This article spells out the changes and underlying concerns in the Building Construction sector in our country. It is about what existed and what is foreseen. It is about a conscious revival of the past to keep in pace with today’s demands. It also talks about people – the forgotten side of the modern mechanised world that we have stepped into.
 
Region specific trade and culture were the backbone of India’s flourishing economy in the past. This was reflected in the diversity and magnificence of architecture and building practices. The changing times depict the following trends:

n The process of globalisation threatens the diversity of practices and skills through a homo-genisation process.

n With local materials being replaced by cement and steel, the related skills involving a deep understanding of masonry and material behaviour are eroding rapidly.

n In the past, master craftsmen, artisans and the masons were the prime decision-makers. Today, the power rests in the hands of building contractors. Individual creativity of the artisan is slowly being lost in the universal building system vocabulary, which is based on the mindless use of cement, steel and other resource intensive materials.

n Addition of more and more new products in the market not at par with the awareness amongst the artisans, results in their improper use. This makes the quality factor in the building construction process an issue of major concern.
 
Development Alternatives, through its Appropriate Technology Resource Center, TARAGram, at Orchha, M.P. has been working with the artisans of Bundelkhand to revive the traditional construction practices by expanding the knowledge base of modern materials. Through an integration process, TARAGram acts as a dissemination center for building technologies and a training center for masons, carpenters and roof layers, with a strong conviction about the power of the artisans and their ability to change the way people build.
 
Hypothesis
Building Centres in any region act as a knowledge base for the building material and construction sector and work on improving the scenario related to the above mentioned issues. Their role in making an impact on the masses about affordable building technologies is a proven fact. The Nirmithi movement in Kerala is a prime example of the power of building Centres in creating a vocabulary of their own amongst all economic groups. The entire concept of having to work with the local people enforces the incorporation of local technologies into their building system vocabulary.
 
The overall objective of the Action Research undertaken by Development Alternatives is the intensive training of artisans in high quality building construction and management for providing turnkey services using cost effective and environment-friendly technologies.
 
Simultaneously, acceptance of the appropriate technologies by people requires proven and foolproof delivery systems, reflecting complete assurance of good quality and affordability. Turnkey services of the new technologies are the only means to gain the confidence of people.
 
Depending on this need of the market, alternate delivery systems in tune with the changing technological trends have to be evolved which ensure access to materials by people and also assure replicability. These concerns have led to merging of the artisan route with the entrepreneurial base into a concept called the Artisan Guild.
 
The consolidation of artisans into self-managed groups within a community is called Guilds. In ancient times, different artisan trades had all their professionals enrolled into a common body with their own set of rules and regulations. The Aryans had guilds formed within similar caste groups. Members of these guilds had to follow a specific code of conduct and there were punishment systems for its violation. The system maintained a certain sense of order in the community in terms of imparting services and also exploitation of resources. Also, different communities had different guilds and there was an overlap whenever required. The local economies of each region remained stable and always were on the upstream since the money stayed within the region with its own people. The artisans were the strongest players in the game, having a community backup and proper recognition within their trade.

( Various people involved in the Building Construction process ladder )

In Bundelkhand region, individual masons, however skilled and conscious they might be about quality applications, are unable to make an impact through their performance since they form the weakest link of a long and complex chain.
 
As shown above, for the mason to reach the client and satisfy his requirements, the other players – the contractor, petty contractors and material come into picture. The mason turns out to be vulnerable because of the existing dominance of the rest.
 
To bring a solution to the diminishing belief of the artisans in themselves and their trade, the Development Alternatives team, three years back, identified the mason as the driver of the entire process. It was due to this realisation that the solution was identified. An entire team of artisans replaced one single mason; capable of replacing the functions of the other players (through their skills) in order to attain prominence.
 
The issue is not to discard the role of the other groups involved – but to let the skilled people have their position and place in the construction process, which in turn should allow for aesthetic integration and enhancement of the quality of work. The contractors exist because they are good managers. But in the process, artisans get exploited. Since the masons are not educated and skills otherwise do not come easily, they have to undergo the exploitation to be able to earn and learn. The effort of TARAGram is to initiate a process through which the artisans start managing themselves into a profit-oriented enterprise and avoid exploitation.
 
An artisan Guild comprises artisans various levels working together. They have expertise of all kinds, including basic estimation, book keeping, primary design guidelines, material and people management skills. They function in a team, moving from project to project, imparting services in the form of buildings. The prime factor being the guild, holding itself accountable for the quality of the entire work.
 
The process is very similar to the existing one in which the labour contractors work with the clients. The major differences, however, are as follows:

Action Research Methodology
For artisans to be enrolled as guilds, TARAGram has devised certain eligibility criteria. All masons cannot become a part of any guild. And for this, the primary tool identified is a series of training programs for the artisans, involving a complete process right from the basics to the details of Construction Management.
 
The stage wise process of an individual mason being incorporated as a member of a guild is as follows:

n Selection of the target area of intervention.
n Identification of individual masons in all the villages in the selected region – both from rural as well as urban markets.
n Inviting the masons to a demon-stration (usually for one day) either at the building center or in the block office and introducing them to appropriate technologies and TARAGram’s initiatives.
n Evaluation of the interest level of the masons.
n A 4 day orientation of the interested and selected participants.
n Evaluation to seek their interest of doing further training.
n Artisans interested for further trainings are given a week long orientation in each technology .
n Identifying interested masons.
 
The training phase of the artisans is the most crucial aspect in this entire chain since it is the quality of inputs which benchmarks the overall standards visualised to be maintained by this group in due course of time.