New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday launched ‘JK Karigari’, a marketplace for handicrafts and other products made by artisans and self-help groups (SHGs) in the Union Territory, at the Bharatiya Vyapar Mahotsav in New Delhi.
The platform has been launched by the Housing and Urban Development Department under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) to provide urban women SHGs with wider market access and support sustainable livelihoods.
The marketplace will feature Kashmiri products including Pashmina, Kani and Sozni shawls, papier-mache, walnut wood carving, crewel embroidery and carpets, besides organic local produce. Products from Jammu, including Chabri, macramé home and devotional décor, traditional food items and wooden crafts, will also be showcased.
According to the department, products listed on the platform will carry QR codes containing details of the artisan, district and Geographical Indication (GI) tag. Payments will be made directly to artisan groups, with the platform designed to eliminate intermediaries.
Commissioner Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Mandeep Kaur, said around 4,000 SHGs with nearly 50,000 women members are currently associated with DAY-NULM across J&K.
She said the government was exploring further interstate collaborations to expand market opportunities for SHGs. She also said skill-upgradation programmes had been conducted for SHG members to improve product quality and market readiness.
The launch builds on an agreement signed on November 9, 2024, between the National Urban Livelihoods Mission, J&K, and the Uttar Pradesh Handicrafts Development and Marketing Corporation Limited to strengthen market linkages for SHG products and handicrafts in J&K and Uttar Pradesh.
The agreement also provides for cross-learning and sharing of best practices between SHGs of the two regions, with facilitation support from Akanksha Samiti, Uttar Pradesh.
Nodal officers Kapil Sharma and Vikas Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Development Authority Kashmir, Tazayun Mukhtar, and Managing Director, DAY-NULM, Mridhu Salathia, also spoke at the event.
Members of participating SHGs shared their experiences and said access to markets had remained one of their major challenges.
