Ahmedabad: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said that the “Hunar Haat” initiative of his ministry has proved to be an effective and successful mission to preserve and promote India’s indigenous traditional legacy of master artisans and craftsmen which was on the verge of extinction.

After the formal inauguration of the “Hunar Haat”, today which is being organized at Sabarmati River Front here from December 7 to 15, Naqvi said that on one hand “Hunar Haat” promotes traditional arts of master artisans and craftsmen and on the other, thousands of artisans and people associated with them including a large number of women artisans have been provided employment and employment opportunities through this initiative.

He said that “Hunar Haat”, being organised at prominent places across the country, have proved to be financially beneficial for the needy artisans and craftsmen as each of this event generates business worth crores of rupees for indigenous handmade exquisite products of artisans and craftsmen. These artisans are receiving orders for their products not only from domestic markets but also from international markets. It has also proved to be Empowerment Exchange of sorts for master artisans and craftsmen.

Naqvi said that the Ministry of Minority Affairs has sanctioned 100 “Hunar Hubs” in different parts of the country in the first 100 days of the Modi Government-2. Training will be provided to master artisans, craftsmen and traditional culinary experts according to modern needs in these “Hunar Hubs”. The next “Hunar Haat” will be organised at Mumbai from December 20 to 31 and after that in Lucknow (10 th to 20 th January, 2020); Hyderabad (11 th to
19 th January, 2020); Chandigarh (from 20 th January to 1 st February, 2020) and Indore (08 th to 16 th February, 2020).

In the “Hunar Haat”, being organised at the riverfront in Ahmedabad, artisans and craftsmen including a large number of women artisans are participating. The artisans have brought with them very exquisite pieces of Handicrafts and Handloom work from Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, J&K, Jharkhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, West Bengal, Bihar, Manipur, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and other states. The dying craft namely Tikhu art from Uttar Pradesh is maiden entry in “Hunar Haat” at Ahmedabad. Coconut shell products from Kerala is also getting represented for the first time. Wood inlay works on rose wood from Karnataka will be an added attraction.

People coming at “Hunar Haat” in Ahmedabad will also enjoy traditional delicacies from different states of the country. Besides, traditional dance, music, Kawwali and other cultural programmes presented every day by renowned artists will also be a major attraction for the visitors. Renowned artists like Sabri Brothers, Trannum Mallik, Rekha Raj, Rahul Joshi, Ashwini Kumar, Mickey Singh Narula, Mukesh Pancholi, Trupti Mehul Shah will enthral the audience with their performances. In the coming days, “Hunar Haat” will be organized in Gurugram, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Dehradun, Patna, Bhopal, Nagpur, Raipur, Puducherry, Amritsar, Jammu, Shimla, Goa, Kochi, Guwahati, Ranchi, Bhubneshwar, Ajmer and other places.

DeshGujarat