Shillong: A group of students from an Assam varsity is using amateur photography to campaign for a clean India at Meghalaya’s largest cultural extravaganza.
Meghalaya Governor V. Shanmuganathan opened the Monolith Festival 2016 on March 31 at Mawphlang, a Khasi heritage village. The festival that ends on April 2 comprises competitions and exhibition.
Vincent Pala, who represents Shillong in parliament, told the opening ceremony that the festival helps pass the rich Khasi culture to the next generation and showcase it to the world. Khasi is a major tribe in Meghalaya.
An attraction at the festival is the “Capturing Pixels 2016” (CP 2016) that encourages amateur photographers to promote “Swachch Bharat Abhiyan” (Clean India Campaign).
Six fourth semester students of M.A Mass Communication at Assam Don Bosco University in Guwahati, Assam, has teamed up with Monolith Festival organizers to hold the CP 2016 event.
“We want everyone to participate in the cleanliness program using smart phones,” says CP 2016 coordinator Patricia Swer. She said the competition aims to make photography accessible to common people as well as promote the “‘Swatch Bharat Abhyan” or “clean India campaign.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the clean campaign on October 2, 2014, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It aims to promote the Gandhian vision of a healthy India by cleaning streets, roads and infrastructure in the country’s 4,041 cities and towns. Around 3 million government employees and students had participated in the launch.
The CP 2016 competition theme “cleanliness” is in parallel with the Meghalaya festival’s plan to make it a plastic-bag-free event.
Another CP 2016 organizer said they want to widen the cleanliness campaign platform to “passionate photographers who may not own a professional DSLR camera but have even a smart phone.”
The winners of the photography competition will be awarded on the last day.
The Monolith Festival is an initiative of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and it aims to bring together the 53 Himas of the Khasis on a common stage to display for cultural display. It also tries to convey to visitors the myriad aspects of a culture.
The festival comprises a number of workshops, indigenous sports events and stage performances. More than 120 stalls provide indigenous delicacies to thousands flocking to the festival at Mawphlang, around 26 km south of Shillong, the state capital.
Nuragunya, an Aboriginal Band from Australia, expected to attend the festival as part of an international exchange of cultures. The festival plans to bring more cultures with oral and musical history from around the world on a common platform.