ODOP scheme in Uttar Pradesh
The Uttar Pradesh government’s ODOP scheme has plucked crafts from near extinction, given artisans guaranteed income and contributed to the state’s export growth through good marketing Lucknow,ISSUE DATE: Sep 5, 2022 | UPDATED: Aug 26, 2022 18:49 IST Artisans at the Common Facility Centre in Sitapur, a traditional hub of dhurries; (Photo: Maneesh Agnihotri) Two flower-shaped silver pieces, their simple and elegant central design speckled with lapis lazuli blue—the gulabi meenakari cufflinks and a matching brooch, the latter with a peacock motif, were chosen with care before Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted them to US President Joe Biden and US first lady Jill Biden at the G-7 summit in Germany in late June. Then there were the pieces of black pottery, polished to a subdued gleam and looking as distinguished as objets d’art from the palace of an ancient potentate. The recipient was Japanese PM Fumio Kishida. Others leaders like French president Emmanuel Macron, Italian premier Mario Draghi and German chancellor Olaf Scholz got ornate zari zardozi embroidered boxes, marble inlay table tops and handmade …