Over 1,000 tribal artists showcase products, skills in Aadi Mahotsav

The Mahotsav was a roaring success and in the course of 15 days, Tribal Artisans transacted business worth Rs 20 crores.

TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India, organized its much-awaited annual National Tribal Festival ‘Aadi Mahotsav’ for a fortnight from 16th – 30th November 2019 at Dilli Haat. The Aadi Mahotsav was attended by more than 1,000 tribal Artists & Artisans from 24 states, who showcased their products and skills. The festival featured exhibition-cum-sale of tribal handicrafts, handloom, and tribal culture through over 200 stalls. These included handwoven cotton, wool, and silk fabrics, woodcrafts, tribal jewelry, metal craft, terracotta, bead-work, masques, and other objects. They also showcased compelling paintings. Besides, the Mahotsav displayed a vast variety of natural products like forest honey, tamarind, herbs, spices from the Southern States, dry fruits from Ladakh, J&K and Himachal Pradesh, apples, etc. The Mahotsav was a roaring success and in the course of 15 days, Tribal Artisans transacted business worth Rs 20 crores.

The tribes contribute over 8% of the country’s population. This is a very significant number, corresponding to over 10 crore Indians. The national objective of inclusive development (sabkavikas) includes the development of tribes as an important component. Our constitution enjoins upon the Government the responsibility of addressing the special needs of the tribals.

As the name of this event ‘Aadi Mahotsav’ suggests, it is the ‘adi’ factor that is important about them. The Adivasi way of life is guided by primal truths, eternal values, and natural simplicity. The greatness of the tribes lies in that they have managed to retain the primal skills and natural simplicity. Their creations issue from the depths of time. This quality gives their arts and crafts a timeless appeal. The crudest tribal handicraft instantly touches a primal instinct in all of us. This is particularly true of tribal music and dance.

The event was inaugurated by Sh. Amit Shah, Union Home Minister in a glittering ceremony on 16th November 2019. Sh. Arjun Munda, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs presided and Smt. Renuka Singh, Minister of State of Tribal Affairs, was the guest of honor. 

A special feature of the festival this year was the visits and attendance by eminent personalities and dignitaries, and artists of national repute which included Shri Om Birla, Speaker Lok Sabha; Smt. Anusuiya Uikey Governor of Chhattisgarh; Sh. Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Rural Development; Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas; and Sh. Faggan Singh Kulaste, Minister of State for Steel.

The eminent icons from the fields of arts, crafts & sports who graced the festival included Smt. Hema Malini, Member of Parliament; Sh. Manoj Tiwari, Member of Parliament; Smt. Mary Kom, Member of Parliament & Tribes India Brand Ambassador; Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, renowned flute player; Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, renowned sitar player; Mrs. Chanchal Bharti, Yusuf Nizami, renowned Qawwali singers.

Eminent fashion personalities such as Smt. Ruma Devi, Sh. Rohit Bal, Sh. Jatin Kochhar, Ms. Meagan Ollari, Ms. Liz Hartman also graced the event and greatly appreciated the art forms on display.

Former Indian Hockey team, cricket & shooting player Sh. Zafar Uqbal, Sh. A.B. Subhaiah, Sh. Anupam Gutlati, Sh. Jagbir Singh, Sh. Arvind Chabbra, Sh. Manser Singh, Sh. Sanjay Bisht, Sh. Vineet Kumar, Sh. Chetan Sharma, Shri Surinder Khanna also visited the Mahotsav and were felicitated for their service to the country.

In line with the national aspiration to go cashless, for the tribal artisans accepted payment through major credit/debit cards for which Point of Sale (POS) machines was provided in each stall. Special training was conducted by the State Bank of India to ensure smooth operations of the same. Besides its very own e-commerce portal www.tribesindia.com, Tribes India proudly carried forward its business with Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, PayTM and Govt. of India’s portal GeM, for e-commerce of the tribal products.

Another highlight of the festival was the signing of MOU with Facebook to create a cohort of 5000 TRIFED-Facebook Van Dhan Interns who would be residents of forest areas.

(With Inputs from PIB)