Fair Trade Policy & Advocacy

FTF-I is recognized as an effective national-level network in terms of its membership, programme interventions and visibility among international Fair Trade organizations, government departments, grassroots producers, NGOs and consumers. FTF-I advocates and lobby’s with the Government in India for Fair Trade.

FTF-I also closely associates with policy lobbying groups towards making the Government of India considerate towards the problems being faced by the artisans and farmers. FTF-I participates in the policy formulation consultation process of non-governmental organisations organized by Oxfam, various NGO-forums on bilateral trade policies, environment action groups, etc.

Lobbying activities have been undertaken by to influence policymakers to adopt Fair Trade friendly policies, through presenting position papers to concerned bodies, joint delegations and making appeals to policy level authorities. FTF-I also builds networks with stakeholders at the local, national and international level.

FTF-I Submits Suggestions on the 12th Plan

Based on the discussions in the policy consultation, FTF-I submitted suggestions for improvement of various schemes for artisans mentioned in the 12th Five-Year Plan document prepared by the Planning Commission of India. The suggestions were submitted to the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts working under the union ministry of Textiles for consideration.

The excerpts from the set of suggestions are as follows: –

  • Components of social and environmental concerns and the upcoming global statutory regulations to ensure gender equity, fair wages and environment friendly practices/ processes and products that are free from child labor should be included as the core objectives of the project AHVY (Ambedkar Hastshilp Vikas Yojana). Schemes are also needed to development of special clusters on Fair Trade norms under the AHVY project.
  • Introduce a value chain fund to address the short term capital requirements of craft producers.
  • Regular mechanism for coordination between NSIDC (National Small Industries Development Corporation) working under Ministry of MSME and Ministry of Textiles-O/o Development Commissioner Handicrafts to ensure that the foreign retail giants procure from small handicrafts enterprises.
  • A single brand based on the ideals of Fair Trade to integrate marketing and retailing initiatives for handicrafts/ handloom/natural food/ tribal craft.
  • A separate fund to support craft communities to get benefit of GI.
  • There shall be clear guidelines towards integrating various government schemes that covers handicrafts sector such as schemes by Ministry of MSME, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Commerce.