Aadi Mahotsav, which celebrates the spirit of tribal culture, crafts and commerce, was launched virtually by Arjun Munda, the Minister of Tribal Affairs on December 1, 2020.
The first virtual festival for Madhya Pradesh is being held from December 1 to December 10 on 'market.tribesindia.com'. The virtual launch took place in the presence of Meena Singh, Minister for Tribal Welfare, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Ramesh Chand Meena, Chairman, TRIFED, Navaljit Kapoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and many others.
In his welcome address, Pravir Krishna, Managing Director, TRIFED spoke about the entire concept of Aadi Mahotsav and the current online version and how it will help in popularising the tribal culture to the national and international audiences. With the onboarding of more than 3500 tribal artisans on to the 'Tribes India Marketplace', the virtual event offers the tribals a new avenue for popularising their culture and arts and will go a long way in helping the economic situation of these tribal artisans and make them self-reliant.
Ramesh Chand Meena and TRIFED team congratulated for providing such a viable alternative available to the tribal artisans and hoped that the virtual festival would be a successful event.
Speaking at the online launch of the first virtual festival, Arjun Munda said, "The virtual edition of Aadi Mahotsav, which is being launched on 'Tribes India' e-marketplace, is another effort to help in the transformation of tribal lives and livelihoods. I'm happy that despite the pandemic, the team of 'TRIFED Warriors' have organised this annual tribal festival that celebrates the spirit and
richness of tribal culture virtually and are continuing with their efforts to connect the tribals to larger markets this year. I'm also happy that with these events, the focus remains on the diverse tribes of India."
He also expressed his concern about the disadvantaged economic state of this section and was happy that with TRIFED's initiatives, the middlemen have been eliminated and the benefits are directly going to tribal people. He advised that TRIFED should carry on with its initiatives to help empower these tribals and make them 'atmanirbhar'.
The event was moderated by TRIFED's goodwill ambassador Abhinav Chaturvedi. The highlights of the virtual launch included a virtual tour of the artisans' workplace and glimpses of the tribal dance and music from Madhya Pradesh. It was also announced
that the next focus state from December 11 would be Gujarat, following which the spotlight would shift to Bengal from December 21, 2020.
Aadi Mahotsav will showcase the tribal traditions of the various tribal communities by having their crafts and natural products on display. Videos showcasing different aspects of their culture like music and dance will also be shared. In essence, it will still be a celebration of the tribes and their diverse, varied lifestyle but on a different platform.
It will also bring the spotlight on all the major tribes one-by-one, which will help in bringing the tribal culture, life, traditions and crafts to the mainstream, while retaining their unique flavour as is. The 'Tribes India' e-marketplace sources various handicraft, handloom, natural food products across the country and brings the best of tribal produce/ products.
'Tribes India' e-marketplace is a noteworthy initiative that showcases the produce and handicrafts of tribal enterprises from across the country and helps them market their produce/ products directly. It is a major leap towards the digitisation of tribal commerce.
With these impressive ventures, TRIFED continues further with its efforts to enable the economic welfare of these communities and bring them closer towards mainstream development.