National Tribal festival/carnival has been organized as an annual feature by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) since the year 2015 as detailed below. This serves to showcase the glimpses of rich cultural heritage of tribal people across the country through unique forms of folk dances, songs, cuisine, exhibition and demonstration of traditional skill in painting, art and craft, medicinal practices:

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs introduced a new concept of organising National Tribal Festival titled “Aadi Mahotsav” in collaboration with Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) from 2017-18 onwards. During Aadi Mahotsav 2017, a total business of Rs. 500 Lakh was transacted by tribal artisans comprising of direct sale of Rs.442 Lakh made by tribal artisans and Rs.60 Lakhs worth inventory sourced by TRIFED. The Festival showed exquisite craftsmanship of tribal artisans. Almost 800 Artisans and Artists from 27 States participated in the Mahotsav and sold their products and displayed their crafts and skill through more than 200 stalls that was set up for them. Stage programmes of tribal dances and folk songs were conducted daily. 85 Tribal Chefs from 25 States showcased tribal delicacies.

For the Aadi Mahotsav - 2018 held from November 16-30, more than 430 tribal artisans and artists from more than 20 States participated and displayed/sold their various handicraft and handloom products through 159 stalls set for the purpose and realised a direct sale of Rs.305 Lakh. Besides, TRIFED also placed purchase order to the tune of Rs.1280 Lakhs on the artisans/suppliers. 76 tribal chefs from different States also presented various tribal delicacies. 14 dance troupes comprising of more than 200 artists who presented exquisite tribal folk performances in the evenings. World class cultural programme included internationally acclaimed group like Siddhi Dhamal from Gujarat, Chau folk dance from Jharkhand, Manipuri tribal dances, dance troupe from Leh and Ladakh, Rajasthan Folk singers.

The Ministry as a step forward in this direction to highlight rich tribal culture across the country has also embarked upon an ambitious programme to hold similar events in States and Union Territories too through TRIFED.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs has helped States establish Tribal Research Institutes. Core responsibility of TRIs is to function as a body of knowledge & research, for tribal development and preservation of art and culture of tribal people.The TRIs comprise of cultural museum, library, training centre, research wing etc.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) provides funds to State Governments under the Scheme ‘Support to Tribal Research Institute (TRI)’ for the functioning of TRIs. The annual outlay of the Scheme has been enhanced from Rs. 21.00 crore in 2016-17 to Rs. 80.00 crore in 2017-18 and Rs. 100.00 crore in 2018-19. 

TRIs have carry out various activities viz. research studies, evaluation studies, organization of training/seminar/workshop, organization of tribal festivals, baseline survey, publications, documentaries / documentation, organization of exchange visits etc. over the years.

Notable works undertaken by these institutions during past four financial years and current year are detailed below:

The Ministry has also developed a digital repository with web address http://tribal.nic.in/repository where documents, folks songs, photos/videos regarding their evolution, place of origin, lifestyle, eating habits, architecture, education level, traditional art, folk dances and other anthropological details of the tribes in India are stored. The repository currently has more than 10,000 photographs, videos and publications which are mostly done by TRIs. 

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Jaswantsinh Bhabhor in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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NB/SK/jk/Tribal Affairs-LS-3/7-01-2019