Srinagar, Sept. 25 -- The sanctioning of training programmes for glazed pottery and copperware in Kashmir is not simply an administrative measure; it is a recognition of how precarious the survival of traditional crafts has become. These skills, once woven into the daily life and cultural fabric of the Valley, have steadily eroded under the weight of industrial substitutes, changing consumer habits, and shrinking artisan communities. Their decline has meant not only the loss of livelihoods but also the weakening of generational continuity in craftsmanship.

The choice to adopt the Guru-Shishya model is a deliberate acknowledgment that revival cannot be achieved through generic workshops or token interventions. It requires the intimate tra...