Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment presented awards to Divyangs artisan and entrepreneurs who participated in week long exhibition cum fair “Ekam fest” organized by National Handicapped Finance Development Corporation under M/o Social Justice & Empowerment here today. The Fest was inaugurated on 2nd March 2020 in the presence of Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for RT&H and MEME Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari and Union Minister for Women and Child Development and Textiles Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani. Ministers of State for SJ&E Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar and Shri Rattan Lal Kataria were also present.Addressing on the occasion Shri Gurjar said that such an effort of organizing exhibition cum fair exclusively for PwD entrepreneurs and organizations working for the PwDs is attempted for the first time at such a scale. 82 Divyang artisans and entrepreneurs from 17 States/UTs showcased their products in the week long Ekam Fest. The Ekam fest gave platform to PwD artists to present their skill in the cultural evenings. In the Ekam Fest, Divyang Entrepreneur and artisans from all over the country had been invited with representation from J&K to Puducherry and from Nagaland to Gujarat.
The Fest presented vibrant products of from J&K and NE with products ranging from handicraft, handloom, Embroidery work and dry fruits.In the fest, live demonstrations of products making were given by around 12 organisations and artisans which included: live demo of looms, embroidery, free and paintings, wheat grass paintings etc. The customers also availed food and head massage by visually impaired persons, Astrological consultation by renowned divyang astrologers from Haryana.On the occasion of International Women Day (8th March), a free camp was ogranised by NAB, Hauz Khas, New Delhi for examination for early breast cancer by trained visually impaired women. The visually impaired women also set up a food stall where food was cooked live by them and served to the customers. The Rotary club also set up food stall and provided food @ RS 10 to the participants and also to other customers during the Ekam fest. All the participants were provided a bill book for recording the sales by the NHFDC foundation. During the Ekam fest a collective sales of more than Rs. 8 lakhs was recorded from the bills despite the unprecedented rains and the health alerts in the capital which affected the footfalls.NHFDC provides financial assistance to the Divyangjan (Persons with Disabilities) for their economic rehabilitation and provides number of skill development programmes to empower them to grow & sustain their enterprises.