Uttarakhand

• 05 Oct 2023

National Cultural & Literary Fest and Kala Utsav-2023

Why In News?

On October 3, 2023, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda inaugurated the 4th Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) National Cultural and Literary Festival and Kala Utsav-2023 in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand.

Key Points:

• The festival is being organized by the National Education Society (NETS) for tribal students under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and is being hosted by Eklavya Vidyalaya Sangathan Samiti (EVSS), Uttarakhand at Maharana Pratap Sports College, Dehradun.
• The Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) cultural festival provides a national platform to tribal students to showcase their hidden talent in various fields.
• This year, the four-day event (October 3-6) will see a performance by over 2,000 tribal students from 22 states.
• More than 20 events will be held at the festival, ranging from dance and song performances to quizzes and visual arts. Stalls from different states have been arranged to showcase tribal culture.
• Such events provide an opportunity to the children and teachers of EMRS to meet each other, understand and learn from the cultures of different provinces of the country, fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat'.
• Such events will inspire everyone and provide a better opportunity to learn about their culture as well as the rich traditions of the tribal communities living in different corners of the country.
• Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami highlighted the diverse traditions and culture of tribals in Uttarakhand and various government schemes being run for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes in the state.
• The 'EMRS National Cultural Festival' is the most awaited event every year for tribal students pursuing education at EMRS.
• NESTS is running EMRS for Scheduled Tribes across India. The EMRS scheme is one of the flagship programmers of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and was revamped in the year 2018-19 to ensure that students from remote tribal areas get quality education.