Introduction
All workers all over the world expect a decent wage for the work they render every right minded person would agree that such expectations are just and genuine.
When we come to our artisans, they are an asset to humanity. They are like ducks going on laying golden eggs. It is therefore very important that they be taken proper care of and be given a fair wage for their inputs. They deserve as much facilities as possible enabling them to lead a tension free, dignified life.
Little Flower Industry was established in the year 2000 and artisans were/and are being created manufactured from leprosy afflicted community. In fact, Little Flower Industry is an Artisan's own organization consisting mostly of young women who are daughters/wives of poor leprosy patients . We aim at achieving a double-edged empowerment of
a) The powerless destitute leprosy patients
b) their women who otherwise remain as shadows of men with no identity, name and address of their own .

Payment of Little Flower Artisans

We have succeeded to involve a realistic and practical approach. We have to be realistic in the field of marketing the products. We can't and should not expect always a foreign market bringing hot dollars/Euros. We should therefore find & promote local markets where we have to face cut throat competitions and the local markets are all flooded with much cheaper mill and power loom products. To sell the products in the local market means we should be able to sell them cheap at the same time without a loss. The artisans should be and are aware of this harsh reality payment of wages should be accordingly balanced.

Taking into consideration all there aspects, Little - Flower has evolved a policy where by the artisans are well protected with a number of facilities instead of a huge quantity of hard cash.

List of facilities provided to Artisan's Families

Well-built family quarters with electric supply, provision of clean drinking water, common toilets without any rent.

Medical treatment of the Artisans and all the members of their family free of cost.

Education of their children from nursery to tenth standard and further technological training and job placement enabling such sons and daughters to integrate into mainstream society.

All the members of the family gets job.

Job guarantee throughout the year whether you have foreign/local order or not.

The Artisans continue to be taken care of in their old age and are entitled to get a month more of the wages after their death to meet the last - rite expenses.

This means our artisans can have a dignified life as well as a dignified death !

An illustration

Consider a potato and an onion. At the end of the story I am sure you will agree with me that you would prefer a potato to an onion.
Perhaps you may need a decoding here
Potato = Artisans getting less hard cash and provision of a large number of facilities.
Onion = Artisans getting a big amount of dry cash with no other facilities.

We have a girl in Delhi. She is Anita. She gets Rs.10,000/p.m. with no other facilities. Her workshop is at Gurgaon. She resides at Gautam Nagar, Delhi. She has to travel two hours to reach her factory and two hours to return to her hostel and 8 hours of work. So a total of 12 hours involvement. She starts pealing off the onion to meet her expenses.

1st Peal Travel.up and down Rs. 1500/ per month.

2nd Peal Room rent Rs. 3000/ per month
3rd Peal Meals Rs. 3000/ per month
4th Peal Electricity + water bills
5th Peal Medicine + Doctor if you are ill.
6th Peal Education of your children when/if you have any nothing more of your onion is left after the peelings ---

Whereas here in Little Flower for example Sunil and his wife are both artisans they earn around Rs. 3600/- P.M. in addition Sunil's father and mother are also employed and bring home 2500/- per month plus his brother Braj-Kishor after his studies and tech. training brings home about Rs. 8000/- per month.
In Little Flower there is no house rent no medical expense, no educational expense, no travelling expense etc.
Like a potato = Once you peal the tiny skin of actual expense the whole of potato flesh is yours. And most of the artisans have savings in the bank and many of them have purchased small pieces of land, I am afraid even you may be tempted to be an artisan of Little Flower.
But no vacancy please. All vacancies are reserved for poor leprosy patients and their family members.


Little Flower K.V.I.L.R.C.Sunderpur, Raxaul
November 2009