Welcome to the Sankalp Bazaar Homepage
Sankalp Bazaar is your complete source for information on a wide range of products and services for the rural areas of India, including:
• Art and Handicrafts
• Digital Imaging Services and Products
• Sankalp Publications
• Documentation Center
• Technical Services and Products
The business model of Sankalp Bazaar is based on a network
of IT-enabled Service Centers (or eDhabas), which deliver education and
information on the one hand and online/offline market opportunities and
services to rural consumers. The revenues will come from a combination of
membership fees, sale of products and services and commissions on value-added
transactions.
The medium of communication is a combination of the Internet,
telephone (both land-based and mobile) and local bicycle/autorickshaw-operated
community-based courier services within the local rural community.
Eventually, these eDhabas will become cost-effective
gateways by which large corporate entities can reach the ever-growing numbers
of rural customers for fast-moving consumer durables, products and services.
It is believed that the availability of information, e-mail
and Internet-related services will promote innovation in all spheres of rural
life, and indeed facilitate new demands, which will in turn will spearhead the
growth of entrepreneurial activities. This is the mission and vision of
Sankalp and ARTS - to promote sustainable socio-economic development and
to undertake programs, strategies and projects that seek to create an equitable
and caring society that offers equality, liberty, justice and freedom from
poverty, through the application of scientific and appropriate technological
innovations.
ART & HANDICRAFTS
See our attractive handmade paper products and handicrafts
Arts & handicrafts (AH) are the natural expression of rural people, and have
traditionally provided rural communities with employment and earning
opportunities. However, the pressure of globalization and the forces of
unprincipled modernization has forced a large number of rural artisans out of
business. The picture by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, portraying the death throes
of an entire class of rural entrepreneurs, is a poignant example that shows the
dangers of being unprepared to meet the demands of the future.
We do not believe in looking backwards. We want to be the best in the world. If you do not believe us, look for yourself ... here are some of our handmade paper products!
The future direction of trade and commerce points to one
undisputable factor: "The customer is always right". Our rural handicrafts must
not only deliver what the customer wants, but must deliver quality that the
global customer demands. ‘Quality’ is a multidimensional animal that has
several heads and tails, not the least of which is the ability to produce goods
and service with little variation from customer specifications, and the ability
to deliver these goods and services in a timely manner.
A major objective of ARTS AH is to provide a platform for
the rural entrepreneur to develop the technical management skills that will be
needed to be successful in the uncompromising global market place.
DIGITAL IMAGING
Digital painting and digital imaging services
Digital painting (such as the above image) that uses a
digitizing tablet and software to implement any kind of brush or painting
media, or the use of digital cameras to acquire images, or the use of optical
scanners to digitize information are all techniques and applications of digital
imaging technologies.
Today, it may seem that acquiring the capacity for digital
imaging content management is an overkill for rural systems. However, that is
what even knowledgeable people in the late 1980s said about rural people and
telephones. Today, nobody would question the need for telephone services in
even remote villages. The vision of Sankalp and ARTS is: ten years from now,
there would be a similar need for visual communications. Hence the need to
educate our rural stakeholders in the nuances of digital imaging processes, NOW
- so that they will have first-mover advantages.
Implementing a state-of-the-art digital imaging content
management is not easy. A common problem is that IT technology is evolving so
rapidly that the systems may become obsolete prior to the media reaching its
life expectancy. The other problem is acquiring an in-depth knowledge of
imaging systems and devoting resources to a long and difficult period of
research and training to determine what is needed and why.
SANKALP PUBLICATIONS
The Sankalpa Group’s communication and media wing.
A dream project of our Poet Laureate Founder President, the Late Subhas Mukhopadhyay was to start
a Writers’ Guild - which will protect imaginative and revolutionary writers
from the clutches of unscrupulous publishers.
It is not easy for creative people who happen to be ordinary
to be able to publish their work and get them independently and impartially
critiqued. How else can we judge the quality of our output? And yet, there are
thousands of bright, young creative minds languishing in the cities such as
Calcutta and throughout the region including the rural villages of India, whose
genius cannot find expression, because the system is stacked against them ...
