Professor James K. Galbraith
Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations
The University of Texas, Austin, USA
February 11th, 2006
I appreciate very much receiving and reading your disturbing message on
the fate of the craft weavers in Varanasi and elsewhere in India. I am no expert on trade, patent and copyright laws, but it does seem clear to me that so far as (relatively well-regulated) international markets are concerned, the essential task is to establish branding, identification and recognition of artisanal quality; all sorts of handicrafts survive and prosper in those markets under an appropriate labeling regime, and the absence of the same is a major problem for Indian handicraft producers generally.
The chaotic and unpoliced conditions of the Indian internal market seem to me much more difficult; as you point out the Chinese copies would not come in without the cooperation of Indian traders, and there seems to be very little one can do about that.
