Budhni Toy Makers Struggle As Forest Resources Dry Up

Budhni, a town in the Sehore district, is famous for its colourful wooden toys. Budhni uses natural lac (lacquer) from nearby forests to paint these wooden toys in bright pink, yellow, and green. The wood used comes from the Doodhiya tree, which is light and easy to carve, making the toys strong and long-lasting. 

In a time when plastic toys harm the environment and their paints can be unsafe for children, Budhni's eco-friendly wooden toys offer a safer and more sustainable alternative.

However, with growing urbanisation and industrialisation, Budhni’s forests have started to shrink, deeply affecting the communities that rely on them. One of the main raw materials from these forests is now difficult to find. As a result, the number of artisans making wooden toys in Budhni is decreasing. Those who remain are fighting to keep the craft alive while facing poverty and limited resources. This report sheds light on the struggles of Budhni’s toy artisans and the natural materials their work depends on.

Toy Craftsman

37-year-old Hitesh Sharma, who lives near the Narmada Ghat in Budhni, is one of those few artisans who make wooden toys and household items and are still trying to earn their livelihood from this work.

Hitesh provides for his mother, wife, and two children with the income he earns from his work. He has inherited the art of making toys; his father and grandfather also used to do the same work. But Hitesh says, "I will not teach this work to my children; there is neither any income nor future in it." We asked him, 'Will this art end like this?' he explains that 

"In today's world, it is more important for a person to prioritise survival; If you do not have money, even if you are an artist, society does not respect you."

According to Hitesh, there are times when there is a shortage of materials and there are other times when there is a lack of money needed to make wooden items. Wood and other materials are also not easily available. The forest department rarely provides Doodhiya wood for making toys. As a result, he has now stopped making toys from Doodhiya wood and has started making chakote and rolling pins (Belan) used in the kitchen. For this, he brings firewood from the market, which is more easily available than Doodhiya wood.

The Doodhi Tree

Doodhia, or Doodhi, botanically known as Wrightia tinctoria. According to Pradeep Krishen's Jungle Trees of Central India,  'in late March or a little later, as the jungle awakens from winter's somnolence, doodhi produces pure white blossoms with lacy centres and a vanilla-like fragrance. This is an easy tree to spot because of its long, slender, 2-pronged fruit, which persists for many months. Doodhi likes dry, rocky or sandy terrain in open, deciduous jungle and finds it almost everywhere in Central India. It is absent from the sub-Himalayan tract but extends into Eastern Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi and deep into peninsular India and Myanmar.'

The Doodhia tree is found in abundance in the forests of Budhni in central India. This is the reason why wood craftsmen of Budhni have been using Doodhia wood for their art for generations. The leaves were also once used to make colours; new artisans have forgotten this art.  

Decreasing Forests In Madhya Pradesh

The Doodhi tree has also been affected by the rapid reduction in forest area in Madhya Pradesh in the last decade. With the decreasing forests, their number has also decreased. The data present in the recently released Indian State of Forest Report 2023 confirms this.

According to the report, the total forest cover in Sehore is 1,352.57 square kilometres. This forest cover is 20.56 per cent of the total area of ​​​​Sehore. Compared to 2021, the forest area in Sehore decreased by 4.17 square kilometres. On the other hand, Budhni, whose total forest area is 7.46 square kilometres, has no dense forest left here, while moderately dense forest is 3.07 square kilometres and open forest is 4.39 square kilometres. 

The Indian State of Forest Report 2023 also estimates the number of different species of trees, according to which Wrightia tinctoria is not even among the top 10 species in Madhya Pradesh in terms of numbers. This report fails to give clear figures on how many trees of this species are left in Madhya Pradesh, while in Gujarat, Wrightia tinctoria ranks second in the maximum number of trees present in the forest.

Obviously today, as the world emphasises increasing green cover to combat climate change, our focus has not been on the diversity of tree species within that green cover. The Doodhi tree may be a common tree, but in a corner of the world, this tree is also a means of livelihood for someone.

Hitesh states that over the past few years, the prices of materials such as wood and lac, which are used to make wooden toys, have also risen. The price of toys made in Budhni is higher than other toys and plastic toys already available in the market. This is the reason why their toys lose in the market competition.

Hitesh further says, "Wood is expensive, labour is expensive, and the colour made from lac used to be 40 rupees per kg 15 years ago; today it is 1000 rupees per kg." According to Hitesh, earlier he used to go to the forest and bring the lac himself and make the colour at home, but now the lac goes to the factory and then comes to him after being filtered.

Hollow Government Efforts

In Budget 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several schemes to revive the Indian toy industry by creating dedicated toy clusters and strengthening the manufacturing ecosystem. The government aims to challenge China's dominance in the toy market through the 'Made in India' initiative, as the Indian toy market is projected to double from $1.5 billion in 2022 to $3 billion by 2028.

The efforts that the central government is making today were already done by the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, in his constituency, Budhni. The toy cluster was built here in the year 2021. Advanced machines were installed in this cluster to make toys, where many artisans like Hitesh could sit and work. The cluster, which opened for a few days, has remained closed for the past 4 years. The machines now sit unused, gathering dust and cobwebs.

“This cluster had advanced machinery that could help us make better products, but it closed down soon after it opened,” says Hitesh.

The land on which this cluster was built was rented from Vinod Sharma, a local toy maker. Vinod says, "I am unemployed now. We had a lot of hopes, but there is no electricity in the cluster."

According to Hitesh, he is not getting the benefit of any government scheme. He has not even got the benefit of the Vishwakarma scheme run by the government for craftsmen like him. Hitesh says,

"The government promotes only those artisans who have money or who have access to politicians. Neither are we invited to set up a shop in any fair, nor do we get the benefit of any scheme. We had filled out the form for the Vishwakarma scheme, but the bank people refused to give us a loan."

Under the Vishwakarma Yojana, the government gives loans to skilled artisans at low interest rates so that they can expand their work. If Hitesh had got this loan, he could have bought a machine to make toys. This scheme was widely publicised, but it could not reach the needy. 

At the beginning of this story, when we told Hitesh that this art would die out, he replied that it is more important for a person to stay alive. On hearing this sentence, we should remember the picture of those leaders on stage who wear different costumes and only do the work of getting photographed in the name of showcasing culture. For them, Budhni toys are the material to decorate the stage, but there are no artisans who make them. These toys are mentioned in the speeches of leaders, but they have no place in policy implementation. 

In this story, we see the decline of constitutional values ​​at many levels. First, the obstacles in access to natural resources necessary for livelihood and the inability of government schemes to reach everyone equally show the decline of the value of equality. The dignity of a person is linked to their identity. But a skilled artisan like Hitesh will have to give up the work of making toys one day due to a lack of natural resources. In such a situation, it will affect his identity and then his dignity.

There is a need for the government to pay serious attention to the welfare of the toy artisans of Budhni, as these skilled artisans can help India reduce its dependence on plastic toys, as well as provide safe, eco-friendly alternatives for children. 

Edited by Diwash Gahatraj

Support us to keep independent environmental journalism alive in India.

Keep Reading

Budhni's wooden toy makers: a tale of lost dreams

No one cares: The silent suffering of Mahukalan’s toxic waters

Impact of climate change on fishermen's livelihood in Budhni

Women face livelihood struggles as climate impacts donna-pattal supply  

Stay connected with Ground Report for under-reported environmental stories.

Follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook; share your thoughts at [email protected]; subscribe to our weekly newsletter for deep dives from the margins; join our WhatsApp community for real-time updates; and catch our video reports on YouTube. 

Your support amplifies voices too often overlooked—thank you for being part of the movement.