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Major takeaways from Nadi festival -- Meghalaya Times
SHILLONG, July 17: The two-day River Festival titled ‘NADI: Listen to the River’ organized by the Asian Confluence, India, East Asia Centre, Shillong, in collaboration with Government of Meghalaya and the Maulana Abul Kamal Azad Institute of Asian Studies has left behind major takeaways for the stakeholders. It was a celebration of the spirit of commonality between the north eastern states and neighboring countries through the rivers of the region, which had for long been the treasured highways of culture and unison among the people.
The festival, which concluded last Saturday, was attended by Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma; Bangladesh Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister, Rashed Khan Menon; Bangladesh Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Shahriar Alam; Mizoram Chief Minister, Lal Thanhawla; former Water Resources Minister from Nepal, Dipak Gyawali, former Ambassador of Bhutan to India, Dago Tshering; High Commissioner of Bangladesh in India, Syed Muazzem Ali and High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla during the inaugural session.
Major Takeaways
Bangladesh foreign affairs minister, Shahriar Alam speaking at the inauguration of the festival informed that there are 57 international rivers flowing through Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal and out of those 54 rivers are coming from Indian Territory. He pitched for better river transport between India and Bangladesh through India’s northeast.
On the sidelines of the festival, a group consisting from both India and Bangladesh deliberated that Bangladesh, a part of erstwhile undivided Bengal, was partitioned and carved out by the British Raj is more of a delta than a country with inundated rivers.
Tourism was a major point of deliberation at the festival. Bangladesh Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister, Rashed Khan Menon observed that both India and Bangladesh must introduce visa-on-arrival for tourists, which is the only way to boost tourism. The minister also expressed his country’s desire to start flight from Bangladesh to Guwahati, Bangladesh to Shillong besides fully operating the Dacca – Shillong – Guwahati bus service.
The highlights of the two-day festival, besides a policy dialogue and stakeholder meetings, also included live exhibitions on yarns and dyes, cultural programmes, crafts bazaar, performing arts of the border areas, special evening performances by top dance, music and theatre troupes of Bangladesh and NE region.