NEW DELHI, Oct 14: A ‘Vishwakarma Vatika’ where talented artisans and craftspersons will give live demonstrations of how hundreds of India’s traditional art and craft products are made will be set up at ‘Hunar Haats’ starting from Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur this week, according to the Minority Affairs Ministry.
The ‘Hunar Haat’ at Rampur will be held from October 16 to 25. Seventy-five such fairs are being organised across the country under the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to celebrate 75 years of India’s Independence.
Speaking to reporters here, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the first ‘Vishwakarma Vatika’ has been set up at the ‘Hunar Haat’ in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur. The fair will be inaugurated by Union Minister of Education, and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan on October 16 in the presence of Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal.
Talented craftspersons, sculptors, stonemasons, blacksmiths, carpenters, potters and other artisans from across the country will give live demonstrations on how hundreds of India’s traditional arts and craft products are made at these ‘Vishwakarma Vatikas’, Naqvi said.
The minister said that about 700 artisans and craftspersons from more than 30 states and union territories including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Goa, Punjab, Uttrakhand and Ladakh, have brought their indigenous products made with wood, brass, bamboo, glass, cloth, paper, clay etc. To the ‘Hunar Haat’ being organised at Numaish Ground, Panwaria in Rampur.
Besides ‘vocal for local’, the upcoming ‘Hunar Haats’ will also be based on the theme of “Best from Waste”, he said.
Exquisite products made from used and discarded items in households such as plastic, paper, ply, wood, glass, ceramic, jute, cotton, wool as well as banana stems, sugarcane pulp, paddy and wheat straw-stems, husk, Tur, rubber, iron, brass etc. Will be available at ‘Hunar Haat’ for sale and display, a Minority Affairs Ministry statement said.
Naqvi said that people will also enjoy traditional food from almost every corner of the country under one roof at the ‘Bawarchikhana’ section at the ‘Hunar Haat’.
People will enjoy traditional foods from regions and states such as Awadh, Rampur, Hyderabad, Maharashtra, Goa, Bihar, Rajasthan, North East, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Mysuru etc., the statement said.
Naqvi said that renowned artists such as Pankaj Udhas, Anu Kapoor, Sudesh Bhosle, Kumar Sanu, Vinod Rathore, Altaf Raja, Nizami Brothers, Vivek Mishra, Neelam Chauhan, Rekha Raj, Prem Bhatia, Bhupendra Singh Bhuppi, Nooran sisters, Junior Mehmood, among others, will enthral the audience with their musical and cultural programmes in the evening every day at the ‘Hunar Haat’ in Rampur. (PTI)
He said ‘Hunar Haat’ has become a credible platform to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for ‘Swadeshi-Swavlamban’ and ‘vocal for local’ and for providing a market to indigenous products of traditional artisans and craftspersons.
During the last six years, he added, more than 5.50 lakh artisans, craftsmen and people associated with them have been provided employment opportunities through the fair.
A target has been set to provide employment opportunities to lakhs of more artisans and craftsmen through 75 such fairs, he added. After Rampur, the ‘Hunar Haat’ will be held in Dehradun (October 29-November 7), Lucknow (November 12-21), Hyderabad (November 26-December 5), Surat (December 10-19) and Delhi (December 22-January 2). (PTI)
It will also be organised in Mysuru, Guwahati, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Patna, Puducherry, Mumbai, Jammu, Chennai, Chandigarh, Agra, Prayagraj, Goa, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Kota, Sikkim, Srinagar, Leh, Shillong, Ranchi, Agartala and other places in the coming days, the statement said. (PTI)
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