Puppet museum to come up in Kolkata

A puppet museum will be set up in the city by the government to preserve the dying art of puppetry.
Upen Biswas, Minister in-charge of Backward Classes Welfare Department today said the musuem would be set up this year at Kankurgachi to preserve the art which is on the verge of extinction.
It would preserve and showcase different types of puppets from all over the country, particularly from the state.
The minister said the government would soon introduce loan facility to puppet makers and puppetry artists in the state.
Sonali Chakraborty, secretary of artists' welfare organisation AIM (Art Illuminates Mankind), said the significance of puppetry is immense in the view of human civilisation and post-modern development.

"After intensive researches, national and international scholars and scientists working in the cultural fields have concluded that puppetry had originated in India, particularly in old Bengal in the eastern region," she said.

In spite of puppetry being one of the most popular and profitable modes of entertainment in foreign countries particularly in Europe, the glorious traditional art is still unused and neglected in India including West Bengal.
Research has proved that puppetry is one of the most popular and powerful modes of entertainment to make public aware of particular subjects.
To promote the art, the government is holding 'Karigar Haat', a 10-day art and cultural festival at the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum.

Puppeteers from across India are performing in the festival which would continue till January 26.
Highlight of the festival is the display of a rare and near extinct form of puppetry called 'chadar badar' from tribal area of Birbhum. Apart from this, other forms of puppetry including rod, string, cloth and wooden are also showcased.
Workshops, training, seminar and exhibition of puppets are also being organised at the festival which aims to present how puppetry can be used as a powerful tool of communication to spread social messages.