The Traditional Craft and Skills Council of India had organized four day exhibition in Pimpri, which concluded yesterday. The exhibition presented various crafts and skills from different states across the country. The dignitaries, present for the closing ceremony, were well known Columnist Sudhindra Kulkarni, RSS Campaign Chief, Mohandas Devi, and Girish Prabhune among others.

The reason behind organizing this exhibition was to make people aware of Indian traditional crafts and skills which are often looked down and given very less importance, said Girish Praphune, the convener of the exhibition.

He also insisted that such exhibitions will make people aware of the skills and the crafts we have in India.

“Such exhibitions are necessary to bring in variety of crafts which are on the verge of decline. They need to be brought together and showcased publicly. And to do this, I think, exhibition is the best option, said Kulkarni. He spoke at the closing function.

He also said that the central government should take a big role here as it is national property; it is government’s responsibility to preserve national assets. Government should provide these people with funds so that they will enrich these skills in order to spread awareness about the thousands years tradition, he said.

RSS Campaign Chief Mohandas Dvi said, “There should be distance education facility for people who are skilled at different crafts so that they will be able to learn and establish their own businesses. By doing so, they will also spread the awareness about Indian heritage, culture and crafts across the world. Distance learning will also help them recognize their skills and the knowledge they possess.”

There were about 150 craftsmen who had come for the exhibition from different parts of the country.