‘HUNAR HAAT’, a handicrafts exhibition that aims at providing market exposure and employment opportunities to artisans and craftsmen from the minority communities, has become a credible platform to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call of ‘vocal for local’, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Friday. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the country’s 30th Hunar Haat Mela here, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs said over 5.60 lakh artisans, craftsmen and traditional culinary experts among others have been provided with employment opportunities through the initiative. Around 500 artisans and craftsmen from across the country are displaying their indigenous products made of wood, brass, bamboo, glass, cloth, paper and clay at ‘Hunar Haat’ in Dehradun. Inaugurated by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami at a school in the Race Course area here, the event also saw felicitation of the family members of freedom fighters. In his address, Dhami said there was no dearth of skilled artisans and craftsmen in the country.

 

However, they were looking for a market for their art and crafts. “Hunar Haat has provided a huge market and opportunities to such artisans and craftsmen,” he said, adding that the initiative also strengthens the prime minister’s campaign for an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. ‘Hunar Haat’ is organised by the Ministry of Minority Affairs under its Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development (USTTAD) scheme. Lok Sabha MP and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat, MLA and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Lok Sabha MP Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Bansal, Dehradun Mayor Sunil Uniyal, Rishikesh Mayor Anita Mamgai as well as senior officials were present at the inauguration. Organised in Dehradun, this is the 30th ‘Hunar Haat’ in the series being organised across the country under “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”. About 500 artisans and craftsmen from more than 30 States and Union Territories have brought their indigenous products to the ‘Hunar Haat’.