Srinagar, Jan 11: Incredibly, the exquisite Kashmir handicrafts, which feed 3.25 lakh people, mostly in downtown Srinagar, and brings in an impressive Rs 2,000 crore every year to the valley, was not a priority area for the governments of the .
Men are leaving these highly-skilled but low-paying jobs for better wages, leaving a vaccum being filled in by women who see it as a shot at independence.
Kashmir-based artisan Maqbool Ahmad Dar is the first artisan from the valley who prepared the first carpet with a National Flag design with the aim to uplift his art.