Rayagada: The colourful brooms produced by the Dongaria Kondhs of the district will now be available online. The online shopping store Amazon will market the product.
According to sources, the Dongaria Kondhs of Niyamgiri hills in the district are taking training on making the brooms at the Skill Development Centre. Some artisans from Kolkata have been engaged at the centre to impart training to the tribals.
The training aims at giving a modern look to the brooms to make those more attractive to the online consumers. Besides the attractive packaging, the tribals are trained on improving the quality by using steel and plastic pipes to give a boost to its demand.
The Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) and Odisha Livelihoods Mission have been taking the initiative to export the brooms to other states and countries too.
Gunupur sub-collector J Sonal said the district administration is also in discussion with the state government’s Odisha Livelihoods Mission and other organisations for online sale of brooms with an aim to improve the income sources of the Dongaria Knodhs.
Earlier, former Rayagada collector Guha Poonam Tapas Kumar and former Gunupur sub-collector Amrit Ruturaj had taken the initiative to market the handwoven Kapadaganda shawl by Dongaria Kondh.
