Abhivyakti - Bikaner
The beginnings of handicraft production units led URMUL to look for avenues of marketing these products. URMUL stands for dignity and security of the labour of artisans. There is another commitment URMUL has to the glorious and rich traditions of craftspeople of the Thar - preservation and representation of these craft traditions. Abhivyakti which literally means "expression" is a step in that direction. To tap the increasing tourist traffic to Bikaner as well as explore possibilities of retail selling in the city URMUL decided to open a retail outlet in Bikaner city in 1991. The Rajmata, Chairman of the Maharaja Rai Singh Trust kindly agreed to rent out a small outlet to URMUL at a very nominal rent in the Junagarh Fort complex. Pattus, bedspreads, table linen, etc from Phalodi, garments, woollen jackets and shawls and durries from Vasundhara, and exquisite hand embroidery items from Seemant, all can be found here, well arranged and stocked in the small room with its antique rohida wooden roof and red sandstone pillars. For all these years Abhivyakti has served as the window of desert crafts produced by artisan communities of URMUL. It has become one of the unique attractions for thousands of tourists who visit Junagarh fort every year. Sales from Abhivyakti amount to around eight to ten lakhs in a year. Profits from the sales go directly to the artisans through their respective production units. Only 10% of the sales is kept with the URMUL Trust. This amount is used for the maintenance of Abhivyakti. Abhivyakti is a shop with a difference. It is not only a craft outlet but a window into the panorama of the development efforts of the URMUL Trust as well as the conditions of the artisans of the desert.
Urmul Setu Lunkaransar
Urmul Setu Lunkaransar,
Sri Ganganagar Road, District Bikaner,
Rajasthan - 334 603 Contact: 01528-22104
The Urmul family Lunkaransar has a special place. It is the fount where it all began happening, the rootstock from which the family of organizations grew and spread. Pioneer, flagship, and standard bearer, Lunkaransar has had many identities. It has now emerged as the quintessential Setuor bridge that spans the meanderings of perceptions, policies, and practices which evolved within the entire Urmul experience. A bridge that gave continuity and benchmarks, and from which one could look out on both sides: learning and doing, a bridge that spanned a dozen summers moreover. From modest beginnings as a mobile health and immunization programme which initially rode piggy-back into clusters of villages around Lunkaransar on milk collection routes in the second half of the 1980s, Urmul Trust had, by the early 1990s, -before it underwent reorganization and decentralization, and other vicissitudes- already passed a few milestones and done a few other things: Defined its workspace autonomously in the couple of dozen villages it worked in, and set its targets on specific things to achieve in the area within a short time; Had put in place health research and service delivery systems, including mobile, outpatient, hospital, and referral services which efficiently catered to a strongly felt need; plus training, camps and campaigns, and some documentation; • Had created and greened a vibrant campus in Lunkaransar, which offered several facilities and services such as a hospital/ dispensary, a campus school, lodging and boarding for large numbers of people when needed, and various other attractions: craft outlet, nursery for plants, puppetry, music and theatre, and a popular public space for fairs, festivals, and learning fests; Innovative programmes in schools and education; Demonstrated its flexibility and creativity in responding to emergent situations such as droughts, epidemics, or disasters, and, in the process learnt to grapple with issues pertaining to the management of natural resources, and the provision of food, water, and fodder security. Whether waterworks or fodder banks and farms, community assets grew transparently, and for all to see; Made a major investment in capacity building by nurturing group organizations for men and women in the villages and clusters, who met regularly and ran their own self-help economic programmes involving credit and other support; Organized a Nahar Yatra and published a report on it; facilitated the participation of over a thousand farmers in a public debate on the Dunkel Draft; Since moving this side of pioneering to the present, Set has been indigenized. It is a bridge built on this side now only of indigenous human material. The yeast may have come from somewhere else, but the ferment is here. And from this ferment other ferments have risen, and are spreading. SETU Programmes & Activities: Health Monthly immunization route in 40 villages T.B. control programme covered 100 patients with short-term chemotherapy 128 eye operations in two camps Ongoing training for traditional birth attendants (dai / swasthya sathin) Education Programmes covering over 6000 children in 120 schools including 6 marushalas, overseen by over 450 active members of shiksha samiti in 56 villages/chaks; 2 six-month balika shivirs for 274 adolescent girls Group organizations 31 women's sangathans, with 520 members and total savings of Rs. 126,840; 13 men's sangathans, with 305 members and total savings of Rs. 103,615 Livelihood security Grain and fodder banks Seed loans disbursed through sangathans Communication 117 performances in 21 villages by Sanchar (Communication) team.
Pokaran
Urmul Marusthali Bunker Vikas Samiti (UMBVS) is a registered, not-for-profit organisation established for the welfare of weavers in the Great Thar Desert of Western Rajasthan.
With modernisation in the textile industry, traditional employment opportunities in the desert quickly disappear. Today we work with over 200 weavers (of which around 20 are women) from 12 villages in the north-west of Rajasthan. This provides weavers with the ability to make products with dignity. By working in a society, without middlemen, our weavers receive higher prices for their products which are sold in local and international markets.
Since our formation, we have been working to develop the vulnerable and weaker sections of society – especially Dalits, women and children. Today we also operate several rural development programmes, including education, children’s rights, horticulture and eye services.
The Camel Cafe (Pokaran)
The Camel Cafe is an initiative under the Marugandha HRDP project of HDFC Bank CSR and URMUL Trust. It is a unique experience where we believe in creating an ecosystem of Community Based Cafe (CBC) that aims to connect and strengthen the community with a supplementary income and promote the culture of eco-friendly travel.
The Camel Cafe (Jaisalmer)
The Camel Cafe is an initiative under the Marugandha HRDP project of HDFC Bank CSR and URMUL Trust. It is a unique experience where we believe in creating an ecosystem of Community Based Cafe (CBC) that aims to connect and strengthen the community with a supplementary income and promote the culture of eco-friendly travel.
Marugandha Craft Store (Jaisalmer)
The Marugandha Craft store is an enterprise under the Marugandha HRDP project of HDFC Bank CSR and URMUL Trust. This company belongs to the artisan community of the Thar Desert, and every product is purely handmade. Moving forward with an ambition to create a livelihood for every artisan in western Rajasthan.
