The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) recently organised a three-day-long indigenous literature and cultural fair in Khumlung in West Tripura District with the aim of keeping tribal traditions and language alive.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Tribal Welfare Minister Aghor Debbarma and Rural Welfare Minister Manik Dey were present during the inauguration of the fair.
Speaking on the occasion, Sarkar said, "The communities which have very small number of people and who communicate in their own language, special care is being taken to preserve their culture and traditions, because on it, shall depend their future existence and development. In this direction, the Tripura Government, with its limited resources, is giving equal importance to language, culture and tradition of all communities and is working for preserving and developing them."
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Visitors were thrilled at being shown traditional activities that have been lost sight of due to the fast and changing lifestyle of tribal communities.
Mamata Rupini, a visitor, said, "I have come here to see this fair and am very happy to hear our traditional songs and music. Besides this, indigenous lifestyles, dress, ornaments, household things are being displayed for people to know. It is a very good initiative for the new generation to know about our tradition and to preserve them."
"Be it our language, dress or culture, we are at the verge of losing them. So, the ADC government has organised this fair to preserve them by bring them before to the future generation. These types of fairs should take place more often to create awareness and influence the new generation," said another visitor, Buddha Debbarma.
The fair is the brain child of Radhara Charan Debbarma, the new Chief Executive Member (CEM) of TTAADC.
"At such a juncture, we are trying to preserve and protect the language and culture of 27 tribes and sub-tribes of Tripura and prevent them from getting lost due to globalization. This is the main reason behind organizing this indigenous culture and heritage fair," he said.
