makers like Vipin Vijayan and Sherry have been treated by IFFK in previous years (Vipin got recognized later after a long legal and political battle). Chalichitra Academy and IFFK   are run by our tax money and its mission supposed to be discovering new voices, new talents with cutting edge sensibilities in the medium and showcase their works in front of the International community.  Unfortunately, our IFFK becomes a pigsty of intolerance and cast bigotry when they deal with the new Malayalam filmmakers, on the other hand, they celebrate Arab/Afro/ Asian/ Australian aboriginal packages in order to keep FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) accreditation as a specialised film festival for Asian, African and Latin American films and also want to be known as the voice of the global south in the international film community. This is sheer hypocrisy, which is our national religion.

Dalit representation in Malayalam films

Dalit representation in Malayalam films are horrible since the beginning and still it continues by reinforcing Dalit/Musilm/woman characters as stereotypes.  Majority of the Malayalam films are anti Dalit films, even Dalit filmmakers and writers hesitate to make the films of Dalit theme and they are making ‘savarna’ films with ‘savarna’ cast. In case the central  character is a Dalit they will cast a “Savarna’ actor to act as Dalit, which reminds me the early ‘black’ faces of Hollywood during the “Jim-crow” years where white man ware black face and act  black roles. There is an upper caste hegemony in the Malayalam film industry, which never tolerate any counter hegemonic voices.

Pappilio Buddha

Papilio Buddha is my first feature film. I wanted to make my first feature in Kerala and in Malayalam, which is the language that is close to my heart.

Papilio Buddha is a film that focuses on atrocities committed against Dalits, women and the environment. The idea of a government body censoring a piece of art in itself is ridiculous and it is a shame that a democratic country like India still has state instruments that curtails freedom of artistic expressions. Most of the objections are about denigrating Gandhi, Buddha and [19th and 20th Century Dalit leader] Ayyankali. The perceived denigration seems to be coming from the realistic treatment of the film’s climax scene, where landless Dalits are confronted by the police, who use overwhelming force to evict the protestors. The language used by the characters in this film, though it may be different from the usual commercial film language, is the language they speak every day. The violence depicted in the film against Dalit activists Sankaran and Manju are reflections of social injustices happening in our society. There is no exaggeration in the way it is pictured.

The regional censor board denied any sort of certification for the film. Then we approached the revision committee and they suggest more than 25 cuts, beeps,  and blurs which would  have virtually kill the narrative structure of the film. Finally, the FCAT (Film Certification Appellate Tribunal) grand us a favorable verdict, which is without any cuts but few beeps and blurs. We accept it because we need to bring the film to the people but as an artist I still believe that the state intervention in any work of art is absurd and it is against the democratic principles that we all uphold as a nation.

Insulting Dalits by calling their caste names is very common in our society.  We depict some upper cast characters calling Dalits caste names in order to criticise that practice not to endorse it. One who watches the film will clearly understand it.

Kallen Pokkuden as an actor

Casting Kallen Pokkudan as the central character in the Papilio Buddha is very significant. Kandal Kariyan, the character Mr.Pokkudan played in the film is very close to his life in a way Pokkudan was playing as himself in the film. As we all know Pokkudan is a prominent Dalit rights’ and environmental activist of Kerala, born in 1937, as a member of a Dalit family who were traditional agrarian slaves owned by upper caste landlords. Pokkudan went to school up to second grade and forced to work in the paddy fields in order to survive. In his teens, he runaway from the field and became an activist of Communist Party of India, participated in the early peasant revolts in Kannur district of Kerala. He was accused of killing of a rouge landlord and jailed for some time. Later he left communist party, due to ideological conflict with the Party and the caste discrimination that he suffered as an untouchable within the Party. Pakkudan’s life and activism is very significant in the history of Dalit movements in Kerala, his presence is very important in the film. Pokkudan is an amazing actor; working with him was a fascinating experience for me as filmmaker.

Chengara, Meppadi, Muthanga…

Papilio Buddhais inspired by several events that happened in various Dalit communities in Kerala, including their struggles for land in places such as Chengara, Meppadi, and Muthanga, and their effects it on the Dalit populations.

Media coverage and social media

Mainstream media, especially Malayalam visual media ignore the censorship issue related to the Papilio Buddha. Social media is very important for Dalit movement because Dalit representation in traditional media is nominal. So majority of the activist use social media the only way to send their message out and it began to use as an effective organising tool for the Dalit cause.

