Case Study

Artisan Baby Salma

Mrs. Baby Salma, a Zari artisan belongs to Patna City,
Patna. She is married and 26 years old and has known
the art since her childhood. Mrs. Baby Salma did her
schooling till class 10th and later she had drop out from
school because of financial crises in the family. The art
has been passed to the family from her grandfather.
Mrs. Baby Salma learnt the art while growing up from
her family members as all the members were directly
or indirectly are indulged in the craft. Baby Salma has
her parents, four sisters and one brother in her family.
While she got married last year, she is staying with her
husband, mother-in-law and father-in-law since last
one year. Now its six years since she is totally indulged
in the craft work and earns her livelihood by doing the
Zari work for the customers.
Her uncle Mr Safi Ahmed is in the Zari work business for last twenty years. He has direct
connected with the customers and brokers. Customers give their designs, cloth material and
also the embellishments used in the Zari work like dabka, kora, katori, tikena and sitar to him
along with some advance payments. He then distributes the work among Mrs. Baby Salma and
other sisters. As there is no direct connection between Mrs. Baby Salma and the final
consumers a lot money gets distributed between brokers and her uncle. That is the reason she
would only get Rs. 500 for the craft work done which must be getting sold for Rs. 2000. The
only peak time when they get highest number of orders is at the time of festival of ID and
marriage seasons. There are also times when for months they have no work at all. Due to no
certainty and very low income, she had to search for different sources of income. Now she is
does 8-hour job of an account at a grocery store to make her both ends meet.
Mrs. Baby Salma loves the craft as she has been indulged in it since her childhood but is unable
to work as because of low income and less market demand for Zari Work. She has soft corner
for the craft and wishes if she doesn’t have to take a job and only work for Zari craft.

Recommendations
Based on the discussions, which took place with the Zari work Artisan Baby Salma the
following suggestions are made:
1. Zari, which is the critical raw material for the handloom sector needs to be readily
available and its price regulation should be implemented in Essential Commodity Act.
2. The problem arises in zardozi work is that the artisans are not getting regular work,
work depend on order by the intermediate who also charge their interest so it should be
abolish and work by own.
3. Visit for Skill upgradation with the help of training program provided by the state
handloom department.
4. Provide market linkages through e-commerce linkages, marketing portal and other
promotional activities like promoting their products through social media.
5. Merging them with Self Help Groups (SHG) so that they will function on the same
pattern.
6. Also need in the value addition of the products, designs and colour combinations as
they are not aware about the current trends. It will be helpful for skill enhancement of
the artisans, which will result in production of qualitative dress material and increase
in income of the artisans.

7. Know the market: - As a craftsman, it’s very important to be aware of your market.
Baby Salma has been brought and bought up in a very conservative family. She is
highly unaware of the Zari market. All her works are transported to the consumers
through her uncle. Hence, she is paid only the labour charges. It is very important to be
aware of the real market; since good market for handwork is quite limited and can be
found only in certain places or occasions.
8. Awareness of the technicalities behind government schemes and programs: - Baby
Salma was aware of the various scheme run by the government to promote the artisans.
However, she was unable to avail any of them. When asked the reason behind it, she
replied that not only her but none of the artisans in her locality are able to avail it. She
had a mind-set that government only talks but don’t actually help them out.
To deeply understand the process behind government scheme, the class along with the
artisans visited the Khadi Mall. The group was made aware that to avail such kind of
opportunities, one must be a part of self-help groups. It is very difficult for single
individuals to grab the opportunities as uncertainties arise in the actual identities of the
artisans. However, it is easy for self-help groups to connect with the government.
The group made Salma ma’am aware of the MSME schemes also and guided her to its
office in Patliputra area, Patna
9. Personal Selling: - Personal selling is a process of meeting the customer face to face. A
physical interaction enables a person to know his or her customers personally and
understand the customer’s buying psychology also.
Baby Salma belongs from a conservative Muslim family. She does not her clients. It is
a process of face to face interaction between the salesperson and the prospective
customer. Through a proper training and guide, she can become an eloquent salesperson
as she is a literate woman. Personal selling is a good method to generate loyal customer.
10. Content marketing: - Content marketing envelopes many forms of marketing a product.
It is process to spread the knowledge about any specified product. The easiest approach
is to manage an on-site blog, adding new content a few times a week that informs or
entertains your readers in some unique and practical way.
The group taught Baby Salma, how to capture perfect photos and miniature videos by
the group’s fashion communication students to generate and maintain the excitement
throughout the making process of her each and every work. She can maintain a pictorial
blog also.
11. Haats and Fairs: - These provide to the marketers an opportunity to display their
products. Consumers are ready to try the product by overcoming all inhibitions and can
get the touch and feel of the product and this will further generate sales as most of the
people come to the haats with an intention to buy.