North East Festival to kick off from Nov 3 in Delhi

The fifth edition of North East Festival will kick off here from Nov 3 to celebrate and embrace the diverse culture and heritage of north-eastern states of India.
Promising to be much bigger than last year with a football match and a rock music contest between colleges and bands of Delhi, the annual festival will be held at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA).
The festival will bring to the fore the cultural richness of North East with 30 folk dance performances like the Naga warrior dance, Thang ta of Manipur, Hojagiri of Tripura, Bamboo dance of Mizoram, Wangala dance of Meghalaya, Lion dance of Arunachal Pradesh among others.

"The festival has helped to reflect a positive picture of people from the North-east. The incidents of racial violence in the capital city have also reduced after the warm response that we have got from the people of Delhi year after year," Shyamkanu Mahanta, the chief organiser of the festival, said.
This year the festival will promote the eight states as a hub of organic food farming with around 30 stalls offering delectable North Eastern cuisines.
A B2B meet on tourism will involve interaction with India's top tour operators while adapting new strategies for the growth of tourists in the region.

"The festival has helped us many folds to promote the diverse culture of the North East. The increase in tourism has created better job opportunities for the locals there," Mahanta said.

For the first time, Delhi Police is also collaborating with the festival and will invite the Resident Welfare Associations based in the city to create awareness about people from the region.
Another attraction will be a quiz competition organised by Delhi Police amongst non North-Eastern people.
Musicians like Bollywood singers from Assam Papon and Zubeen Garg, rapper Borkung Hrangkhal, international DJ Teri Miko and many more will perform.
An exhibition of North-Eastern films including "Rebellion Bejewelled" - a story of a surrendered ULFA cum social worker, an exhibition of art and photography, graffiti and doodle art will give a platform for the creative expressions of the region to showcase their creations.

"With four successive editions, the event has become a community movement where everybody is joining hands with us. This time we will also present awards to some of the outstanding people from North East who are known worldwide for their talent," he said.