Guwahati: The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation Ltd (Trifed) is organising Aadi Mahotsav – a mega fortnight-long national tribal festival with the theme “A Celebration of the Spirit of Tribal Craft, Culture, Cuisine and Commerce” – from Friday at Gandhi Mandir Indoor Stadium Field, Khanapara, here.
Trifed is a central agency under the ministry of tribal affairs, which is primarily engaged in the development and marketing of tribal traditional products, including handicrafts, textiles, jewellery, paintings and natural and organic products. Trifed aims to improve the livelihoods of indigenous communities by creating a sustainable market and business opportunities for them based on their culture, knowledge and traditional skills whilst ensuring fair and equitable remuneration.
The festival will comprise more than 70 stalls from 20 states holding exhibition-cum-sale of tribal handicrafts, art, paintings, fabric, jewellery and cuisine.
Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal will inaugurate the festival at 6 p m on Friday while state forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma will preside over the inaugural function.
Trifed managing director Pravir Krishna said, “The first-of-its-kind festival in Assam will roll out a spectrum of rare folk art and craft of various states. Acclaimed artists and artisans, drawn from over 20 states of the country, including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bengal and the northeastern states are a part of this mega cultural razzmatazz. After Delhi, Jaipur, Bhopal, Ranchi and Chandigarh, this is the sixth in the series.”
Krishna said 15,000 value addition centres are going to be set up across the country and 1,000 out of these will be in Assam. He also said Trifed had signed MoUs with the Assam government to sell tribal products at Pragjyotika and Artfed’s emporiums in different places of the country.
“Star artistes from various states will perform in the evenings during the festival,” Krishna said.
(Telegraphindia)