The primary objective of Sankalp Publications is to provide a platform, particularly on
the internet, for anybody who has something worthwhile to say, to come right
out and publish their thoughts and work, unencumbered by protocol and free of
economic concerns. Now, anyone who has heard of Sankalpa can send their work to
us at and it
will be published on the internet, for the whole world to see and appreciate! Owzat!
Viva la vox populi
Sankalp Publications specializes in the following electronic media:
§
eBooks: We design and produce eBooks for
publishing on the Internet, primarily, and also for the mass dissemination of
these products physically using CD-ROM technology as the medium
§
Multimedia Center: As part of the ‘IT
Center’, we will develop the capability to produce multimedia products,
programs and entertainment products.
§
Online Publishing: Electronic and Internet-based publications.
§
Offline Publishing: Conventional books, newsletters and commercial publications
We will also produce audio-visual
promotional materials that will help us to distribute and disseminate the rural
marketing of our ideas, products and services, in the form of audio and video
tapes to begin with, and any other form that becomes available in due course of
time
DOCUMENTATION CENTER
Provides a wide range of electronic documentation and media services.
The Sankalp Documentation Center was conceived to provide wide range of digital
content in the field of Information & Communication Technologies (ICT), including:
§
High-quality digital content for the learning
environment: Advice, guidance, products and services relating to the
use of ICT in any area of education and lifelong learning, including:
§
Innovative, interactive CD-ROMs for use in pre-school
and primary education.
§
Exciting, participative online activities and events for use in the classroom.
§
Innovative applications/action research into the effective use of ICT in the context of pre-school and primary education.
§
Generic educational online resources for use by either teachers or pupils across the pre-school and primary sectors of education.
§
Educational consultancy across all subject areas and across all age ranges to support the development of CD-ROMs, online activities and online resources.
§
Content management Systems (CMS): A wide range of digital resources for customisable and scalable solutions for
commercial applications (e.g. internet, CD-ROM), including:
§
Creative writing (including 'ghost' writing - collaborating with a Firm or Individual)
§
Technical writing (including 'White Papers' and researched materials)
§
Copy editing (General, Business-to-Business, Corporate and Scientific)
§
Proofreading (General, Corporate and Scientific)
§
Grant writing
§
Screen writing and story board preparation
§
Desktop publishing
§
Pre-press content generation, including advertising and publicity/promotional materials
§
CD-ROM corporate presentations and publications
Specific functionalities would include interfaces with other ICT systems, workflow and process facilities, templates, user registration and personalised user web pages.
TECHNICAL SERVICES
Applications, technical management and project consultancy services.
ARTS Technical Services provide rural entrepreneurs and
anyone interested in rural development to come forward and work with Sankalpa and ARTS for realization of ‘Sustainable
Development’ and ‘Sustainable Livelihood’ projects in general, and for rural
development in particular. At present, we are working in the following areas:
§
Sankalp Projects: We provide a platform
for rural entrepreneurs and anybody else to develop their ideas and translate
their projects into reality. At present, we have developed linkages with
external bodies in the following areas:
§
VSBK: Partner Development Alternatives in the
dissemination of VSBK technology
§
Pot-in-Pot Project: Disseminate our proprietary
‘Pot-in-pot’ pottery project for rural refrigeration technologies, that do not
consume electricity or conventional fuels for refrigeration of food products
§
MCR Tiles: Partner Development Alternatives in
the dissemination of MCR technology
§
Solar Energy: Partner TATA BP Solar for the
dissemination of a wide range of Solar Photovoltaics and solar thermal products
§
Handmade Paper Products: Disseminate our
proprietary handmade paper products manufacturing technology
§
Consultancy Services: Our consultancy services promote the free and fair dissemination of information for ‘Sustainable Development’ in general, and for rural development in particular.
§
Quality Management Systems: ISO 9000 Standards, Statistical Process Control, Quality Function Deployment, KAIZEN
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Documentation Services: Content management, design and implementation
§
Imaging Services: Design and implementation of imaging products and services
§
Engineering Technology: Research and Development, design, engineering technology management.
