“Assimilating the tribal richness”: Five-day National Tribal Dance Festival in Raipur – Chhattisgarh

The three-day National Tribal Dance festival organised in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, was an occasion for the tribal community from across the world to showcase their rich tribal heritage. Speaking at the valedictory function, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that there is uniformity in the dance, music and traditional instruments of all tribal communities in the world. He said the tribal communities had remained neglected for centuries and the National Tribal Dance Festival was an effort to demonstrate the richness of the tribal culture.
The chief minister said that without the tribal culture, there can be no subsistence of the society and all talks of development will appear futile without assimilating the tribal richness.
The dance festival was also an occasion for the state to showcase to the world, Chhattisgarh government’s inclusive development model to empower the people.
In the festival, artistes from seven countries, 27 states and six Union Territories participated. The participants from Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam won the top honours.
At the inaugural function, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had said that the tribal community had remained deprived of their rights. “I also come from a tribal community and experienced the same challenge that a tribal has to face before reaching this stage. The tribal community is struggling to preserve their culture and civilisation in this materialistic age.”
Appreciating the Chhattisgarh government for giving Minimum Support Price (MSP) on minor forest produce, Soren had said this will empower the tribal community and lead the way for welfare of the marginalised. Currently, 53 minor forest produce are being procured on MSP and the state government has taken initiative to set up minor forest produce and agriculture-based industries. […]

Source: “Talks of development futile without assimilating tribal richness: Chhattisgarh CM Baghel” by Murali Eadezhath (The Week, 1 November 2021)
URL: https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2021/10/27/national-tribal-dance-festival–affirming-universality-of-tribal.html
Date Visited: 10 November 2021

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Raipur: Chhattisgarh witnessed a grand welcome ceremony on the inaugural session of three days National Tribal Dance Festival (NTDF) at Science College ground in Raipur on Thursday. […] which runs from October 28 to November 1, more than a thousand of artists from 27 states, 6 union territories from India and the dance troupes from seven countries including Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Switzerland, Maldives, Palestine and Syria will participate and perform, a government press release said.

Source: “Chhattisgarh: Five-day National Tribal Dance Festival begins in Raipur” (Freepressjournal, 28 October 2021)
URL: https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/chhattisgarh-five-day-national-tribal-dance-festival-begins-in-raipur
Date Visited: 10 November 2021

[…] Artistes from Uganda, Uttar Pradesh, Palestine, Sikkim, and Chhattisgarh will perform in the inaugural programme of the National Tribal Dance Festival. The dance troupe from every state and union territory will perform on two themes-“Vivah Sanskar” and the traditional dance of states.
Artistes from Sri Lanka, Maldives, Uzbekistan, Swaziland, Uganda, Nigeria, and Palestine, too, will perform in the National Tribal Dance Festival. Twenty dance troupes will perform daily. Around 3,500 officials have been given the responsibility of organising the event.
This will also be an occasion for the people to get to know about the costumes, jewellery, crafts, designs, and food of the tribals. Besides various tribal dances, it will also provide an opportunity to the tribal communities to share their experiences in various fields, including arts, music, film, health, tourism and food. Through this platform, they will also be able to share their thoughts about the developments in their community and plans. The works of tribal will be showcased and people will be able to get detailed information about their arts and crafts. Costumes, jewellery, designs inspired by tribal culture and handicrafts will be on display. This national festival will also be an occasion for the people to get familiar with the local and tribal food and drink of Chhattisgarh. […]
Tribal artistes from 25 states and 6 countries participated in the National Tribal Dance Festival in 2019. But COVID-19 and the subsequent restrictions prevented the festival from being conducted since then.

Source: “National Tribal Dance Festival: Affirming universality of tribal culture” by Murali Eadezhath (The Week, 27 October 2021)
URL: https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2021/10/27/national-tribal-dance-festival–affirming-universality-of-tribal.html
Date Visited: 10 November 2021

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