Buddhism and caste oppression

Buddhist movement among the Dalits of Kerala is very significant in the process of librating Dalits from caste centered “Sanathana dharma” which propagate a theological rational for caste system and bigotry.  Historically, Buddhism as a philosophy has confronted the ideology of ‘Brahminical Social Order’ and its caste system. So, Dr. Ambedkar recognised this philosophical strength of Buddhism and used it as a tool to liberate his people spiritually from the yoke of Sanathana Dharma”.

Next step

Next step is take the film to the people, show it in the villages and Dalit colonies of Kerala, our focus is not the international festivals, I have done that with my other films, I want to take the film to the people whom effected by the issues that raised in the film.

I think the caste system is one of the most sophisticated tools of oppression that India’s ruling class developed and its polymorphic manifestations still remains as a deep scar in the face of humanity beyond the upper caste/upper class narratives of the same. So I believe it is very important for me to make this film as a visual story teller who born in India.

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In nature’s cradle

(Published on October 12, 2012: http://www.madhyamam.com/en/node/5427)

In this speed – obsessed age, most of the people simply love to enjoy and have some fun with their friends in the lap of nature. If you are one among them, Chembra Peak is the best place where you can experience the real sense of natural interference.

 

We walked through the lush greenery of Chembra Peak and that led us to the cradle of nature. When we reached at the top of the peak, it was an amazing moment of standing amidst the green misty hills.The scenic beauty of the adjoining hills like Varanaswara Mala, Kurumbilakottu Mala, Manikunnu Mala and Ambukuthi Mala, which was visible from the top of Chembra Peak, was very mesmerising.

Chembra peak, located near Meppady is the highest peak in Wayanad district. At 2100 m above sea level, the peak is a trekker’s paradise and an ideal location for camping at night. The peak is blessed with the beauty of nature, lush greenery and a heart-shaped perennial lake. After an exhilarating trek from the base of this hill, it is time to explore the blue coloured lake in the middle of the misty hill.

With its own dream like serenity, the lake is believed to never have dried up. The water in the lake is divinely cold and sweet, though it is not drinkable. The lake is also an abode for rare type of fishes and frogs. The blue eyed water in the lake looks like it hardly touched by human hands.

It is a unique experience of camping in the cold night with camp fire at the top of the peak. Wild goats, buffalos, leopards, beers and elephants are found in the premises of this peak. They often come to drink water from the lake. If you are lucky, you may come across a passing wild beast.

“Prompted by the beauty around, the place gives me a lot of pleasure and it obviously is the best place to explore the bounty of nature,” says Satish, who went trekking up the misty peak.

Our visit to the place was in the last week of November.The best time to go up to the peak is between November and December. We did not forget to click some more snaps at the end of the trip and bid adieu to the beautiful place with the everlasting experience of staying at the top of the peak in shivering cold.

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Sharmi gets gold medal for her grit and determination

She had the look and the moves. As the star of Guangzhou Asian games, Sharmi of Konnakkadu in Kazargod district of Kerala conveyed intelligence and warmth to the dust covered Indian ‘Kabbaddi’. Then she played her toughest role with passion, in a gritty, month’s long battle against personal adversaries that ended in a Gold medal.

She belongs to Konnakkadu, a hilly village and obviously it makes the rustic to be enthused with her achievement. When she was receiving the gold medal, her family was congregated in front of TV set to watch it live. Further, what makes her gold medal as distinct is the item termed Kabbaddi which is commonly considered as a rural game. She is the youngest daughter of Ulahanna-Meri couple in the Vettam ‘veedu’(house) and she was the only representative from Kerala in the team. Andrus, head of Physical education of the Malom Kasaba Higher Secondary School had given her training which added to adorn the feather of triumph on her head.

She has done BA graduation from Changanasseri NSS College and now is pursuing her post-graduation in Malayalam at the Maharani Sethu Parvathi Bayi NSS College for Women at Neeramankara. Her house is located in an area of 10 cent land and the destitute background of the family glitter her success as gold. Ulakannan, her father, works in a private company, struggles even to make the two ends meet.

Her walk to the gold medal was not easy, but was with passion which had the glittering gold medal adorning her neck. And her electricity connection to her house and a KSRTC bus service to her village as a gift.

