Hunar Haat – Modi govt’s mega mission for economic empowerment of artisans

TCN News

Indore (MP), 09th Feb, 2020: Celebrated as “mega mission” of economic empowerment, “Hunar Haat” has been inaugurated at Vijay Nagar in Indore by Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Lalji Tandon on February 8.


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Hunar Haat is a grand show of indigenous culture, handicrafts, arts and cuisine with around 125 stalls and 250 participating master artisans, craftsmen and culinary experts among whom women workers are huge in number. The event will be showcasing intricate craftsmanship of handmade products, traditional delicacies and cultural programmes on a daily basis between February 8 and 16th.

Speaking at the inaugural address Lalji Tandon said this is an attempt to show “unity in diversity” that India is about where every corner has its own legacy of arts and crafts, languages, costumes and culture. It is the 19th such grand fest of culture and arts within the Modi government’s “mega mission” with previous ones organized at Delhi, Mumbai, Allahabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad & Puducherry.

Aimed at boosting economic empowerment among the country’s poor artisans and craftsmen, Naqvi says Hunar Haat will also “strengthen Modi Ji’s “Dream Project” to provide opportunity and market to the country’s rich heritage of arts/crafts.”

The success of “Hunar Haat” can be gauged from the fact that about 3 lakh needy master artisans, craftsmen & culinary experts have been provided employment and employment opportunities through “Hunar Haat” in the last about 3 years. These beneficiaries include a large number of women artisans.

“The government has sanctioned 100 Hunar hubs in different parts of the country,” said Naqvi discussing how the Modi government has planned 100 Hunar Haats in the upcoming 5 years for generating mass employment among lakhs of craftsmen whose handiwork is on the verge of extinction. These Hunar hubs include cities and towns from different parts of the country like Gurugram, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Dehradun, Patna, Bhopal, Nagpur, Raipur, Puducherry, Amritsar, Jammu, Shimla, Goa, Kochi, Guwahati, Bhubneshwar and Ajmer. He also explained that such fests have generated business worth crores of rupees for indigenous handmade exquisite products of artisans and craftsmen and that these artisans have been receiving orders for their products not only from domestic markets but also from international markets. Hence this has now become an “Employment and Empowerment Exchange” for the associated workers and traders.

Going ahead with the economic empowerment plan through Hunar Haat, Naqvi said that training is currently being provided to these craftsmen and traditional culinary experts to make them align with modern needs and technology so they can sell their expertise in both national and international markets.

The next “Hunar Haat” is scheduled to be organized at India Gate Lawns, Rajpath in New Delhi from 13th to 23rd Feb, 2020, at Ranchi from 29th February to 8th March and in Chandigarh from 13th to 22nd March, 2020.

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