Anil Karthika (37), a small-time artisan from a remote village in North Kerala, was popular among foreign tourists who used to buy his works, mostly the state’s traditional art form characters carved in wood. Then the crushing impact of Covid-19 changed the art ecosystem and traditional artisans like him began to struggle.

A travel start-up has now come forward with an initiative to support livelihood of farmers and craftsmen of rural pockets. NotOnMap, a social initiative for the marginalized, indigenous communities across rural India and StayFlexi, the world’s first flexible and autonomous hospitality company based out of California, have launched NotOnMart for rural India on September five.

With the initiative, NotOnMap plans to support livelihood of farmers and craftsmen of rural pockets by connecting them directly to the end-consumer (Rural & Urban) through a tech-enabled platform without involving any middleman. Currently, the portal is ready with 1200+ products from 1500 farmers from six states of India, including Kerala.

“Like Anil, around 14, 000 local artisans have been registered with the Responsible Tourism Mission under 6000 Art and Culture units. We’ve already started marketing their products online. The NotonMart initiate will further boost such activities. Their products will be marketed to potential buyers all across the globe through the online platform,” said Rupesh Kumar K, Responsible Tourism State coordinator, Govt Of Kerala.

“This is indeed a very important and much-needed step, especially looking at the communities which have been affected by the pandemic. It will form ecologically sensitive Ecosystems as well,” he added.

“This is really a great venture to launch NotOnMart for the welfare of the farmers and the artisans. This will help to promote both Culture and Agriculture as well. Hope the NotOnMart will achieve its mission,” said Padma Shree Vijay Sharma, noted Artist & art critic.

“In India, we tend to overlook our rural counterparts who deserve equal attention when it comes to growth and opportunity, initiatives like NotOnMart, not only provides the rural artisans/dwellers/farmers an opportunity to reach out to their customers but also to grow and expand exponentially..,” said Rakesh Kumar, Director General, The Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts.

Founded in 2014, NotOnMap is a social initiative, handcrafted in India to develop a sustainable ecosystem for the marginalized, indigenous communities across rural India by connecting them to travellers and providing them their due share of the travel economy.