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Social media bringing in social transformation

I belong to a remote village in Kerala where the ‘small’ dwellers live with ‘big’ heart. I have childhood friends there. I met them at the play grounds. I had girl friends at my child hood days and played ‘olichukali’, but was a difficult job to be friends with them because I had to interact with them directly and I was shy because of social restrictions.

Many years back, we would all have to convene at the only house where the telephone was available during those times and till five years back I use to wake up by hearing the morning news from the Akasavani Kozhikode station. My mother considered this as a mandatory while making breakfast. This is where the communication technology was but my life changed from IIMC.

I am now making friends on my ‘face book’ and ‘Orkut’ accounts. I haven’t met one of my ‘face book’ friend till now, but we are in a mutual friendship. Many posts something every day on ‘face book’. I don’t know much about her, but I can read her thoughts through her ‘face book’ postings. I am enjoying one of my friend’s collections of photographs through his ‘face book’ posting. But I first saw him only on ‘face book’. This is the proximity of relationship brought by these social media.

One out of eight couples married in the US first acquainted themselves through social media. 200 million users have joined on ‘face book’ in less than a year. At present, 80% of the companies use social media for the recruitment of their employees out of which, 95% of them use ‘Linked in’ for this purpose. I recently had a chat with the former minister of state for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor. I share this proudly with you and it is a great thing for me as a citizen and as a journalist. He is hogging all the spaces of ‘Twitter’ and it is this social media that dethroned him. This social media has got clout!

I was searching ‘1921’, an old Malayalam film at the video library of my nearest town but couldn’t find out. Then I searched it on ‘YouTube’ and got it. This shows how the change of communication technology satisfies my needs. ‘You Tube’ is the second largest search engine in the world. Wikipedia has more than 14 million articles written by 75,000 contributors in 260 languages. There are over 200,000,000 blogs in the world. The broadband access will grow from 55% to 90% in 2012. 50 million tweets come out every day on ‘Twitter’.

These social media brings a new world order. This is an age of ‘Socianomics’. We cannot analyse these change as a mere technological advancement; it is a whole transformation of the world order. Today Capitalism is at the cross road. That’s why, Rupert Murdoch, media baron shows some fear on ‘new media’. The online edition of ‘The Guardian’ has a record of 3 crore visitors every month. As a costless media, they can’t earn enough profit from this business. Viewers turned in to CNN, MSNBS, BBC etc as soon as Murdoch made ‘Fox News’ online as a paid media and he is still fighting with Google.

In 90’s, Fukuyama, a neo-conservative thinker of America wrote the new era of capitalism as ‘the end of history’. Now, he is forced to write ‘America at the cross road’. Welcome to the world of ‘Socianomics’ and the end of Capitalism; not ‘the end of history’, but the revolutionary turn of society.

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Doordarshan turns 50: Needs functional autonomy

Doordarshan celebrated 50 years of its journey last year. The role of media in a country such as India is pivotal; we should consider the role of the public broadcaster in this context. Doordarshan has some obstinacy. Firstly, state and current government are not departed; secondly, to give sound for anti governmental views is against national interest.

There were a lot of favorite programmes on Doordarshan during 1970’s. ‘Hum Log’ of Shyam Manohar Joshi was one of them. Hum log visualized the desire and disappointment of a normal middle class family. ‘Buniyad’ also attracted viewers. Shyam Benegals ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ was the visualization of the Nehru’s work ‘The Discovery of India’.’Malgudi Days’ of RK Narayanan, women based serial ‘Rajani’, ‘Nukad ’ portrayed the real street life, ‘Tipu Sulthan’,’Swabiman’,’Chanakya’….which all brought the viewers in front of TV set. One of the notable serial was ‘Ramayana’ which broadcasted during 1987-88. It has played a remarkable role in making unity of our diversity.

Even though news broadcasting of Doordarshan attracted the viewers of that period, their presentation was not professional. So, after media boom occurred, Doordarshan news slipped down in to back side. But Doordarshan English news broadcast still attracts academicians and students. Doordarshan is a sleeping giant, the only way before Doordarshan is to wake up. Doordarshan must have to provide sound for anti governmental views also. It will help Doordarshan to diminish the stain on it as a government biased media. Logo and background song also must have to change in accordance to the current taster. The only Doordarshan can make the weakness of private media as the strength of public media.

