North East Festival: A complete kaleidoscope of North East Region

L-R- Shyamkanu Mahanta, organiser in cheif, S N Brohmochowdhury,
advisor planning commission, Dr Jayanta Madhab,  economist ex director ADB

During an autumn of focus on North East India, where New Delhi has witnessed several specific small windows to the region, North East Festival 2013, promises to open the complete North East India to people of the Capital.

In a two day carnival which is going to be held in New Delhi on 8th& 9th November, 2013 at the IGNCA it will celebrate and showcase not only the cultural & traditional past, present and future of the region but also wishes to create awareness about the region and showcase its prospects and potentials.

The two day festival which would see the participation of the Dy Chairman of Planning Commission, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers from the region,  Chief Secretaries, intellectuals etc. The event is a combined effort of various prominent personalities of North East and organised by Trend MMS, the reputed Trust of the region and is supported by All Eight States of NER, supported by Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of DoNER will be the biggest such event outside of the North East. It will have dances, musical performance, photography exhibition, ethnic food stalls, ethnic handicrafts and handloom stalls, exhibition of all NER States, fashion show, photography exhibition as well as serious discussion on the issues of security, tourism opportunities, employment options, and such issues near to the hearts of North East Indians.

North East Festival will be inaugurated by Montek Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Paban Singh Ghatowar, Union Minister of DoNER and Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister of State, Ministry of Women and Child Development four Chief Ministers, all the Chief Secretaries of NER States. The first day of the North East Festival will witness discussion on “North East India as a central focus of India’s Look East Policy and Internal Security of North East” where keynote speakers will be Mr Ranjan Mathai, former Indian Foreign Secretary, Mr Anil Goswami, Union Home Secretary of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr GK Pillai, former Home Secretary of India & Mr PC Halder, former Intelligence Bureau (IB) director. In this session these opinion makers would discuss critical issues faced by the region including internal security, peace process with insurgents, North East as central focus of India’s Look East Policy and progress made so far.

With an objective to understand and solve problems faced by North East Students in Delhi, there will be a discussion on “Issues of North East Students in Delhi-An Interaction with Student Associations of NER with Delhi Police, Secy. Home Ministry, Planning Commission and Ministry of DONER.

The Afternoon will witness dance recitals from different parts of the North East Region and in the evening a mega cultural event will have key attractions like Zubin Garg & Zublee Baruah, Guru Reuban Masangwa, Mami Varte, Omak Kamut.

Second day of North East Festival to hold a “Tourism B2B Session with Tourism stakeholders of North East with All India Tour Operators, Officials of India Tourism’ to jointly work out a model to make Northeast a regular feature in the tourism map of India thereby increasing tourist flow to the region.

A session on Entrepreneurship and Skill Development will have speakers Mr Madhav Lal, Secretary MSME, Mr Shikhar Agrawal, Ms Subhra Singh, DGET, Ms Subhra Singh, Joint Secretary, DIPP, Mr JP Rai, NSDA. Leading entrepreneurs from North East like Habib Chaudhary, who have invested in Laos, Dr Kh Palin who have set up a top healthcare facility in difficult areas of Manipur, Mr. S.C Sehgal from Punjab who have huge investment in the North East would share their journey.

An Icon Speak session which will be attended by MC Mary Kom, Adil Hussain, Ratan Thiyam, Aspen Jasper, etc who, hailing from Northeast, made a mark for themselves in national and international arena in their respective fields.

Ethnic Fashion Show will witness 23 top models and 8 designers of North East, where MC Mary Kom will also be the show stopper. In the Cultural Evening, Low Majaw, Kalpana Patowari, Alobo Naga will perform which will conclude the festival.

Parallel to the main festival there would be Ethnic Food Festival including stalls by Roshan Café, Atul Lahkar, Food Store, Joko Valley Restaurant representing food from all the eight states of NER, which will be inaugurated by Sabyasachi Samuel, Chef, Olive Beach Restaurant. Added to all thisa photography exhibition “Paradise Unexplored’’ will showcase the extraordinary beauty and unique feature of NER.

Mr. Shyamkanu Mahanta, the Organiser- in- Chief, North East Festival said, “People visiting the event can expect festivity of the region by getting a first-hand experience through traditional food, handloom, handicrafts, etc stalls from the region, cultural performances, literary & academic discussions, presenting successful entrepreneurs and their views on doing business and growth potential of the region as well as initiatives & possible developmental agendas by the states. All these would happen in a lively environment wherein traditional musicians and dancers would be performing various ethnic dances and music throughout the day in an open stage. This would be an annual event, henceforth. This year, the emphasis is on Tourism & Culture, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. It is an attempt to connect to people of various ethnicities and to encourage investment and progress.”