Self Help Group crafts mela ends on a promising note

Rajendranagar: The five-day long 'Rural Technology and Crafts Mela,' which was organised at NIRD&PR (National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayat Raj), concluded on Tuesday evening. A total of 230 stalls of Self Help Groups (SGH) from 122 districts of 24 different states of the country took part with sales touching Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 crore.

The 17th Mela which started from November 29 at NIRD&PR campus had put on display pottery clay pots, utensils, decorative planters, handloom dress materials, textiles, embroidery, jute and cloth bags, mosaics, Kashmiri shawls and dry fruits, savouries such as pickles (achaar), mixture, delicious sweets, brownies made up of jiggery and honey and other food stuff besides stalls from north east India displaying wooden crafts and bamboo mannequins. With the successful completion of the Mela the organisers have proposed to come up with permanent mela ground, with permanent structures.

The valedictory programme was attended by P N Praveen Kumar, General Manager, NABARD, Dr W R Reddy, DG, Radhika Rastogi, Deputy DG, Sashi Bhushan, Financial Advisor, Dr Franklin Laltinkhuma, Registrar, Dr Ramesh Sakthivel, PD, RTP and Mohammad Khan, Senior Consultant of NIRDPR. Mohammad Khan announced the awards for 23 best stalls.

The DG, DDG informed that this mela was exclusively dedicated for SHG members and with about 400 women participating from across the country the mela could be termed as a grand success. They stated that the SHGs have shown their skills and their competence in marketing of the products and assured them that from the feedback received, the NIRDPR would try to formulate training modules for further building up their capacities, improving the product designs, packaging etc.

so that they will be able to compete with branded products in the market. They further informed that the requirement of barcoding for the products is observed as one of the requirements and an exposure to the techniques during the mela was arranged with the expert in the said subject.

Expressing happiness over associating with NIRDPR in this event, Praveen Kumar said that the efforts of NIRDPR in honing the skills of women and naming the mela's theme as 'Women Entrepreneurship' was laudable and said that NABARD would continue to further develop the SHGs on the desired lines.

Ramesh Sakthivel, while proposing the vote of thanks, informed that the sales of the products were estimated between one and a half to two crores during these five days.