SEPPA, 1 Apr: The Geka Bagang Village Forest Management Committee [GBVFMC] documented the art of making traditional handicrafts and also collected different types of handlooms, such as galey, pumyo and pari during a three-day programme on folkdance, music, handicrafts and handloom of Arunachal Pradesh and training on folk art, which ended at Bebo Colony here in East Kameng district on Saturday.
Attending the programme, NPP district president Tame Gyadi stressed on young students’ role in the preservation of culture, saying that “the cause of cultural degradation is not conversion but our mentality.”
Gyadi said that he is saddened to see the youths of the state inclining more towards western culture, rather than preserving their own culture.
Retired police officer Sangku Gyadi, who attended the programme as a resource person, exhorted the youths to learn the art of making handicraft items.
“In the recent years,” he said, “there has been a phenomenal rise in the demand for handicraft and traditional handloom items, as opposed to plastic products.”
Gyadi said that learning the art forms would not only provide them with sustainable livelihood but also help pass on to the future generations the knowledge of traditional handlooms and handicrafts.
Another resource person, Raku Gyadi, stressed the need for preservation of the local traditions and culture “without further dilution.”
Working secretaries Tame Lochung and Tabyang Joseph Gyadi also spoke.
The programme was sponsored by the culture ministry’s BTI section and organised by the GBVFMC.
