Digital Didi Changing Mindsets, Practices and Narratives
Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) through its flagship programme Chanderiyaan has been demonstrating the power of digital intervention to improve the financial status of traditional artisans of Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh and creating a model for traditional-skill based clusters for over 10 years now. But the Covid-19 pandemic and the country-wide lockdown adversely affected the weaver’s community with no specific government relief for the handloom clusters. Muzaffar Ansari, a representative of DEF from Chanderi, was part of the first batch of weavers of this digital intervention. Ansari, famously known as Kalle bhai, is a local celebrity who is a certified government tour guide and calligrapher. Moreover, despite being formally uneducated, he has been a speaker at Ted Talks, written research papers and books on Chanderi including one for DEF. Traditionally from a weaver’s family, in these uncertain times of Covid-19 he observed and captured the difficulties that the weaver community is facing.
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