This book is a compilation of seventeen papers written by me on the socio-economic issues of artisans and crafts development, spanning over a decade and spread across my academic affiliations/networks in the above period. The task of carving a volume from those papers necessitated development of two introductory essays and a conclusion to put together the alternative development perspectives outlined in the body of the book. The objective of the volume is to contribute to the establishment of a research-cum-action agenda for inclusive development of traditional artisans and crafts promotion, through publications, academic deliberations, artisan activism and public debate thereby providing intellectual stimuli towards the core concept of the volume viz: A National Artisan Plait In other words, the common thread woven across the entire fabric of the collected papers has been the concept of a National Artisan Plan, taking a cue from the concept of Special Component Plan/Tribal Sub Plan (SCP/TSP) in Indian planning.
