Guwahati: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is organising Karigar Mela, an exhibition-cum-sale, in Guwahati that started on February 9 and will conclude on February 16.

The national-level event at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra, Panjabari, aims to provide a marketing platform for rural artisans and producers to exhibit their traditional art, craft and other products.
Chief General Manager Naveen Dhingra said the main motive of the mela is to make the artisans aware of the marketing needs. They are encouraged to reorient their products as per market requirement. Besides, they can earn from this platform as well.

Dhingra continued to say, they are all rural artisans who are basically into handicrafts and handloom. They are here to display their products. The objective is to give them market exposure so that they understand what the requirement of the market is. Then they can reorient their products to suit the demand of the market.
Besides, they can also sell their produce and get a good market out of it. That was the whole idea behind organising this event. The pavilion in which you are sitting now is a dedicated pavilion only for Geographical Indication (GI) products. GI products are basically geographically indicated products which are registered. Now, these are the eight products of Assam.

NABARD CGM continued, "We have named the stall Assam’s Gaurav (Pride of Assam). These are the products which we want people to know that this is something that originated in Assam. We are willing to take these products to the domestic and international markets. Now you are able to see Majuli Mask, Majuli Manuscript, water hyacinth products, Bihu Dhol, Jaapi, which is very important but nobody thought of giving a GI tag to it. We are planning to give it and already the process has started. We have already got them registered. Post-GI registration, there will be innovations and initiatives at our level to do a post-GI marketing effort. So, we will be having backward linkages, forward linkages so that artisans can be involved in these activities".

During the exhibition, 60 stalls are put up by rural artisans and weavers from Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim etc.
Assam is represented by 38 stalls from various districts of Assam with their exotic products.
The exhibition is providing the participants an exposure to urban consumers, market demands, customer preferences for improving their products. The products include Kashmir's Pashmina woollen fabrics, handloom and handicrafts, organic products, bamboo items, carpets, toys and terracotta from all over the country.