Spirit of tribals across India

The Government of India in association with Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) and Tribes India organised Aadi Mahotsav at Dilli Haat in New Delhi recently.

Aadi Mahotsav is an annual event that was started in 2017. The festival attempts to familiarise people with the rich and diverse craft, culture of tribal communities across the country, at one place. The pandemic caused a hindrance in organising the event in the year 2020. The 2021 Aadi Mahotsav is vibrant with a theme "A Celebration of the Spirit of Tribal Crafts, Culture and Commerce," which represents the basic ethos of tribal life. There are about 200 stalls and 1000 participating artisans as well as artists from across the country, which resembles a mini-India under one roof.

The Aadi Mahotsav is also known to be a one-stop gifting destination that caters to different types of needs. There are a wide range of natural and immunity-boosting tribal produce such as organic haldi, dry amla, wild honey, black pepper, ragi, triphala, and lentil mixes such as moong dal, urad dal, white beans, millets and dalia to artefacts such as paintings be it in the Warli style or Patachitras; from jewellery handcrafted in the Dokra style to bead necklaces from the Wancho and Konyak tribes of the North-East to the rich and vibrant textiles and silks, namely; from colourful puppets and children's toys to traditional weaves such as Dongria shawls and Bodo weaves; from iron craft from Bastar to bamboo craft and cane furniture; all these are available at one place.

Depending on the requirements and budget, these products can customised into gift hampers. Packaged in premium organic, recyclable, sustainable packing material, they are designed to make ideal gifts for any occasion.

M Venkaiah Naidu, the Vice President of India, while inauguration of the event called for a model of development that preserves the special identity of tribals. Taking a note of the wide range of tribal handicrafts, he emphasised the need to channelise the natural skills of tribal people to promote and popularize their products and improve their sources of income.

The 'Vocal for Local India' as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat is facilitating the local artists to present their skills and also earn livelihood. The Aadi Mahotsav not only promotes shopping, the artists are presenting their skills on the spot whether it's bangle making, jewellery or metal craft. The fair occupied a prominent place of around 50 GI- tagged products. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) denoted geographical territory from the product originates, it can be an agriculture product, natural or manufactured product.

The country is a member of WTO and signed the convention which enacted the Geographical Indications (Registration and Protection Act), 1999, which came into effect from September 15, 2003. The TRIFED is placing complete efforts in promotion of Geographical Indication among tribal products from Van Dhan Naturals and organic products, or tribal handicrafts, and other artistic creations.

Under the TRIFED, Van Dhan programme is implemented in 27 states and 307 districts. The programme supports the tribals in collection, sale and also value addition which helped them in tripling or quadrupling their income. The scheme has a component of Mechanism for marketing of Minor Forest Produce through Minimum support price and development of value chain for MFP. The nodal agency at national level also encourages Van Dhan start-ups for socio-economic development of the tribal population of the country. There are 927927 Van Dhan Yojana beneficiaries, 52976 Van Dhan Self Help Groups, and around 461 crores are funded so far. The fair attracted the value-added products for the contemporary interior designing like Bamboos were transformed into brooms, bottles, bow and arrow and other attractive interior decorative pieces. The new addition to the fair which grabbed the attention of the visitor in the entrance is the Virgin coconut oil from Andaman and Nicobar. The visitors have bought Northeast wine which is made from wild gooseberry, plums, rice and other locally available fruits.

One can also enjoy exotic foods such as madwa roti, litti chokha, dhuska, banjara biryani, dal baati, hot jilebi, churma, kahwa tea and other foods from different parts of the country here at the festival.

The Mahotsav enthralled the audience with tribal artists performances and also ramp work by the students, artists with the costumes from the fair. The fair has facilitated a platform for tribal artists to earn their livelihood and younger generations had an opportunity to know the unique art and traditions around the country.