Bhubaneswar: Smt. Padmini Dian, Hon’ble Minister, Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts, Odisha inaugurated the State level Handicrafts Exhibition today evening as Chief Guest at Unit-III Exhibition Ground along with Director, Handicrafts & Cottage Industries Sri Basanta Kumar Dash, Spl. Secretary, Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts Department Srikanta Kumar Prusty, Joint Secretary Smt. Anjana Panda, Spl. Officer, Handicrafts and Cottage Industries Sri Sanatan Nayak and other dignitaries were present.
Govt. of Odisha in Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts Department is providing promotional supports for growth of the handicraft sector including market assistance by organizing exhibitions. Various need based interventions are provided to the individuals, SHGs, Cooperative Societies and apex bodies for capacity building, skill up-gradation training, supply of improved tools and equipments, providing bank linkage, infrastructure development, product designing & diversification, marketing assistance to participate in different exhibitions etc. In order to produce market-oriented products, design development programmes engaging designers from inside and outside the state are conducted in clusters to create wide range of products. Step is being taken for online Marketing of handicraft products.
To provide a platform for marketing of the products of the clusters and individual artisans, an exclusive state level multicraft exhibition is organized by the Directorate of Handicrafts & Cottage from 02nd – 08th March, 2020 in Exhibition Ground, Unit-III, Bhubaneswar to facilitate the artisans/ SHGs/ Handicrafts Co-operative societies to display & sell their products. 110 stalls have been erected and 136 artisans are participating in the exhibition from 23 districts such as Keonjhar, Jajpur, Balasore, Subarnpur, Baraqarh, Khurda, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal, Puri, Mayurbhanj, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Bolangir, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Nabarangpur, Boudh, Gajapati, Jharsuguda, Ganjam, Malkanagiri, Kandhamal etc. It is expected to attain a business turnover of RS.80.00 lakhs during this event. Live Demonstration programme on “Stone Carving, Wood Carving, Paddy Craft & Tribal Jewellery” craft will also be organised during this exhibition.
Cultural Programme will be organized in the evening daily by the renowned artists of Odisha for entertainment of the visitors. Besides, food stalls of different taste and play zone for the kids will also be available in the ground. Craftsmanship of Odisha has its specific identity. 50 different crafts have been approved by Govt. of Odisha practiced by more than 1.30 lakh artisans in
varied degrees and are dispersed through-out the state. The State has got best craftsmanship with 168 artisans honoured with National level Awards including 4 nos. of Padma Awards and 11 nos. of Shilpigurus. Besides, 290 nos. of artisans have been conferred with State level Awards.