• Providing employment in lean season
• Meeting cash need
• A steady cash income

The strategies adopted by the Institute is to promote craft training and provide financial support for activities related to non farm income generation.

PIDT Mahila Kosh savings and credit program has covered over three hundred women. This program is builtaround groups of five women and is sometimes supported by craft training. These women have devel-oped entreprenuership and many of those who have enough capital are now opting out of the program. We consider them independent and empowered women.

PIDT has collected over 150 medicinal plants. These are domesticated and grown in a nursery and propagation of these medicinal plants is encouraged. Some of these plants are used as home remedies. Many of these plants have potentialities of being grown in large quantities.

Various craft trainings are conducted to enhance income generation capacities of craftsmen and market access of the craft. PIDT encourages sales in local markets as much as possible. To avoid saturation of the local market, the crafts are innovated upon occasionally. However some of the trainees acquire skills much above the needs of the local market, as some of them become artistic products. In such cases market creation is undertaken through the collective marketing outlet called Sanhati Bipani.

Variety of handlooms have been introduced in the area and the PlDT design centre is used for its promotion. 'The varieties of looms that are experimented with and or used in production are - Manipuri loom, Hobby loom, Swedish loom, Frame loom, Chittaranjan loom and Tara loom. These looms have their specialized areas of efficiency.

Bamboo craft is an important craft. Due to deforestation in many tribal areas of the country. Bamboo plantation is gaining momentum. Bamboo craft training are given to local men and women to diversify the product range that they already produce. Quality Bamboo products not saleable in the local market so those produced are sold through Sanhati Bipani which plays a crucial role.

'Terra cotta has remained a household industrial product and is loosing market. To diversify the product range new concept filler blocks for concrete work is being tried out and decorative tiles for facade of buildings. Village potters have been trained and have been provided with design support to produce these blocks.

Artistic ceramic products by the village potter being a goal that is being promoted by the Craft Development Centers. A training center is being developed for the purpose.

Inroads have been made to bring blacksmithy into the realm of upper class housing products. The issue is that though artistic products have their special place they remain confined to the select sensitive persons. Using the same techniques and skills new areas of use of the craft larger market for crafts can be opened up, through innovative design.

• Sanhati Bipani has done significant work in spreading environment friendly production to develop handicraft production. A large and ever increasing network of producers both from voluntary sector and the individual craft persons sell their products through the Sanhati Bipani. The Sanhati Bipani maintains two retail outlets to market it's products. One shop is maintained at PlOT Lokshala, Madhupur in Jharkhand and the other at Bolpur hear Santiniketan in West Bengal. Considering the growth of sales and limitations placed by the small size of the sales area new space has been acquired at Bolpur to enlarge the sales area.

• Sanhati Bipani sells, handicrafts, handlooms, books on development, tiealth foods, home-made jams and pickles, etc..

• Increase in variety of health foods (food grains and processed food prepared from biologically produced grains, fruits, etc.) Some of the raw materials for health food production are grown by PlDT and others by the net work members.

• A new dimension will be added to the Sanhati Bipani's activities. A training facility is under development for discussion of various issues of production and marketing through workshops and training programs for the producers. Customer and producer interface will also be one of the objectives.

• Another new dimension of Sanhati Bipani is the establishment of a tribal and rural craft museum and a Gallery of Modern Art to promote tribal artists and young contemporary artists.