Moradabad's Brass Industry Struggles To Survive Amid Changing Times

Moradabad, renowned for intricately crafted brass products, is in danger of losing this legacy altogether. Artisan Chiranji Lal Yadav said, "The business is just about okay, but the youth are taking less interest in this work. Some of them learned the work from me, but after that, they get jobs in private firms etc. When I asked them what benefit did they get from learning this craft, they said that are working as computer operators etc and are getting a good salary."

Waning interest among the youth is not just because of better-paying jobs in other industries... it's also because the patience required to craft these items is becoming a vanishing commodity. There are other reasons too.

Another artisan, Khub Singh Yadav, said, "The situation is such that there are very few artisans now, and that is because machines have replaced them. The work that an artisan can do on crafting one piece, the machine can do that on 100 pieces [in the same time]. Artisans can't match that; that's why there are fewer artisans now. As far as new artisans are concerned, they are unable to learn the intricacies. Even when they learn, they are unable to work."