Lagatar24 Desk
Ranchi, Oct.28: Chief Minister Hemant Soren stressed the need of increasing purchasing power of the tribal while speaking as chief guest in the inaugural ceremony of the three-day Tribal Dance Festival and Rajyotsava 2021 organized at Science College Ground, Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
“Tribal society lives around nature. Their fields, barns, cattle and forest produce are their wealth. It is commendable to see that the Chhattisgarh government is helping these communities by giving MSP in forest produce. I believe that the country and the state can develop only when the villages will prosper. Work should be done in the direction of increasing the purchasing power of the villagers and upliftment of the underprivileged, backward, poor and marginalized section of the country,” Soren said.
Earlier talking about his attachment with the dance festival he said: “This is not just a dance festival, but an honour to those who have been educationally, socially and economically deprived. This is a message to the whole country that if we want, this class can walk with us. Departments are created in their name, but the community is deprived of its rights & facilities leveraged to them. I also come from a tribal community. Reaching here was a big challenge for me. Even if I had not been the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, I would have attended this programme. I wish all the best to all the artists who have come here.”
Talking about the uniqueness of the programme he further said: “Tribal Dance Festival was started in 2019. It is a unique programme in the whole country. This is an opportunity to get acquainted with the tradition and culture of the tribal society. Even in this materialistic age, tribal society is struggling to save their civilization, culture and tradition. In such a situation, tribal people will get energy from such events and they will be able to keep their civilization and culture intact. In addition, the fair held on the campus will also showcase the amazing inner potential of these classes, which is naturally associated with them.”
Expressing his commitment to tribal development in Jharkhand, he said: “The girls from the tribal community of Jharkhand are showcasing their talent in the field of sports. Seven girls from Jharkhand participated in the national Hockey team. They all come from the same district. Given the possibilities of sports in Jharkhand, the state government is hosting a national-level sports competition. Jharkhand is offering 100% scholarship to the bright and talented young minds from tribal society to get higher education in the UK. Six students have been selected under the scholarship scheme and are pursuing higher education in the universities of the UK.”
On this occasion, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel, Speaker of Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly Charandas Mahant, Culture Minister of Chhattisgarh Amarjit Bhagat, Cabinet Ministers of Government of Chhattisgarh, Rajya Sabha member BK Hariprasad, Chief Secretary of Chhattisgarh Amitabh Jain and others were present.
Artists from Chhattisgarh presented ‘Gaur Sing’ and ‘Mandar’ to Soren. More than 1000 artists from 6 different countries, 27 states of India and 6 union territories will take part in the three-day National Tribal Dance Festival.
The countries participating in the festival include Uganda, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Palestine. People from the tribal community will display a glimpse of tribal culture, marriage and other traditional customs.
During the festival, a dance competition will be organized on themes of marriage rituals, traditional festivals, harvest rituals, agriculture and other traditional methods. Artists from Jharkhand will also take part in the competition. They will perform ‘Kadsa’ under the method of marriage ceremony ritual, Oraon and Chhau dance under harvest ritual.
