Chinese lights spell doom for potters this Diwali

Ranjit Thakur
Jammu, October 17

Even as potters are living in abject poverty and struggle to make both ends meet, a family in Jammu has kept the tradition of making earthen lamps alive.

Due to widespread use of fancy cheap Chinese electrical lightings during the festive season have jeopardise the livelihoods of thousands of families who are engaged with this craft work, but the family is still clinging to ancestral profession.

Ram Krishan (80) said, “I am engaged in this tradet since the past 70 years and my sons have also followed the footsteps. Earlier, we used to earn good profit but the cheap fancy Chinese items in the market has made it very difficult for us to survive,”

In recent years, the use of earthen lamps by the people on Diwali has decreased because they mostly use electric lights which are mainly imported from China, the use of plastic in these lights are also generating lot of plastic waste which is detrimental to environment.

The family is engaged in making pots, earthen lamps, flower vase, temples, piggybanks and many other items of clay which they brought from Jhiri. For making the clay items is difficult work and it needs special training to learn the craft.

His son, Dharmveer, said, “Diwali is just around the corner and this year we are receiving lukewarm response from the market, people mostly go for plastic lights, but we want that the government should support us for keeping alive this centuries-old craft work.”