Konkan is fast changing and it is going to develop more in coming years. Development of Konkan is an important issue; it is indispensable, whether development is done by a person from Konkan or any institution from the region.
To facilitate the development of the region, Kokan Bhumi Pratisthan will be organaising the 8th Global Kokan Festival which will be held at Mumbai Exhibition Center in Mumbai.
This mega event will be inaugurated by Chief Guests Suresh Prabhu (Union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Civil Aviation), Anant Geete (Union Cabinet Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Sector Enterprises) and Vinod Tawde (Minister Of Higher & Technical Education and Cultural Affairs).
Global Kokan festival is hosted by Jaykumar Rawal (Minister of Tourism) and Subash Desai (Minister for Industries and Mining), Deepak Kesarkar (Minister of State for Home (Rural), Finance and Planning), and Ravindra Chavan (Minister of State - Ports, Medical Education, Information and Technology, Food and Civil supplies, Consumer protection).
All party core committee consisting of Ashish Shelar (MLA), Bhai Jagtap (MLA), Bhaskar Jadhav (MLA), Sunil Shinde (MLA), Sanjay Yadavrao (Chief Convener, Kokan Bhumi Pratisthan) and Kishore Dhariya will be part of this event. The show is organaised with support of MTDC and MIDC.
The inaugural day will see the announcement of launch of "Vision 2025" for Kokan region, a special white paper documenting the issues faced by people of Kokan region. The detailed report will be launched after 3 months with full study of the region in term of infrastructure, Business, tourism, etc.
Under Vision 2025, 4 special roundtable discussions on various topics like hospitality industry, agriculture, rural and nature tourism, Alphonso mango, orchards, process industries, fisheries, ayurveda and herbal, forestry, ports, transport, education, health, civic, rural development, city development etc. will be held for 4 districts in Kokan region namely Palghar, Raigad Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg.
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Vision Palghar will kick off the discussion series on first day followed by Vision Raigad, Vision Ratnagiri and Vision Sindhudurg on subsequent days. These discussions will be attended by experts, guardian ministers, MLA's, entrepreneurs from these 4 regions where they will be discussing the 10 year plan for the thorough development of businesses and infrastructure in the region.
It is a way to instill to the locals whereby educating them in different ways of using land to benefit the farmers like Fish farming, Aquaculture, Horticulture, Advanced Farming etc.
Sanjay Yadavrao, Chief Convener, Global Kokan Festival shared, "Do not Sell your Land is the call to all the people of Kokan. Even if the land is barren there are ways to use to start a business and become an entrepreneur. Global Kokan Festival will be providing a platform for experts and decision makers from these regions to come and understand and promote ways to improve the quality of life without leaving the villages. We have been showing to the rest of the country that the region has the capacity and potential to self-sustain and prosper to become one of the richest regions in terms of businesses as well as skilled professionals."
Since 2008, Kokan Bhumi Pratisthan along with Sanjay Yadavrao and Kishore Dhariya have been raising key issues faced by the region. Several key projects like GI tagging of Alphonso Mango was possible with the help of Suresh Prabhu and Kokan Bhumi Pratisthan is launching their own organic mango brand, 4 rivers have been adopted and resurrecting of these rivers has begun and will be launched digitally, also creating modern beaches in Kokan for the tourists. Starting this year, Kokan Bhumi Pratisthan announced their 1st Annual Late Arun Bongirwar Award, which will be given to the Best Government officer in Kokan region.
Besides Vision 2025 seminars, 8th Global Kokan Festival will see additional seminars on Blue Revolution, Tourism and Agriculture. These seminars will see discussions on fish farming, Horticulture, advanced agriculture, home stays and much more.
Along with the seminars and roundtable discussions, the four day festival draws lakhs of visitors to experience the authentic culture and food from Kokan region. Visitors will get to taste foods like Gavran Chicken, 15 types of Misal and more along with traditional art forms like Jakhadi Dance, Tarpa, Dashavatar, workshops on Warli art, pottery, etc.