The Chhattisgarh Handicrafts Development Board will be holding its annual exhibition cum sale of handicrafts from January 9 to 18 at the ‘Pandari Haat’ premises in the city.
The exhibition name ‘Jagaar 2015’ will have the finest of handicrafts made by the entire country’s craftsmen available for sale such as bell metal, wrought iron works, wood working , Terracota, bamboo arts, clay arts beside clay art and many other classes of handicrafts. The weavers and artisans from as many as 15 States to participate in the ‘Jagaar’ fair which is in fact a fair for artisans and weavers. like every year, this year also, huge number of crafts made in the States of Maharashtra, Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, New Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh would be available for sale.
During the fair, a cultural evening would be held every day. The fair would be inaugurated by Chief Minister Raman Singh on January 9. On the occasion, Chhattisgarh’s artisans would also receive the State-level awards. The Chhattisgarh Government had been aggressively deploying financial resources for renovation as well as creation of new infrastructure facilities for promotion of training related to handicraft development, officials stated.
As a consequence, as many as 220 workshops and Office-cum— Warehouse buildings have been renovated at the cost of Rs34. 68 lakh in the State. This apart, about 193 new workshop buildings have been constructed at the cost of Rs 54.83 lakh, officials informed.Under Integrated Handicraft Development Scheme of State Government’s Rural Industry Department, as many as 1,130 beneficiaries have been benefited in previous financial year 2013-14.
Officials informed that total 140 beneficiaries have attended the new ‘Weaving Training Session.’ An amount of Rs45.69 lakh have been spent on organising the training programme. Under Skill Improvement Training Programme, nearly Rs3.60 lakh have been spent on 20 other beneficiaries.
According to the officers, 44 handloom weavers have been provided with financial aid of Rs22 lakh, 210 advanced equipment worth Rs29.38 lakh and 276 supportive equipment worth Rs7.58 lakh. In the previous financial year, Rs50,000 were spent on promotion of schemes.
Moreover, women entrepreneurs from Bastar and other remote regions of Chhattisgarh had set up their stalls displaying handicrafts and handlooms in the Chhattisgarh pavilion at 34th India International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi had received huge response from foreign visitors , officials informed.
The fortnight-long fair which ended on November 27 last year, was based on the theme ‘Women Entrepreneur’. The fair was open for traders and businessmen for first five days. During the business days, many tourists from foreign countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan visited the pavilion, inquired about the ‘Dhokra art’ of Chhattisgarh and showed interest in buying the handicrafts on wholesale.
The pavilion also had a stall each on ‘Godna’ Print, Teracotta (clay art), iron craft and bell metal put up by the groups from Bastar. A stall by Pragya art, Raipur had various showpieces and wall paintings made up of paper mashe.
This apart, Chhattisgarh has been included as the ‘Theme State’ in Surajkund International Crafts Mela, which is to be organised by Central Government at Faridabad, Haryana next month. The crafts exhibition will be organised from February 1 to 15, 2015.
Chhattisgarh State has been invited to participate in this exhibition as ‘Theme State.’The State Government officials have also been directed to ensure that the State performs better than previous years in this event. In this exhibition, cultural and traditional costumes of Chhattisgarh will be displayed. Moreover, the State Tourism Department will promote the tourist destinations of Chhattisgarh and will also put up a food stall based on Chhattisgarhi cuisine.
The Chhattisgarh Handicrafts Development Board will look after the theme-based decoration of area allotted at the exhibition venue.The Board, in association with Exhibition Authority, will erect a permanent gate there at the exhibition venue. This gate will symbolise the historical, religious and other important monuments of Chhattisgarh. Handicraft and Matikala Board will select a traditional family of Chhattisgarh for exhibition.
The Chhattisgarh Handloom Development Board will organise a fashion show, based on the theme- handloom, art, culture and traditions of Chhattisgarh. Directorate of Culture will select artists to present the cultural heritage of Chhattisgarh at the international exhibition.c