UP Government is organizing a 3-day exhibition call “Mati Kala Festival” to promote local pottery, clayware from different districts. The festival is to be held ahead of Diwali.
“Promoting ‘Vocal for Local’ this Diwali, the exhibition will display products such as idols of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi, decorative lamps and Diyas, earthen lamps and other clay & handmade products. The Mati Kala Festival turned out to be a hit last Diwali as the idols of Ganesh & Lakshmi, earthen diyas and other products were sold for about Rs 50 lakh, giving a major encouragement to small traders, and pushing the rural and local economy,” said Additional Chief Secretary Navneet Sehgal.
The Last Mati Kala Festival was organised in Khadi Bhawan in Dalibagh, Lucknow. Craftsman from about 15 state districts exhibited their skill and talent via their products. The fare had managed to attract the attention of the visitors to the dying art of pottery and towards the urgency to use upgraded and improvised machines to keep the art alive with the evolving times. The state government had also shown its support to the craft and helped in creating standardized molds to prepare same sized idols of Ganesh Laxmi and other commodities such as earthen lamps. Assistance in training artisans to properly use these molds for better results was also provided by the governmental authorities.
In the upcoming festival, along with display and sale of Mati Kala products, a 3-day seminar and workshop to attain finesse in terracotta pottery under Matikala/Pottery Development Scheme will also be organized in which eminent experts of top institutions will give information about the technical aspects of their discipline.
Apart from this, to realize the vision of ‘Self-reliant India’, with the help of local administration in every district of the state, a three-day Mati Kala temporary sale center will be set up for all the artisans, thereby providing a market to their products, Sehgal said.
“The efforts of the board are directed towards making the market competitive for artisans which will not only improve the quality of products but also fetch them better prices. The Mati Kala Board was established by the government in July 2018 with a view to protecting and promoting local skills. Schemes like ODOP, Vishwakarma Shram Samman have the same objective. The purpose of this exhibition is to provide a platform to the local products,” Sehgal said.
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