When appointing the professionals, I&B ministry should also have to consider the back ground of the professionals. Most of the higher posts of Doordarshan are held by IAS officers. So, if media back ground are appointed, it will be an affirmative step in every challenging periods of this public media.

We have premier media like NDTV, CNN-IBN and have celebrity media personalities like Pronoy Roy, Rajdeep Surdesai, Burkha Dutt; Karan Thappar…But integrity and credibility is the question. If Doordarshan is ready to refresh the slogan ‘Satyam, Sivam, Sundaram’, Doordarshan has a bright prospect.

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Raghurajpur: Here craft museum lives

Plenty of natural and cultural resources can make a place very beautiful and the village of Raghurajpur, 10km away from Puri in Orissa is obviously endowed with beauty abounded with coconut trees, mango trees, and paddy fields.

Situated just across the river Bargavi, Nature has been very kind to this village and the villagers pay their tribute through their art and craft creations. Art and craft is the soul of their daily life and whoever sees their creation is forced to wonder whether their work is a direct creation of Nature itself? One gets to witness a real picture of rural India in this village. In fact, the Tourism Department of the Orissa has given a special attention to this village with the slogan ‘Enjoy Rural India’.

Raghurajpur is like an epigram with its houses stretching from East to Western part as two lines. ‘Panchayat Raj’ system is the centre of their social life. The meeting place, situated in the centre of the village, is called ‘Loon Bhagavat Tubgi’ with numerous small temples. These all temples are dedicated to numerous deities like ‘Buasuni’ (Grama Devi), ‘Gram Devati’, ‘Radha-Mohan’, ‘Gopinath’, ‘Dasabuja’, ‘Raghunath’, ‘Laxmi’, ‘Narayan’, ‘Gurang’, etc.

Raghurajpur is perhaps the only place where most of the villagers engage in art and craft works. There have around 376 artists in the village from 123 houses. At least three persons from each house are engaged in the craft works and ‘Patachitra’, ‘Talpatra’, ‘Coconut Painting’, ‘Luckury Painting’, ‘Condom Toys’, ‘Paper Marts’, ‘Tuber Painting’, ‘Stone Carving’, ‘Wooden Carving’, ’Wall Painting’ etc. are their main products. The village has 206 male and 170 female and the latter’s work related to epic stories are another notable fact.

Raghurajpur is the granary of Orissan artistic heritage and most of these artists have won National awards. These artists were the first immigrants in Raghurajpur and their generations have kept their tradition alive. They finish at least two painting in a month, mainly depicting the culture of Orissa.

A large painting requires anything between 15 to 20 days for completion and cost anything between Rs. 350 to 1500. They earn around Rs. 4000 per month and also take the help from artists from outside. These artists earn between Rs. 40 to 60 daily. The paintings are exported to cities like Calcutta, Delhi and Mumbai where the usage of natural colours and materials is what distinguishes them from other paintings. Efforts of some artists like Jagannath Mahapatra have made their work and the village famous in India and abroad.

Nearer home, the contribution of the Raghurajpur artists on the ‘Rath Yatra’ of the Lord Jagannatha Temple is unavoidable; paintings on the special dresses for Rath Yatra and giving their touch on many wooden products for this festival. ‘Godibuva’ (an old Odissi dance) is also the contribution of Raghurajpur. Padma Vibushan Guru Karan Mahapatra helped make this art form famous. He established a ‘Gurukul’ called ‘Dasa Buja Godivuva Odissi Nruthya Parishathu’ to teach Godivuva. These disciples also had participated in national festivals.

However, the village also has its share of problems. Although the Government has provides financial grants to these villagers, the village only has educational facility till 7th standard. As a result, they have to depend on other places for higher studies. However, Gondamunda Training Center, Bhubaneswar and Complex Training Center provide training to these artists. These trainings glitter their talents as gold.

.      However, the village also has its share of problems. Although the Government has provides financial grants to these villagers, the village only has educational facility till 7th standard. As a result, they have to depend on other places for higher studies. However, Gondamunda Training Center, Bhubaneswar and Complex Training Center provide training to these artists. These trainings glitter their talents as gold.

Raghurajpur is the role model for the rural tourism in India. The corridors of every house are adorned with multi coloured toys, different paintings and Palm Leaves. These all contribute to make this village as a living craft museum.

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